Territorial Army ropes in Chinese language experts

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, October 7

The Territorial Army (TA) is changing its profile. Raised in 1948 as a volunteer force to augment the Army, the TA is now recruiting Chinese language experts, cyber domain experts and is looking to take over several transport duties of the Army.

Posted in forward areas

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• TA has inducted Chinese language interpreters and posted them in forward areas where India and China conduct their meetings
• Recruitment took place in August following a test to check abilities to write, speak, understand and read Mandarin, sources said

The TA has inducted Chinese language interpreters and posted them in forward areas, especially where India and China conduct their border meetings. The recruitment took place in August following a test to check the abilities to write, speak, understand and read Mandarin, sources said.

They said the TA was at present recruiting cyber experts. At first, the recruitment would be on a trial basis.

They said the TA could recruit employees up to the age of 42, which meant language or cyber experts working elsewhere could join the Army.

With 60 battalions in place, the TA can take on more auxiliary roles of the Army. Forty-three of these battalions are “Infantry TA units” and integrated with the Army and have been used in war and now in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism areas in J&K and the North-East.

These are used to secure railway projects, railway lines and ensuring that roads are

kept open in strategic areas. Then there are what the TA calls “departmental units” funded by the Railways and the Environment Ministry.

The “eco battalions” have restored forests and eco balance. Over nine crore trees have been planted on 90,000 hectares in the past few decades. Nowadays, the annual target is 40 lakh trees. Units of the TA attached to the oil sector ensured that oil supplies to Manipur were smooth during the ethnic violence. TA troops were also mobilised after the April 2020 military stand-off with China along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

A specialised TA ecological battalion, named the Ganga Task Force, is deployed along the banks of the Ganga.