The northern districts of Karnataka may be socio-economically backward, but they send out a fairly large number of people to the India Army to serve as soldiers compared to other parts of the State.
In fact, one of the factors contributing to it could precisely be that many youngsters in this region, which does not have many educational and employment options, look to the Army as a career choice.
Though no exact data is available on how many men from northern Karnataka region are serving in the Army, many serving officers admit that the number is more than that of those from central or south Karnataka.
Speaking to The Hindu on the condition of anonymity, serving officers in the Army from here said that the number of Armymen from north Karnataka could be more for two reasons. “Due to the region’s backwardness, many youths find no other jobs with their limited education. Second one, which is important as far as the Army is concerned, is the physical fitness. The people of NK are tough and resilient, thus they easily clear all tests that demand physical fitness,” said one of the Armymen from the region.
This was demonstrated at a recent Army recruitment rally held in Bidar.
A senior police officer, who helped Army officials with the preparations, observed that at least a third of the 27,000 applicants were from Bagalkot and Vijayapura districts. “Of the 6,000 candidates who cleared the physical tests, the share of these two districts must have been more than 30 per cent, if not more,” he said.
Srikanth Kulkarni, a retired soldier, explained the phenomenon like this: “We should not forget that a job in the armed forces is a government job. A lot of families aspire for that. That it does not call for a lot of spending on education makes it even more attractive. Thirdly, when a youth from a village joins the Army, he inspires other village lads. That is one of the reasons why a soldier on holiday returns home, from the place of his posting, wearing his uniform. It commands a lot of respect in the village.”
****
Lt. Gen. Ramesh Halgali (retired), former Deputy Chief of Army Staff: While historically, north India has been recognised as the one with martial races, south India has always been a region where soldiers have been fighting between themselves or others. North Karnataka has produced one of the largest number of gallant soldiers and high quality officers for the Army. The boys are extremely sturdy, sons of the soil and can remain protracted into battle with the bare minimum essentials. This boy too (Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad) had the determination to fight against nature despite being buried in snow.
