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The young aspirants ready to join IMA, Dehradun, having a dream to get their names into the batch of the elite academy, need to know some facts about the academy, which they are going to join soon. The fresh recruits for officer rank in the Indian army are trained at NDA, IMA, OTA Chennai and OTA Gaya. Out of these, Indian Military Academy, Dehradun is very popular among the young aspirants. Apart from basic knowledge, some facts about IMA have to be known to every defence aspirant. So here are some crucial IMA facts.
1: Origin in Historical Chronologies:
The seed of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun was sown in 1st Round Table Conference in 1930 in London during Indian National Movement. This resulted to the constitution of Indian Military College Committee under the chairmanship of Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode.
The next year, i.e. in 1931, the committee came up with the recommendation of establishing IMA at Dehradun. Other recommendations were each batch would have 40 officers and it would commission 2 batches each year after 2 years 6 months of rigorous training.
2: Bifurcated IMA
IMA Dehradun is bifurcated by National Highway 707 which was previously National highway 72. The parts divided by the road are north and south campus of IMA.
3: Pioneers
It is the name given to the first batch of Indian Military Academy Dehradun which was trained from this Academy. Field Marshal Menakshaw belongs to this batch. General Muhammad Musa, and Lieutenant General Smith Dun who later became army chiefs of Pakistan and Burma armies also belong to this first batch.
4: Khetarpal Auditorium
The Khetarpal auditorium of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun was named after the Lieutenant PVC Arun Khetarpal. He was martyr in India Pakistan war 1971 at the age of 21. He was awarded Param Vir Chakra posthumously.
5: Param Veer Chakra Recipients
There are 6 officers trained from IMA, who have been awarded Param Veer Chakra. They are Major Somnath Sharma, Posthumous; Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, Posthumous; Lieutenant Colonel Hoshiar Singh; 2nd Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, Posthumous; Captain Vikram Batra, Posthumous, and Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, Posthumous
6: Officers for Overseas Nations
IMA Dehradun has trained more than 60,000 officers from other neighbouring and distant nations. These nations include Zambia, Pakistan Tajikistan, Tonga, Afghanistan, United Kingdom etc.
7: Army Cadet College (ACC)
The Army Cadet College (ACC), which trains the cadets selected internally from lower ranks in Indian army, was brought to Dehradun from Pune in 1977. Subsequently, it was merged into IMA as the Siachen Battalion of IMA in 2006.
8: Location
IMA Dehradun is located at the foothills of Himalaya, around 8 km from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Located near tons valley, it is spread over an area of 1400 acres. The natural scene is complemented with the superb architectural buildings, which are the Chetwode Hall, Commandant’s residence, Kingsley Block and Collins Block.
9: IMA Battalions
For increasing intra-academic competition and brotherhood, the IMA is divided into 4 battalions, which are Cariappa, Thimayya, Manekshaw and Bhagat, each battalion has 2 companies. The names of these battalions were opted after Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and Lieutenant General Premindra Singh Bhagat.
IMA not only trains officers for battle, but also develops a well balanced personality, to lead not only in the army, but also in other social arenas. The academy trains the cadets for permanent commission for a training period of 1 year and brings the best of the cadet in him. So, before heading to IMA, Dehradun, the aspirants must know these deep fact bullets about IMA
Jai Hind.
