DEFENCE OF INDIA

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20914, 20 September 1939, Page 7

DEFENCE OF INDIA

818 MODERNISATION SCHEME BRITISH GRANT OIF £25,000,000 SOLDIERS' GREAT ADAPTABILITY (Omclal Wireless) (Received Sept. 20, 3 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 19 The decision of the Imperial Government to make a (riant of over £25,000,000 towards the modernisation of India's defence forces ha 6 been received very favourably by all sections of opinion in India, The grant is a sequel to the findings of the expert committee which Lord Chatfleld, chairman of the committee, working on material made available to them in India. It estimated the total net capital cost of modernising India s defence forces at something over £34, 000,000. The committee, as w ell as I lie British Government, realised that tho funds required to meet this heavy expenditure could nut be found out of the resources available in India, it therefore decided that three-quarters of the fund needed to be approved as a free gift, while one-quarter would be by way of loan. The interest on the loan portion is entirely remitted for the first live years. The modernising of India's defence forces has not, of course, been waiting upon this final decision. The first units selected for conversion last year in the Indian Army, as distinct from the British Army in India, were cavalry regiments. The Indian cavalry soldier has proved himself wonderfully adaptable to all the new training which he had to undergo, and has shown his capacity of becoming without any difficulty a “modern soldier,” with all the technical knowledge which that term implies today.