Indian Army Day : Here’s why it is celebrated on January 15 every year

nawazqurshi January 15, 2023 2 min read

Every year on January 15, India commemorates the achievements of General (later Field Marshal) K.M. Cariappa, the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army.
On this day in 1949, Cariappa, who led Indian forces to victory in the 1947 war, seized leadership of the Indian Army from General Sir FRR Bucher, the final British Commander-in-Chief, and became the country’s first Indian Commander-in-Chief. Every year, Army Day is observed to honour Cariappa and the armed services.

Until this year, the main Army Day parade was conducted at Delhi’s Cariappa Parade Ground, where Service Chiefs paid their respects to the Indian Army. The Army Day Parade depicts the evolution of numerous weapon systems kept in the inventory of the Indian Army. On the same day, soldiers receive Gallantry awards and Sena medals.

Army day 2023

The 75th Army Day will be hosted in Bengaluru this year as part of a move to bring significant events outside of the national capital region.
The reasoning behind the change is to raise the visibility of these events and ensure greater participation with the local public.

The parade on Army Day will commence with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Madras Engineer Centre War Memorial by Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande. The Army Day parade will thereafter be reviewed by Gen. Pande. COAS unit citations will also be given to units for their outstanding achievement.

This year’s Army parade will feature up to eight marching contingents, including a horse-mounted contingent from the Army Service Corps and a military band comprised of regimental brass bands. A flypast of Army aviation Dhruv and Rudra helicopters will be be part of the Army Day ceremony.

A run was held in Hyderabad on Necklace Road as part of the Army’s outreach campaign to strengthen ties with civilians. Around 1,000 individuals took part. A blood donation camp was also organised, with 7,500 units of blood donated at military hospitals in both Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

The theme for the event in 2022 was “In Stride with the Future,” according to the Indian Army. It was considered as an acknowledgement of the “increasingly essential role played by specialist and disruptive technologies in modern combat”.