Sikh Regiment The Sikh Regiment is a 19 battalion strong , infantry regiment of the Indian Army , drawing a bulk of its recruits from the Sikh community . The first battalion of the regiment was officially raised just before the annexation of the Sikh Empire on August 1 , 1846 , by the British Empire . It is currently one of the highest decorated regiments in the Indian Army and was at one stage one of the highest decorated regiments in the British Empire . The Sikh Regimental Centre is located in Ramgarh Cantonment , from Ranchi , which is the capital of the state of Jharkhand in India . The Centre was earlier located in Meerut in the state of Uttar Pradesh . The modern Sikh Regiment traces its roots directly from the 11th Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army . When transferred to the Indian Army like its sister regiments , the numeral prefix ( in the case of the Sikh Regiment , 11 ) was removed and extra battalions were raised , transferred or disbanded to meet army needs . With a humble beginning of two battalions , today the fraternity has grown to a regiment of 19 regular infantry and two reserve battalions strong . Enlisted soldiers are strictly recruited from the Sikh community and trained internally by the regiment , in which they tend to spend most of their careers . While officers are trained externally from either IMA , or NDA and tend to leave the regiment subject to promotion , officers assigned to the Sikh Regiment are drawn from all regions and areas of India . The war cry of regiment , taken from Sikh scriptures is : " ' Jo Bole So Nihal , Sat Sri Akal ' ( ' whoever utters ( the phrase following ) shall be happy ( fulfilled ) , true is the Holy God ' ) . " Regimental history . Pre - Independence . The history of the Sikh Regiment ties closely with the Sikh people of the Punjab . Sikhism was created in the state of Punjab and throughout the creation of the religion Punjab was seen as a junction of cultural and religious influence from the Arabic West and the Mathra east , hence the lands of Punjab were wrestled by both spheres of influence either by sublime cultural influence or by force of arms . By the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev , Punjabi culture was recognised as a third juncture and independent Punjabi culture flourished with the new religion , as such Punjabis following Sikhism were targeted as a potential rival of Islamic influence . As followers of Sikhism were targeted for religious beliefs , Sikhs were encouraged to maintain a degree of martial tenants . As Islamic persecution of Sikhs , Hinduism increased , Sikhism became more militant coining the theory " saint - soldier " in which Sikhism maintained its martial tenants . With the dissolution of Sikh Gurus , the Sikhs leaderless were broken into smaller confederacies which were more akin to fighting amongst themselves and only uniting under Dal Khalsa to fight external threats . Maharaja Ranjit Singh , a Sikh , unified the confederacies and formed " Khalsa Army " . Numerous heroic and valiant battles were fought by the Khalsa Army , including wars with Mughals , Afghan - Sikh wars and Anglo - Sikh wars . The Maharaja ' s Sikh Empire was annexed by the Second Anglo - Sikh war . The Sikh Regiment came into existence on August 1 , 1846 , with the raising of Regiment of Ferozepore Sikhs and Regiment of Ludhiana Sikhs by Captain G . Tebbs and Lieutenant Colonel P . Gordon respectively and were used in great effect in the 1857 Indian Rebellion . The outcomes were extremely beneficial for the Sikhs , as their loyalty and fighting tenacity made them the backbone of recruitment for the British Indian Army , which were previously recruited from South Indian regions . In this campaign the Sikhs were awarded their first two battle honours for operations conducted at the siege of Lucknow and the defence of Arrah . In addition the Sikh Regiment were awarded a one rank seniority over other Indian Sepoy s and awarded the authorisation to wear the converted red turban ( which is still worn by the regiment today ) opposed to the standard blue head dress worn by British Indian Army Units at the time . Battle of Saragarhi Piquet . In September 1897 , 4 Sikh was deployed in Khanki valley on Samana ridge in North - West Frontier Province ( NWFP ) in Pakistan . At that time , 4 Sikh was known as XXXVI Sikh of the British Indian Army . The battalion , deployed in two groups , occupied Fort Lockhart with picquets at Dar , Sartope , Sangar , Carg and Saragarhi . Among all the piquets , Saragarhi was the most important , due to its position on the highest point between Fort Lockhart and Gulistan . Twenty one soldiers , under the command of Hav Ishar Singh , held the Saragarhi piquet . To separate Fort Gulistan and Lockhart , 10000 Orakzai and Afridi Lashkars attacked Saragarhi on September 12 , 1897 at daybreak . The attack was initially repelled with the enemy sustaining a loss of over 60 men . Lt . Col J Haughton , the then Commanding Officer , made all efforts to hold Saragarhi . However , the battalion was forced to retreat initially as the enemy repeatedly attacked Saragarhi . The Sikhs did not move back from the fort . One Sepoy took control of the guardroom and shot not less than 20 enemies , before tribesmen set the guardroom on fire and burnt him to death . By about 3 p . m . , men and ammunition ran short and the assailants destroyed the battalion post by setting it on fire . The Sikhs killed 450 tribesmen before making the supreme sacrifice . On receiving the news , the British Parliament interrupted its proceedings and gave standing ovation to the men of Saragarhi . Each hero was awarded an Indian Order of Merit ( IOM ) , the highest award given to an Indian soldier in British Indian Army for valour and sacrifice . Altogether , a record 21 IOMs were awarded that day . The battle of Saragarhi gave the concept of " last man , last round " . Now , September 12 is celebrated as " Saragarhi Day " by all the battalions of the elite Sikh Regiment . UNESCO recognises this battle as one among eight battles of the world known for collective bravery . World Wars . The Sikh Regiment was further used as a unit for the British Empire being used to garrison India internally , protect Indian frontiers ( such as the North - West Frontier Province ) and to serve in overseas deployments such as operations in Hong Kong . By 1914 Sikh Regiments were deployed as part of the British Indian Army for operations in World War I . The Regiment served in all theatres of operations and earned 28 battle honours . In both the World Wars 83 , 005 turban - wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109 , 045 were wounded while fighting across 3 continents . In the years to 1945 , 14 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the Sikhs , a per capita record given the size of the Sikh Regiments . In 2002 , the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross winners were inscribed on the pavilion monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill next to Buckingham Palace , London . A total of 40 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the Indian soldiers including those who hailed from the present day Pakistan . Post - Independence . Sikhs make up 25 % of all ranks in the Indian Army and 30 % of its officers , whilst Sikhs only forming 2 % of the Indian population , which makes them over 10 times more likely to be a soldier and officer in the Indian Army than the average Indian . The Sikh Regiment is one of the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army , with 73 Battle Honours , 14 Victoria Crosses , 21 first class Indian Order of Merit ( equivalent to the Victoria Cross ) , 15 Theatre Honours and 5 COAS Unit Citations besides 2 Param Vir Chakras , 14 Maha Vir Chakras , 5 Kirti Chakras , 67 Vir Chakras and 1596 other gallantry awards . General Joginder Jaswant Singh ( born 17 September 1945 ) was the first Sikh chief of army staff of India . He served as chief of army staff from January 31 , 2005 , to September 30 , 2007 . He was named 22nd chief of army staff on November 27 , 2004 , and took over the role when his predecessor , General N C Vij , retired on 31 January 2005 . He was succeeded by General Deepak Kapoor . He is the first Sikh to have led the Indian Army and the 11th chief of army staff from the Western Command based at Chandigarh . His selection was not a surprise , as at the time of his appointment he was the most senior officer in the army after General Vij . He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the 9 Maratha Light Infantry on 2 August 1964 . Following his retirement , he became governor of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in January 2008 . Fallen and injured as part of The British Indian Army . In the last two World Wars 83 , 005 Sikh soldiers were killed and 109 , 045 were wounded while fighting across 3 continents . In the years to 1945 , 14 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the Sikhs , a per capita record given the size of the Sikh Regiments . In 2002 , the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross winners were inscribed on the pavilion monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill next to Buckingham Palace , London . Others Operation Blue Star . Following Operation Blue Star , an Indian Army operation which attacked the Sikh community ' s most prominent shrine , some of the recruits at Ramgarh , Bihar mutinied . They shot and killed the commandant of the Sikh Regimental Center , Brigadier S . C . Puri , and wounded some other officers . They then got hold of a number of trucks and started to proceed towards Punjab , but were stopped by army men in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh . A part of 9 Sikh which was in the Ganganagar area of Rajasthan also mutinied . This battalion was disbanded on April 1 , 1985 . Following Operation Blue Star , the then COAS , General Arun S . Vaidya , wanted to have more mixed battalions . So he passed an order that single - class battalions should begin recruiting other classes as well as their parent class . These mixed battalions came to be known as " Vaidya ' s Battalions " . The 13 Sikh was raised as Vaidya ' s battalion with class composition : a company each of Sikhs , Dogras , Garhwali s and South Indians . However these units were reverted to their original class composition later . General Vaidya was later assassinated by Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha for the perception of his involvement in Operation Blue Star and failing to rehabilitate mutinied Sikh soldiers . Awards and citations . The Museum of the Regimental Centre displays a record of the Sikh Regiment in four halls viz . , The Chief of Army Staff ( COAS ) made a special instant award of " Unit Citation " to 8th Battalion , The Sikh Regiment for their meritorious and gallant performance in isolation of Tiger Hill , which facilitated the capture of Tiger Hill top and Helmet and India Gate , features to the West of Tiger Hill top , on night 07 / 8 July 1999 , in Dras . During Operation Vijay 1999 during Indo - Pak Kargil War , the units of the regiment displayed sterling performance marked with exceptional valour and grit in the face of the enemy . In all , the Regiment has to its credit 1652 gallantry awards and honours including In addition it has also earned : Plans to raise a UK Sikh regiment . Advanced plans by the British Army to raise a UK Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped due to accusations by the Commission for Racial Equality ( CRE ) that such a creation could be viewed as racist or sectarian . The Sikh regiment had many supporters including Prince Charles .