Sikkim Scouts: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}

{{Use Indian English|date=August 2022}}

| size = Two [[battalion]]s<ref name=Inderjit>{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/will-finish-building-china-border-infrastructure-by-18-rao-inderjit/ |title=Will finish building China border infrastructure by 2018|first=Rao |last=Inderjit|newspaper=The Indian Express|date= May 2022}}</ref>

[[Sikkim]] became a [[States and union territories of India|state of India]] in 1975, after having been a British and then Indian [[protectorate]] for nearly a century. Even as a protectorate, Indian troops were stationed in Sikkim, because of the area's important role as a [[buffer zone]] against [[China]], with which it shares a {{convert|222|km|miles|abbr=on}} border.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8ED-CZU6fUC&pg=PA235 |title=Who is a Normative Foreign Policy Actor?: The European Union and Its Global Partners |editor= Tocci, Nathalie  |author-link=Nathalie Tocci |publisher=Centre for European Policy Studies |year= 2008 |isbn=978-9290797791 |pages=235–237 }}</ref><ref name=Pramod/> China did not clearly recognize Sikkim as an Indian state until the 2000s,<ref>{{cite book|page=80|first=Satish|last=Kumar|chapter=India and the Himalayan states|title= Handbook of India's International Relations|editor=Scott, David|isbn= 978-1136811319|publisher= Routledge|year=2022}}</ref> and continues to lay claim to what India refers to as the northernmost "Finger Area" of Sikkim.<ref name=Orton/> The [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962 saw some fighting on the Sikkimese border<ref name=Orton>{{cite book|title=India's Borderland Disputes: China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal|editor=Orton, Anna|publisher=Epitome Books|year=2010|isbn=978-9380297156|pages=51–53, 63–64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RBOnS8KsgcC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= The Fight for Peace: The Long Road to Tashkent, A Study in Foreign Relations|pages=390–391|editor=Gogia, S. C.|publisher=Hardy & Ally India|location=New Delhi|year=1966}}</ref> and from 1965 to 1967, Indian and Chinese forces clashed on the border, notably during the 1967 [[Chola incident]].<ref>{{cite book|page=40|title=Rapprochement Across the Himalayas|first=Keshav |last=Mishra|publisher=Gyan|year= 2004|isbn=978-8178352947}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Feng |first1=Cheng|last2=Wortzel|first2=Larry M.|authorlink2=Larry Wortzel|page=188| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsoDGLNmU30C&pg=PA188|chapter=PLA Operational Principles and Limited War|title= Chinese Warfighting: The PLA Experience Since 1949 |editor1=Ryan, Mark A. |editor2=Finkelstein, D. M. |editor3=McDevitt, Michael A.|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|year=2003|isbn=978-0765610874}}</ref><ref name=Asiatimes/> More recently, there were small incursions and skirmishes around 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/china_military_power_report_2009.pdf|title=Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2009|publisher=Office of the Secretary of Defense|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=5–6}}</ref><ref name=Asiatimes>{{cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JF27Df01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905125703/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JF27Df01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=5 September 2008|newspaper=Asia Times Online|date=27 June 2008|title=China toys with India's border|first= Sudha |last=Ramachandran }}</ref> Several units of the Indian Army and [[Indo-Tibetan Border Police]] are stationed in Sikkim {{as of|2014|lc=y}}. Historically, these troops have been drawn from other parts of India, and not from the local population.<ref name=Pramod/><ref name=flag/>

[[Pawan Kumar Chamling]], [[Chief Minister of Sikkim]] from the [[Sikkim Democratic Front]], requested of the [[Ministry of Defence (India)|Ministry of Defence]] that the Sikkim Scouts regiment be formed, to provide positions for young men in Sikkim and since all other Himalayan border states had similar forces. (The [[Ladakh Scouts]] were formed in 1963, and the [[Arunachal Scouts]] in 2010, while other Himalayan states have dedicated border security battalions in regular regiments such as the [[Kumaon Regiment]].) The ministry and the Indian Army supported Chamling's proposal, as it was in line with India's "sons of soil" policy to bolster her defence units by integrating locals into them, and on 6 December 2012, the proposal was approved by the [[Cabinet Committee on Security]]. Officials stated at the time that the regiment would be formally established in mid-2015, after the initial recruits had been raised and trained.<ref name=Banerjee>{{cite news|newspaper=The Tribune|edition=Chandigarh|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121208/main6.htm|date=7 December 2012|title='Sons of soil' to guard China border in Sikkim|first=Ajay|last=Banerjee}}</ref> The raising of the regiment was expected to cost some Rs 32.5 [[crore]] (US$5 million). The cost of maintaining the regiment was projected to be a slightly greater amount per year.<ref name=Banerjee/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defencenow.com/news/1038/sikkim-scouts-to-be-raised-by-2015.html|title=Sikkim Scouts to Be Raised By 2015|website=Defence Now|date=December 2012|access-date=13 September 2022}}</ref>

In March 2013, the first recruiting drives for the new regiment were held in Sikkim, which were expected to enrol roughly 500 candidates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://isikkim.com/2013-2-sikkim-scouts-recruitment-drive-from-march-3-7-5/|title= Sikkim Scouts recruitment drive from March 3|date=17 February 2013|website=iSikkim|access-date=13 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://isikkim.com/2013-2-sikkim-recruitment-rally-for-local-infantry-force-in-march-15-3/|title= Sikkim: Recruitment rally for local infantry force in March|website=iSikkim|date=15 February 2022}}</ref> Because of the popularity of tattoos among Sikkimese men, many candidates had to be rejected; the Ministry of Defence had issued a policy banning tattoos (other than religious symbols and names) for new recruits to the Indian military in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://isikkim.com/2013-5-200-candidates-with-tattoos-rejected-for-sikkim-scouts-10-1/|title= 200 candidates with tattoos rejected for Sikkim Scouts|website=iSikkim|date=10 May 2022}}</ref>

The regiment was presented with a flag, and formally raised, by Army Vice Chief [[S. K. Singh (general)|S. K. Singh]] at [[Lucknow]] on 24 May 2013. At the time, there were 319 Sikkimese recruits in the regiment, and a [[en cadre|cadre]] from [[Gorkha regiments (India)|Gorkha regiments]] assembled to train the recruits.<ref name=flag/><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://indianarmy.gov.in/Site/PressRelease/frmPressReleaseDetail.aspx?n=bniEtbbo9LN7kb4q3kupGg==&NewsID=DRc1koDDGh1BOX7k5FKX5A==|author=Indian Army|title=Unveiling of Flag of Sikkim Scouts |date=27 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/north-east/sikkim-saw-emergence-of-new-opposition-party-in-2013_899991.html|work=Z News|title= Sikkim saw emergence of new Opposition party in 2013|publisher=Zee Media|date=28 December 2022}}</ref> The process of recruiting and training the regiment was completed in mid-2015.<ref name=Inderjit/>