Happy Birthday General! Army Chief to end it where it all began

While uncertainty looms over how many candles Army Chief General VK Singh will have on his birthday cake today, what he is going to do on his last day of his tenure is certain. The General will review the passing out parade of the premier training institution National Defence Academy (NDA) – where lies the genesis of his age controversy.

General Singh will hand over the command of the 1.12 million-strong Indian Army to his successor Lt Gen Bikram Singh on May 31, a day when the normally the passing out parade takes place at the cradle of Indian armed forces - the NDA, Khadakwasla at Pune. The cadets passing out of the tri-service institution then join various service institutions like Indian Military Academy, Air Force Academy, Indian Naval Academy. 

Sources told the Defence Express that the summer passing out parade of the NDA has now been scheduled a day earlier on May 30, so that the Army Chief can review the parade.

Even as General Singh remains, the only army chief with two year of births – 1950 and 1951 – sources close to him indicate that the feeling of being wronged by the system is still there.

"It was 46 years ago on July 1, 1966 that the Army Chief had joined NDA, a place where it (the controversy for date of birth) all began. So there could be no better place to be on his last day in service," sources added.

The controversy of age that has been plaguing the Indian Army for over last one year has its roots in NDA. It was while filling up the form for this esteemed institution that one of the teachers of the then 14-year-old General – a third generation officer - wrongly filled his year of birth as 1950 instead of 1951.

Thereafter the date of birth reflected in the Indian Military Academy's (IMA) form is also 1950, a fact contested by General Singh. However, the Defence Ministry had determined Army Chief's year of birth as reflected in his NDA and IMA form.

The controversy threatened to send the succession plans of the Indian Army in a tizzy and also saw some unprecedented developments like a serving Army Chief dragging the government of the day to the Supreme Court.