The Government of India (GoI) has granted Vice Chancellors (VCs) of as many as 19 Indian universities the honorary rank of Colonel in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). Names include the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s VC, Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit. These 19 VCs will serve as the Colonel Commandant of their respective universities.
Their honorary ranks will be valid for as long as they hold the post.
We explain what honorary ranks are, why this move is significant, and the purpose behind appointing academicians as Colonels.
What are honorary ranks?
Honorary military ranks are occasionally awarded to civilians in recognition of their outstanding performance in a specific field and/or for their contribution towards nation-building.
Apart from acknowledging the contributions of civilians, providing honorary ranks also helps in image-building and providing visibility to the armed forces.
For instance, sports personalities MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, and Abhinav Bindra were conferred the honorary ranks of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, too, was conferred the honorary rank of Group Captain in the Indian Air Force.
The formal ceremony where the rank is conferred, the celebrities’ interactions with armed forces personnel, as well their photos in military uniforms motivate youngsters and encourage them to join the forces.
Honorary ranks are also accorded to military personnel. Milkha Singh was commissioned to Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) from Sepoy taking his achievement of Asian games 1958 into confederation.
Who confers these honorary ranks?
People from the military, such as Singh were given promotions in the form of honorary ranks from their respective service, i.e., the Indian Army. This is because they joined as army personnel first and became sportspersons through the organisation.
Celebrity sports personalities like Dhoni, Bindra and Dev are honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the Indian Army’s Territorial Army (TA) battalions. These are on recomendation of the Indian Army and approved by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The IAF recommending Tendulkar as Group Captain, was a first for the service.
VCs conferred honorary rank like Colonel is purely recomended and appointed by the MoD as it is for NCC Directorate, which is a seperate organ of the Defence Ministry. This is not a part of the Indian Army, Navy or Air Force. There is no direct involvment from them.
Why is this move significant?
The NCC conferring honorary ranks is not new. In the past, the Vice Chancellors of IP University, Palampur University, and Sharnbasva University were conferred honorary Colonel ranks.
However, the move this time around is significant, given that as many as 19 VCs have been conferred the title. This is a major step in recognising their contributions to nation-building.
Another notable thing is the focus shifting from conferring these ranks on celebrity sportspersons to academicians. It is worth noting that the VCs come from universities located in various states, including Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, and the North Eastern Region (NER), among others, as notified in the Gazette of India. It is clearly a move towards greater inclusivity.
Why have VCs been given Colonel ranks?
Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain told Firstpost, “Obviously the Armed Forces are looking for high quality youth for recruitment into their ranks. They have to find ways to communicate to potential high quality candidates from the job market and attract them. If Vice Chancellors themselves bear an affinity to the Armed Forces through honorary ranks that they are granted, the attraction value will be high besides motivating the VCs to be more familiar with National Security as related to the Armed Forces.”
Major General Raj Mehta (Retd) also focused on the youth-centric move. “Purely from a military viewpoint, the naming of VCs of 19 national, state and private universities as Honorary Colonel Commandants of NCC gives this population youth-centric institution a fillip. This at a time when we have a damning shortage of officers in our armed forces amounting to 40,000 odd,” he said.
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Why were 19 Indian universities’ vice chancellors conferred honorary ‘colonel’ ranks?
