Editorial: Shortage of Recruitment in the Sikh Regiment: Who Is Responsible?
Apart from the Sikh Regiment, there are also about 23 battalions of Sikh Light Infantry.
Editorial: Shortage of Recruitment in the Sikh Regiment: Who Is Responsible? The shortage of recruits in the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army demands the utmost attention of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Sikh organizations. The Army on Tuesday issued an appeal inviting the youth of Punjab to join the regiment and also asked Sikh organizations to contribute to this work. This is the sixth time in the last decade that the Army has mentioned the shortage of personnel in the Sikh Regiment and invited the Sikh youth of Punjab and Haryana to participate in maintaining the uniqueness and valor of this regiment.
The Sikh Regiment is one of the oldest regiments of the Indian Army. It was raised around 1850. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the British East India Company government disbanded its army, ending the Khalsa Raj. But the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir John Lawrence, sensing the discontent arising in the villages and cities due to this decision, gave new jobs to all the trained Sikh soldiers according to their records and formed the Sikh Regiment.
This regiment is the most honored regiment of the Indian Army and is famous for raising the flag of heroism on every battlefield. The Hindi film ‘Kesari’ produced a few years ago was based on a heroic story (Battle of Saragarhi) of this regiment. This story has been listed as a unique example in the history of British and French war besides the Indian Army.
The Sikh Regiment currently has 20 regular battalions. Apart from these, three battalions of the Territorial Army and one battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles are attached to this regiment. This regiment is often presented as the image of the Indian Army, which is a matter of pride for the Sikh community. Although the proportion of Sikhs in the Army is decreasing, despite constituting 1.86 percent of India's total population, the percentage of Sikhs in the Army is considered to be around 8 percent. Similarly, the fact that out of 90 three-star generals (lieutenant generals), about 9 are Sikhs is also a clear symbol of the military importance of this community.
Apart from the Sikh Regiment, there are also about 23 battalions of Sikh Light Infantry. Similarly, the Sikh community is given due importance in the Punjab Regiment. Some military experts even say that the participation of Sikhs in the Indian Army is around 16 percent. It is believed that the Ministry of Defence has an unwritten directive that every picture, video, film and show of the army must feature Sikh soldiers. That is why Sikh soldiers are also included in the Presidential Guards (PBG). In such a situation, the lack of enthusiasm towards recruitment in the Sikh regiment should worry Sikh social and community leaders.
The main reason for this lack of enthusiasm or the absence of adequate numbers of Sikh youth is the conditional tradition of being clean. The Sikh regiment was established mainly for Jat Sikhs. With time, due to its expansion and the shortage of clean Jat Sikhs, other Sikh castes also started getting admission in it, but the tradition of being clean was not relaxed. Due to the lack of adequate numbers of Sikhs from Punjab, Sikh youth from Jammu region, especially Rajouri-Poonch belt, kept getting places in this regiment, but now the problem of Punjab has arisen there too.
One of the reasons for not changing the tradition of Sikhs being pure-skinned was that no such decision can be taken without the consent of the leaders of the Sikh community. No such condition is applicable in the Sikh Light Infantry. In fact, it was established to give adequate representation to the Sikhs of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. A previous Sikh Chief of the Indian Army was General Bikram Singh Ramgarhia. He was associated with the Sikh Light Infantry.
The problem that exists now cannot be solved without the initiative of the religious-social leaders of the Sikh community. It is also a strange contradiction that the leaders of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Sikh organizations have been blaming the central government for the lack of Sikh participation in the army, but have been unable to play a proper role on their part in eradicating this deficiency. They should abandon such duplicity.