Revive Chamar Regiment in Army, SC panel urges PM

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 18

The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive Chamar Regiment in the Army.

Commission chairman Rajesh Bagha has made thisrequest so that SC youth get a better opportunity to serve the country. He also requested Modi to set up a chair in any university to highlight the achievements of the Chamar Regiment.

Going into the history of regiment, the commission said the SC Regiment in British Indian Army was formed on the recommendation of a committee, which was constituted to find out martial and non-martial races in India.

In his letter, Bagha said that further research was conducted to identify martial castes among the Scheduled Castes. The research zeroed in on two SC castes — Chamar and Mahar — as these had military history. Based on these findings, the Indian British Government constituted the Chamar Regiment in March 1943.

“The regiment had its headquarters at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and it served the British Army up to 1946. After that it was banned due to unforeseen circumstances,” he said. On Chamar Regiment’s contribution to the British Army, Bagha said the regiment took part in World War II and fought a battle against the Japanese Imperial Army in Kohima (Nagaland). “The Kohima Roll of Honor at the War Memorial in Ragoon (now known as Yangoon) lists the achievements of the Chamar Regiment in the battlefield.”

The commission chairperson added, “It is strange that the Sikh Regiment, Jat Regiment, Gorkha Regiment and Dogra Regiment formed on the basis of caste or religion continue to exist, while the Chamar Regiment was disbanded. As there is no reservation in the Army, SC youths are not getting commissioned into it. On the other hand, other castes and religions are getting indirect reservation on basis of their status of being martial and non-martial races.”