The Indian Army is the land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The Indian Army was established on 1 April 1895 alongside the long established presidency armies of the East India Company, which too were absorbed into it in 1903. Some princely states maintained their own armies which formed the Imperial Service Troops which, along with the Indian Army formed the land component of the Armed Forces of the Crown of India, responsible for the defence of the Indian Empire. The Imperial Service Troops were merged into the Indian Army after independence. The units and regiments of the Indian Army have diverse histories and have participated in several battles and campaigns around the world, earning many battle and theatre honours before and after Independence.
Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, also known as Sam Bahadur, was the chief of the army staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. His active military career spanned four decades, beginning with service in World War II.
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Lieutenant General Mohammad Ahmed Zaki is a former general officer of the Indian Army.
The Chittisinghpura massacre refers to the mass murder of 35 Sikh villagers on 20 March 2000 in the Chittisinghpora (Chittisinghpura) village of Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India on the eve of the American president Bill Clinton's state visit to India.
General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao, was a former chief of the Indian Army and a former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura.
The Territorial Army (TA) is a military reserve force composed of part-time volunteers who provide support services to the Indian Army. It consists of officers, junior commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers and other personnel who hold ranks identical to those in the Indian Army, and also maintains civilian occupations. The primary role of the TA is to "relieve the regular army from static duties and assist civil administration in dealing with natural calamities and maintenance of essential services" and to "provide units for the regular army as and when required".
General Sundararajan Padmanabhan PVSM, AVSM, VSM is a former General Officer of the Indian Army. He served as the 17th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. Gen. Padmanabhan succeeded General V.P. Malik on 30 September 2000. He also served as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, AC was an Indian Army officer. He was the commanding officer of the 9th battalion, Maratha Light Infantry. On 31 July 2007, he was Attained veergathi in action while preventing heavily armed infiltrators from crossing the India-Pakistan border at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. As a result he was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest military decoration for peacetime gallantry.
Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India. India is described as an ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e "Indestructible nation of destructible states" by its father of constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar where a state or Union territory of India cannot secede from India by any means and the Central Government has more powers than the respective state governments and can forcefully change the names and boundaries of the states without their permission at any time when needed for self interest and for the maintenance of integrity.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Burhan Wani was a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist militant organization and insurgent group of the Kashmir conflict. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace, having done so primarily through a strong social media presence, and was responsible for moulding the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir into a youth-oriented movement. Wani was a militant leader and had reportedly recruited numerous foot-soldiers through his personal efforts.
Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz was an Indian Army officer who was abducted and killed in May 2017 by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, India. He had been commissioned as a lieutenant in the Indian Army from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on 10 December 2016, and was serving in the 2nd battalion, Rajputana Rifles.
General Manoj Mukund Naravane, is a retired Indian Army General who served as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), as well as the temporary Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 15 December 2021 until his superannuation on 30 April 2022. He took over as COAS from General Bipin Rawat on 31 December 2019 after the latter completed his term. Prior to his appointment as the COAS, the general served as the 40th Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) of the Indian Army, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Eastern Command and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Army Training Command.
Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation Rakshak, which began in 1990, Operation Sarp Vinash in 2003 and Operation Randori Behak in 2020. Other operations include humanitarian missions such as Operation Megh Rahat and operations with a social aim such as Operation Goodwill and Operation Calm Down. The Indian Army works in tandem with the other arms of the Indian Armed Forces and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir such as during Mission Sahayata or joint operations.
On 29 September 2016, teams of Indian Army commandos crossed the Line of Control into Pakistani-administered Kashmir to attack targets up to a kilometer within territory held by Pakistan. The raid occurred ten days after four militants had attacked an Indian army outpost at Uri on 18th September 2016 in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and killed 19 soldiers. Estimates of casualties from India's cross-border attack varied widely, with figures of 12 to 70 being reported. The Pakistani government eventually acknowledged the deaths of two soldiers and injuries to nine, while one Indian soldier was captured.
Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, AC, SM & Bar was an Indian Army soldier and a recipient of the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military decoration.At the time of his death, he was serving with an auxiliary battalion of the army's Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment, the 162nd Infantry Battalion of the Territorial Army .He was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra for his actions during a counterterrorism operation in which his unit was attached with the 34th Rashtriya Rifles battalion. He was the first recipient of the Ashok Chakra from Jammu and Kashmir.
Lieutenant General Vinod G. Khandare, PVSM, AVSM, SM is a former officer of the Indian Army and is currently serving as the Principal Adviser in the Ministry of Defence. He retired from active military service on 31 January 2018 and was the Military Advisor to the National Security Council Secretariat of India at the Secretary level from 2018 to 2021. In his final active military appointment, he served as both the Director General of the Defence Intelligence Agency and the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff for Intelligence from November 2015 to January 2018.
Lieutenant General Baggavalli Somashekar Raju, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM is a retired general officer of the Indian Army. He last served as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Command. He earlier served as the 44th Vice Chief of the Army Staff and as the Director General Military Operations (DGMO).
Lieutenant General Amardeep Singh Aujla, UYSM,YSM, SM, VSM is a serving general officer of the Indian Army. He currently serves as the Master General Sustenance (MGS). He earlier served as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps(XV).
Param Vishisht Seva Medal 
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal 
Vishisht Seva Medal 
India 
Indian Army 