Gorkha Regiments to raise more battalions

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Subathu, October 29

The Gorkha Regiments of the Army are raising additional battalions, with the first new battalion scheduled to be functional in April, 2016. The new battalions are part of the force accretions approved by the Centre for raising a new mountain corps and the ongoing organisational restructuring.

The First Gorkha Rifles (1GR) is raising its sixth battalion, which is undergoing training at its regimental centre, 14 Gorkha Training Centre (14 GTC), here.

“It is after 50 years that a new Gorkha battalion is being raised,” Lt Gen Ravi Thodge, the Quarter Master General at the Army Headquarters and Colonel of 1 GR, told The Tribune on the sidelines of the regiment’s bicentenary celebrations and reunion here.

Unlike in the past where Gorkha battalions comprised troops primarily from Nepal, the new battalion, designated as the Sixth Battalion of the First Gorkha Rifles (6/1 GR), will comprise Gorkha troops of Indian domicile, that is, those settled in the hilly regions of northern India and the North-East.

The Army has several Gorkha regiments— 1GR, 3GR, 4GR, 5GR, 8GR, 9GR and 11 GR, with five battalions each. The stipulated ration of composition of these regiments between Nepalese and Gorkhas of Indian domicile is about 70:30.

“The Army’s plans are that each Gorkha Regiment will raise an additional battalion, which will be done in a phased manner, beginning with 1 GR,” said Lt Gen Thodge. “We will be recruiting more Gorkha-origin troops of Indian domicile and Gorkha Regiments are envisioned to have a pan-India footprint,” he said.

Lt Gen Thodge also discounted reports that Gorkhas belonging to Nepal have been prohibited by political leaders in the country from joining the Army. “There is no such issue affecting the Gorkha troops and we are getting adequate recruits,” he said. “We are also raising the minimum educational qualification for Gorkha troops from matriculation to Class XII,” he said.

Many serving and retired officers and other ranks of 1 GR from India as well as Nepal are attending the bicentenary celebrations and reunion. Unlike in the past, no former British officers, who had served with the regiment in the pre-Independence era were present with the exception of Lt Col JP Cross, a Britisher settled in Nepal.

Raised by the British in 1815 at Subathu from the remnants of General Amar Singh Thapa’s forces following the Gurkha War that was fought between the Gorkha kings of Nepal and British East India Company, 1 GR has a rich history of campaigns undertaken around the globe.

A wreath-laying ceremony to pay homage to martyrs, a special sainik sammelan that was addressed by senior serving and retired officers and the release of a first day cover and a commemorative stamp marked the celebrations today.