Colonel is a rank in the Indian Army. Like other armies, this rank is higher than lieutenant colonel. It is equivalent to captain in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

and

group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

. The Indian Army has followed the British Army rank system since India's independence from the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

in 1947. However, the St Edward's Crown in the rank insignia was replaced with the National Emblem of India, symbolising the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

Appointments

Colonels in the Indian Army command battalion-sized units (infantry battalions, artillery regiments, armoured regiments). Until the 1980s, battalions (and equivalents) were commanded by a lieutenant colonel. Colonels also serve as staff officers in divisions like Colonel General Staff (Col GS) and Colonel Administration (Col Adm). At Army headquarters, colonels hold the appointments of directors of directorates and branches.

Insignia

The badges of rank have two five-pointed stars and the National emblem above. The gorget patches of a colonel consist of crimson patches with golden braids.

Pay scale

Colonels are at pay level 13, with a monthly pay between ₹130,600 and ₹215,900 with a monthly service pay of ₹15,500. This is the first selection-grade rank. The promotion to the rank can happen through selection or on time-scale basis. A minimum of 15 years of commissioned service is required for an officer to be considered in the selection grade. This is the highest rank which may be attained by officers on time-scale promotion if not promoted to colonel by selection after 26 years of commissioned service.

Colonel of the regiment

The colonel of the regiment (COR) is a tradition and position that the Indian Army has inherited from the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, as have other armies of the commonwealth. The post of COR is an elected post. All officers including and above the rank of colonel vote as do all battalion commanding officers (CO). The vote of the COs represents the vote of their soldiers. The COR is a senior officer of the regiment, usually the senior-most, who is a father-figure to the regiment and looks after the interests of the regiment. Thus, they are usually

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

s or

brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

s. On ceremonial occasions, the COR wears the rank badges of a colonel rather than their actual rank.

Famous colonels

* Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore - Olympic Silver medalist, former Minister of State for Youth affairs and Sports and Member of parliament from Jaipur Rural * Narendra 'Bull' Kumar - mountaineer known for expeditions in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

and the

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends in northeastern Kashmir. At long, it is the longest glaci ...

* Balbir Singh Kular -

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player for India who won the Asian Games Gold in 1966 and the Olympic Bronze in 1968 * Ajay Kothiyal - mountaineer and first Indian to climb Mt Manaslu, former Aam Aadmi Party and current Bharatiya Janta Party politician * Colonel Jojan Thomas *Col Rajiv Bhargwan *Col Shivender Kanwar - known for being the Commanding officer of elite 9 Para SF unit, had sustained over 30 gunshot wounds. Post-retirement he founded Team Global Security Solutions Pvt Ltd, specialising in high-level security services. *Col Kaushal Kashyap - A distinguished officer of the 21 Para (Special Forces) unit, and awarded the Shaurya Chakra in 2007 for his exceptional bravery during operations against militants in Northeast India.

References