Indian Army: Rachna Bisht Rawat's Inspirational Writings

Abstract

The units and regiments of the Indian Army have diverse histories and have participated in a number of battles and campaigns across the world, earning a large number of battle and theatre honours before and after Independence. In spite of its glorious past and laudable present, it has not generated the enthusiasm among the teenagers to be drawn to the life in Army. In fact, the number of good aspirants for induction into the army are few and dwindling as time goes by. Though Indian Army offers exciting careers to young people yet surprisingly it faces a shortage of officers. Presently it is reeling under a shortage of 21383 personnel, and over seven thousand officers. Image projection campaigns have not yielded the desired result. Rachna Bisht Rawat's motivational books—The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories (2014), 1965: Stories from the Second Indo-Pakistan War (2015) and Shoot, Dive, Fly: Stories of Grit and Adventure from the Indian Army (2017) serve the singular purpose of introducing the teenagers to the real super heroes of India, myriad career options in the Army and motivating them to be part of the exotic life in olive green uniform.