Territorial Army ( India ) The Territorial Army in India ( commonly referred to as TA in India ) is an organization of volunteers who receive military training for a few days in a year so that in case of an emergency they can be mobilized for the defence of the country . It is a second line of defense after the Regular Indian Army ; the Indian Territorial Army is not a profession , occupation or a source of employment . It is only meant for those people who are already in mainstay civilian professions , in fact , gainful employment or self - employment in a civil profession is a pre - requisite for joining the Territorial Army . History . The Indian Defence Force , incorporating Europeans and Indians in separate sections , was formed by the British in 1917 . It was established in order to release regular troops from garrison duties during the First World War . It was divided into British and Indian sections . Like the Indian Army of the time , units in the Indian section consisted primarily of British officers and Indian other ranks . Units in the British section were all British . The Indians were volunteers , but many of the Europeans were conscripted , as the Indian Defence Force Act 1917 made military service compulsory for all Europeans permanently residing in British India ( including the princely states ) between the ages of 16 and 50 . Boys between 16 and 18 were only obliged to undertake training and men over 40 only had to serve in their local district , but men between 19 and 40 were obliged to serve anywhere required within the country . Only clergy were exempt . The IDF was generally unpopular among the British conscripts . It was replaced by the Auxiliary Force ( India ) ( for Europeans and Eurasians ) and the Indian Territorial Force ( for Indians ) in 1920 . The modern Territorial Army was formally inaugurated by the first Indian Governor - General of India Shri C . Rajagopalachari on October 9 , 1949 after the Independence Territorial Army Act was passed in 1948 . October 9 is celebrated by the Prime Minister ' s Territorial Army Day Parade . The Territorial Army initially had various types of units such as armoured regiments , infantry battalions , air defence , medical regiments , engineers field park companies , signal regiments , Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ( EME ) workshops , coast batteries , Army Service Corps GT Coy , ASC Compo Pl , and AMC field ambulances . By 1972 these units were either disbanded or converted to Regular Army units with the exception of infantry battalions . Territorial Army units were actively involved in military operations in 1962 , 1965 and 1971 . The " Terriers " have also taken part in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka , Operation Rakshak in Punjab & J & K , Operation Rhino and Operation Bajrang in the North East . Departmental units came to the aid of the civil authorities during industrial unrest and natural calamities , most famous being earthquake in Latur ( Maharastra ) , Uttarkashi in Garhwal Himalaya and the super cyclone in Orissa . The Ecological units have arrested man made environmental degradation by planting 2 . 5 crore trees over 20 , 000 hectare of land in Mussoorie hills & Pithoragarh ( Uttarakhand ) , Bikaner & Jaisalmer ( Rajasthan ) and ravines of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh . Force structure . The Territorial Army is part of the regular Indian Army . The present role of the Territorial Army is to relieve the Regular Army from static duties and assist civil administration in dealing with natural calamities and maintenance of essential services in situations where life of the communities is affected or the security of the country is threatened , and to provide units for the Regular Army as and when required . Presently the Territorial Army has a strength of approximately 40 , 000 first line troops ( and 160 , 000 second line troops ) comprising departmental Territorial Army units such as railway , IOC , ONGC , telecommunication and General Hospital , and the non - departmental Territorial Army units of infantry battalions and ecological battalions affiliated to various infantry regiments . Training . Infantry training is carried out on urban and provincial systems . Notable Members . Many famous Indians have been members of this unique force , including Brigadier K P Singh Deo , former Cabinet Minister ; Captain Rao Birender Singh , former Chief Minister of the State of Haryana ; Subir Raha , former Chairman , ONGC ; Padam Shree , Brigadier ( Ret . ) Dr . Kapil Mohan V . S . M . PhD Managing Director , Mohan Meakin Breweries and various present ministers , legislators , senior civil officers and professionals . Muthukrishnan Iyyappan , commissioned in 1999 was the first officer of the Territorial Army to be permanently seconded to the regular army . He joined the 3rd battalion of 8 Gorkha Rifles and served a tenure at the Siachen Glacier — again the first officer of Territorial Army to serve in the Siachen Glacier . Capt . Muthukrishnan Iyyappan was also the first officer of the Territorial Army to be posted at the Defense Services Staff College where he was the Officer Commanding - Troops during 1999 – 2000 . Navdeep Singh , a lawyer , is known to have received the highest number of decorations / awards in the Territorial Army . Major Vishal Bakshi , Chairman of VR Industries , was awarded with the Vishisht Seva Medal , on Republic Day , 2010 . Prof . Dr . Deepak Rao , a military trainer , scientist , author , and physician is considered to be an authority in the field of Close Quarter Battle training . He has been conferred an Honorary Rank of Major in the Territorial Army after 17 years of imparting special Close Quarter Battle commando training to the armed forces . He serves as the Executive Director of the Unarmed & Commando Combat Academy and has been appointed as Resource Personnel for imparting training in Close Quarter Battle by the Ministry of Home Affairs , India . On 1 Nov , 2011 Mahendra Singh Dhoni 106 INF Bn ( TA ) PARA and Abhinav Bindra 124 INF Bn ( TA ) Sikh Li has also been awarded the rank of Lt . Colonel in Territorial Army for their contribution in the field of cricket and shooting respectively . Mechanical Engineer from Special Class Railway Apprentice 96 Batch , Prashant Kumar Singh , posted as Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer at Carriage & Wagon Workshop , Alambagh represented Indian Railways TA at Rastrapati Bhawan Captain Prashant Kumar Singh participated and presented the tableau from Railway ’ s side in Prime minister ’ s Territorial Army Day parade on October 4 in Parade Ground Delhi . He is the only officer to have received the General Manager Railway Award on the recommendation of Territorial Army . He represented Indian Railway Territorial Army before the President of India , Pratibha Devi Singh Patil , at the " Calling On the President " that was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 13 October 2011 . Capt Jitender Kumar Sharma , Platoon Cdr at 1101 Railway Engineer ' s Regiment ( TA ) at Chandigarh is presently posted as Senior Coaching Depot Officer at New Delhi Railway Station , has also been posted in Railway Board earlier . Recently under his leadership , his depot bagged the General Manager ' s Best Coaching Depot Shield in Northern Railway .