RASHTRIYA INDIAN MILITARY COLLEGE – DEHRA DUN

The Rashtriya Indian Military College at Dehra Dun was inaugurated as the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College on 13 March 1922 by Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII of Great Britain. Based on demands made by India’s nascent freedom movement for Indian Officers to lead Indian troops, the founding of the College paved the way for young Indian lads to become commissioned officers of India’s defence services.

The RIMC was the first public school of India set up on the lines of Eton and Harrow for a small number of carefully selected boys. It has even now retained its characteristics of being a cradle of excellence, leadership and bravery.

It is a feeder institution to the National Defence Academy and the Academies of the three defence services. The finest leaders of men have passed out of its portals.

Hardly comprising 0.15 per cent of the annual officer intake in the Indian armed forces, they have provided three Army chiefs and one Air chief in India; two Air chiefs and one Army chief in Pakistan besides numerous Amy Commanders, corps commanders, diplomats, and top grade professionals in both India and Pakistan over the last 50 years since independence. The country’s first recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War II, Second Lieutenant (Later Lieutenant general) P.S. Bhagat and free India’s first Param Vir Chakra of the Kashmir War of 1947, Major Somnath Sharma were both alumini of the RIMC.

In the sphere of sports and adventure activities, so important for building character, the RIMC has excelled at all India levels. The college squash team has more than once been the National champions in the under 16 category. In soccer, the college team remains one of the top few. The young cadets have taken to diversified disciplines such as mountaineering, white water rafting, naval cruises, desert safaris, hot air ballooning, mountain cycling and para sailing. Notable among recent mountaineering achievements has been the successful summitting of Mount Kedarnath dome (6830 meters) by four boys, thus setting a world record for the youngest to scale such a height. ‘The Cradle of Excellence’ has produced three Arjuna award winners comprising a leader of the Mount Everest expedition; participants of the renowned round the world sailing expedition on the yatch Trishna and in squash.

The stamp marks the Platinum Jubilee of the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun.