BOOK REVIEW

MILITARISM
IN
INDIA
1.Auther
Apurba Kundu
2.Pages
230
3.Publisher
Tauris Academic Studies London
4.About The Auther. Apurba Kundu a Calcutta based Indian writer. He formulated this
book
to understand the factors which have made a military take of a government in India
extraordinary unlike.In the formulation of this book he embraced himself from the
experiences of various economists, military persons, foreign schools and universities.
5. Theme. As obvious from the title , the basic theme of this book is that why
India has never erperienced a military coup.
6.Subject Matter. As illustrated by the title , the book narrates the story of Militarism
In India. In the backdrop of military setup from the British era to 1990 .The book
traces how various events lead to explain the factors which led to build the
militarism in India. This book concentrates upon the interaction between military and
political factors to explore which factors have contributed to this remarkable state of
affair in which India has experienced neither a military regime nor an unsuccessful
coup.
7.Outline . After a comprehensive introduction the auther has divided the book into
following parts.
a.Chapter .1. The Proffessional Indian Officer . Chapter
one examines the history and
development of comissioned Indian officers the 1918 admission of Indian cadites to
Royal Military Collage, Sand hurst ,through the opening of Military Academy, Dehra Dun
in 1932 to the eve of second world war. It reveals that Indian officers mastered their
professional expertise the management of violance and sense of org
corporateness
despite a multitude of formal and
informal
challenges.
decision making before and closing the war . It reveals how the armys fd officers,
that strata of any officer corps must likely to war altitude towards both the
political and military leadership precived the public to be sympathetic towards the
military and resentful of the political leadership. Civil military relations were again
tested 1975 when Indra Gandhi approved to end b. Chapter 2. Chapter two shows
Nationalist movement had a little effect on the loyalty and discipline of comissioned
Indian officers , despite some being had firsthand experience in nationalist
activities
before joining the Armed forces.
C . Chapter . 3. This
chapter explores a potentially
explosive exception to comissioned
Indian officers , non involvement in the independence movement. During the
second world war , various national armies drawn from the Indian prisoner of
war (pows) and civilian were fered with the express purpose of combating
the Raj. Although these forces proved no match
for the allies in combat ,
there mere existance and grave rise for the loyalty of the British led
Indian Armed forces .
Chapter.4. Although many officers feel that their efforts went unappreciated by
the Indian political and administrative authorities.They remained confident as the
latter ability to manage the difficult transition
to independence and to
govern effectively.
Chapter.5.Might they copy the example of their comrade , General Ayub Khan ,
who justified his leading the Pakistan Army in 1958 takeover of the
countries government by saying that civilian politicians has proved incapable
of managing the challenges of independence effectively .
Indian comissioned officers differenciated from their Pakistani counter part
interms of their personal and professional understanding of their role in
society and remain in their barracks .

Chapter. 6. Civil supremacy of rule in India came under its greatest threat
when defeat in the 1962 sino . Indian war first time called into question the
competence of civil government .
Chapter .7. This chapter exposes the symbolic nature of the Indian Civil Military
Indian democracy by imposing a draconian period of
rule .