Field Marshal (India)

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Field Marshal is the highest possible rank in the military of India. Only two Army appointments have been made by the Government of India since independence in 1947. The rank of Field Marshal though, existed in the old Indian Army.

Independent India's first, and only active Field Marshal (appointed when in service), was the then Chief of Army Staff Gen. Sam Manekshaw. A much admired and decorated World War 2 officer he was conferred the rank in 1973 by the Indira Gandhi-led government, largely in recognition of his sterling leadership during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. He is seen as being principally responsible, in a military sense, for an Indian victory in that war, and for the subsequent creation of Bangladesh.

Later, the first Indian officer to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces (see Indian Military), Gen. K.M. Cariappa was awarded the honorary rank of Field Marshal in 1983. Cariappa had many firsts to his name in the Indian Army's annals and had led the force in the 1947 conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir. He was also the officer tasked by India with overseeing the equitable division of the Royal Indian Army into two new forces and laid down much of the structure of the modern Indian Army.

In 2002, the government conferred the Indian Air Force's equivalent rank of Marshal of the Air Force on Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh in recognition of both, his service in building the Force, and for his astute helmsmanship of the IAF in the 1965 India-Pakistan conflict. He was also the first officer promoted to Air Chief Marshal (India) in the IAF. All previous Indian Chief of Air Staff (India) had been Air Marshals.

While the provision for the rank of Admiral of the Fleet exists, no officer of the Indian Navy has yet been conferred an equivalent rank.