New Delhi: Droupadi Murmu on Monday took oath as the 15th President of India. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered her oath at a ceremony held at Parliament's Central Hall in the presence of former president Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi amongst others.She took the oath in the name of god in Hindi.As President Murmu takes charge of the highest constitutional post of the country, we take a look at President’s Body Guard, the senior most regiment of the Indian Army, who will be protecting her:
What is President’s Body Guard or PBG?President’s Body Guard (PBG) is the oldest surviving mounted unit and the senior most regiment of the Indian Army. The primary role of the President's Bodyguard is to escort and protect the President of India which is why the regiment is based in the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India. It is equipped as a mounted unit, with horses for ceremonies at the presidential palace and BTR-80 vehicles for use in combat. The personnel of the regiment are also trained as paratroopers and nominally are expected to lead in airborne assaults in the role of pathfinders. The regiment is the successor of the Governor General's Bodyguard of the British Raj.
The HistoryThe first bodyguard to be raised in India was in 1773 when European troops, already recruited into the East India Company's service as infantry, were earmarked for the role. PBG was raised by Governor Warren Hastings in September 1773. Hastings handpicked 50 troopers from the ‘Moghal Horse’, which was raised in 1760 by local sirdars, Sirdars Mirza Shahbaz Khan and Sirdar Khan Tar Beg. In the same year, Raja Cheyt Singh of Benaras provided another 50 troopers that took the strength of the unit to 100. The first commander of the unit was Capt. Sweeny Toone, an officer of the Honourable East Indian Company(HEIC), who had Lt. Samuel Black as his subaltern.The establishment of the unit was as follows: –
- 1 Captain
- 1 Lieutenant
- 4 Sergeants
- 6 Daffadars
- 100 troopers
- 2 Trumpeters
- 1 Ferrier
GGBG was the only Corps of cavalry in the Bengal presidency till 1777 when two Regiments of Cavalry were transferred to the HEIC by Nawab of Oudh. Both the regiments were raised in 1776.
The titlesPresident’s Body Guard’s title kept on changing with the passage of time:
- 1773-1780 The Governor’s Troops of Moghals. Other titles in use were Troops of Body Guard, Governor’s Troops of Bodyguards, Troops of Horse guards, Troops of Black Cavalry, Body Troop.
- 1784 Governor General’s Body guards (GGBG)
- 1859 His Excellency the Viceroy’s Body Guards
- 1944 44th Divisional Reconnaissance Squadron (GGBG)
- 1946 Governor General’s Bodyguard
- 1947 After independence, the unit got split between Governor General’s Body Guard, India & Governor General’s Body Guard, Pakistan.
- 1950 The President’s Body Guard, India. In Pakistan the title remained GGBG till 1956.
'Strength and ethnic composition'Minimum strength of the unit was 50 when it was raised in 1773 but the precise maximum strength of the unit is not known. President of India’s website claims a number of 1929 just before the First Sikh war but some historians believe the number to be 469. As per the book
Historical Records of the Governor General’s Body Guards published in 1910, maximum strength of the unit was 529 all ranks on February 12, 1844 just before the first Sikh War. In addition to 529 all ranks, orders were also issued to attach two Rissalahs of Irregular Cavalry, taking the strength of the unit to 730 all ranks.The ethnic composition of the unit varied equally. Recruitment started when the unit was raised in 1773 by Governor Warren Hastings, with a strength of 50 handpicked troopers. This nucleus of the Bodyguard was later augmented by another 50 horsemen, provided by Maharaja Chait Singh of Benares, thus bringing the overall strength of the regiment up to 100 horses and men by the end of that year.By 1800, Hindus (Brahmins and Rajputs) were allowed to join the GGBG along with Muslims, but the area of the recruitment remained the same: Awadh & Bihar.In 1800, the recruitment pool was changed from the Bengal Presidency to the Madras Presidency and the GGBG was reconstituted with troopers from the Madras cavalry for the next 60 years. During this period, South Indian castes comprised the bulk of this unit.After the Great Mutiny of 1857, the center of recruitment of the Indian Army was shifted from Awadh and southern India to northern India. The GGBG was no exception and Sikhs were allowed to enlist for the first time in Aug 1883 and Punjabi Muslims in October 1887. The recruitment of Brahmins ceased in 1895. After that, the proportions of recruits was fixed at 50 per cent Sikhs (Malwa and Majha) and 50 percent Muslims (Hindustani & Punjabi).Currently Jats, Rajputs and Jat Sikhs taken in equal numbers 33.1 percent, primarily from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The basic height requirement for enlistment is 1.83 metres (6 feet 0 in). In the pre-Independence era, the average height of a member of the President's Bodyguards was 1.90 metres (6 feet 3 inches).
Operational historyThe PBG first saw action in 1773–74, when it was deployed against Sanyasis – a band that ravaged the countryside in the guise of mendicants.Its next campaign was against Rohillas in April 1774 in the battle of St. George where the Rohillas were defeated completely.The Bodyguard was also present during the 3rd Mysore War (1790–92) against Tipu Sultan. During this campaign, it successfully thwarted an assassination attempt on the life of Governor General Lord Cornwallis.In 1801, a detachment consisting of one Native Officer and 26 other ranks went to Egypt to provide riders for an experimental unit of horse artillery. It marched for 120 miles in the desert in the height of summer. All their horses died and they had to place the guns on camels. The Bodyguard detachment never saw action in Egypt, as Alexandria had capitulated by the time that they arrived there.These campaigns did not bring any Battle Honours to the GGBG. They earned their first Battle Honour 'Java' in 1811, during the conquest of the island. At present the PBG has the unique distinction of being the only surviving unit to carry this honour.In 1824, a detachment volunteered to sail over the kaala paani ("black water", or open ocean, which Hindu soldiers once refrained from crossing, for fear of losing their caste) to take part in the First Anglo-Burmese War and earned their second Battle Honour "Ava".The Bodyguard received their third Battle Honour 'Maharajpore' for the battle of Maharajpore in 1843, when the British intervened in the battle for the succession that erupted in Gwalior after the death of Maharaja Scindia.The PBG fought in all the main battles of the First Sikh War and earned four Battle Honours.During the 1857 Great Mutiny, Lord Canning asked the Indian officers and other ranks to serve without arms as a precautionary measure, which they did in good faith. With their loyalty established, the Bodyguard later escorted Lord Canning to the grand Durbar at Allahabad where on 1 November 1858, it was proclaimed that India would be governed by the British Crown, and the title of Viceroy was conferred on the Governor General.During World War I, Lord Hardinge offered the Bodyguards as Divisional Cavalry for the Meerut Division, which was going to France, but it was decided that the best use of the Bodyguards would to act as trainers for raw remounts of cavalry and artillery. Thus for the entire period of the WW1, GGBG worked as remount training center. However, a detachment of the unit was sent to France as a reinforcement for the 3rd Skinner's Horse. During World War II, for a brief period of time, the GGBG served as 44th Division Reconnaissance Squadron.Independence came with the partition of the nation and armed forces were also divided in 2:1 ratio between India and Pakistan. GGBG was no exception, the Muslim elements of the unit went to Pakistan, and Sikhs, Jats and Rajput elements stayed with India.The title of the regiment remained GGBG till 26 January 1950, when India became a republic and the GGBG became the President's Body Guard. The title remained GGBG in Pakistan, until it became a republic in 1956. The first commandant of the regiment was Lieutenant Colonel Thakur Govind Singh and his adjutant was Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, who decided to join Pakistan Army. After the division of other assets of the regiment, when it came to the gold plated buggy of the Viceroy, both India & Pakistan wanted it. To decide the fate of the buggy, Colonel Singh and Sahabzada Yaqub Khan tossed a coin and India got the buggy.The PBG has seen action in all of independent India's major wars. It rendered yeoman service in the capitol and helped reinstate confidence in the general public in the aftermath of the Partition. After Independence, Humbers and Daimler armoured cars formed the mounts of the PBG and were deployed in the defense of Chushul at heights above 14,000 ft during the 1962 Indo-China War.It participated in Operation Ablaze in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. The regiment served in Siachen glacier, where it has been serving till date. A detachment of the regiment was a part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka during 1988–89, and Indian contingents to the UN Peace Keeping Forces in Somalia, Angola and Sierra Leone.
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