Old is Gold

Silver Jubilee to Golden Jubilee (1982) and name change to IMA

In 1960, the Military College was renamed the Indian Military Academy. On 10 December 1962, the second President of the Republic of India, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, presented new colours to the Indian Military Academy.

In 1963, the rank of the Commandant was again upgraded to Major General and Major General S C Pandit, VrC, took over. In 1963, due to Chinese aggression, the duration of training for regular courses was cut short and emergency courses were introduced. New accommodation was built in the Rangharwala area and on the bank of the River Tons. In August 1964, emergency courses were discontinued and regular courses reintroduced. The last emergency course passed out on 1 November 1964.

In 1974, the qualification requirement for entry to IMA for Regular Courses was raised to University degree level and the duration of training was reduced from two years to one and a half years for Direct Entry Gentleman Cadets. The four battalions of IMA were named Cariappa Battalion,Thimayya Battalion, Manekshaw Battalion and Bhagat Battalion respectively with two companies each.

[edit]Presentation of colours by Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, President of India

The fifth President of India, Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, presented new colours to IMA as a mark of appreciation. He Placed the colours into the sash of Gentlemen Cadet Senior Under Officer D S Hooda.

In 1977, the Army Cadet College (ACC), the progeny of Kitchner College, Nowgaon, which took candidates from Other Ranks and NCO's of the Indian Army who cleared base exams to qualify for the officer course, was shifted from Pune to the IMA, Dehradun. In 1980, the rank of the Commandant was upgraded to Lieutenant General and Lieutenant General M Thomas, AVSM, VSM took over as the Commandant in December 1980. The appointment of Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor was also upgraded to the rank of Major General in July 1982 when Major General Sameer Singh Pannu was appointed with this rank. Later, other upgrades included the appointments of Commander ACC Wing and the Head of the Academic Department as Brigadiers.

[edit]Golden Jubilee Celebrations

From Brigadier L P Collins, CB, DSO, OBE, ADC, to Lieutenant General Mathew Thomas, AVSM, VSM, was a journey of 50 years for the Indian Military Academy. Some of those who were reviewed as GCs by Sir Philip Chetwode, the then Commander-in-Chief India, came for theGolden Jubilee celebrations. They witnessed the Golden Jubilee Parade of 500 Gentlemen Cadets reviewed by the then Prime Minister Smt.Indira Gandhi. 1982 was also the year when the IMA expedition to Mounts Kamet (25,447 ft) and Abi Gamin (24,130 ft) was successfully accomplished. The team was led by Brigadier Jagjit Singh, AVSM (Bar), VSM, ably supported by Captains Bhupinder Singh and D B Thapa.

A part of the celebration was the presentation of the pistol of Lieutenant General A A K Niazi (Commander, erstwhile East Pakistan Forces,Dhaka) by Lieutenant General J S Aurora, PVSM (Retd). The pistol was presented to the Commandant to be kept in the IMA Museum.

[edit]Diamond Jubilee (1992) and Thereafter

The President of India, Shri R. Venkataraman, reviewed the Passing Out Parade of the 90th Regular and 73rd Technical Graduates Courses of the IMA in the Diamond Jubilee year.

The scale of the Academy's operations can be gauged from the fact that over 50,000 cadets have received commissions. This is a figure much higher than that of older Academies like Duntroon, Australia.

Historically speaking, the Indian Military Academy is the archetypal military institution of the Indian subcontinent, being the first training institute of its kind in the region.

IMA completed 75 years on 01.10.2007.

• • See the IMA film, "Making of a Warrior" by Dipti Bhalla & Kunal Verma