ARTRAC Investiture Ceremony 2025 honours excellence in training and innovation

The Army Training Command (ARTRAC) held its Investiture Ceremony 2025 at the Danfe Auditorium, Shimla, to honour outstanding establishments and individuals for their exceptional contributions during the Training Year 2023–24. The ceremony was presided over by Lieutenant General Devendra Sharma, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, ARTRAC.

Commandants and Commanding Officers of the respective institutions, along with their Subedar Majors, received the award from the Army Commander in recognition of their role in enhancing the Indian Army’s training standards and ethos.

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Three premier Category ‘A’ establishments and two affiliated units were awarded the prestigious GOC-in-C ARTRAC Unit Citation for excellence in military training. These included the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow; Combat Army Aviation Training School (CAATS), Nasik; Army Airborne Training School (AATS), Agra; 4 MAHAR (Borders); and 118 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army) GRENADIERS.

Three training establishments—Military College of Material Management (MCMM), Jabalpur; Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS), Veirangate; and Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME), Secunderabad—were honoured with Financial Excellence Awards for exemplary fiscal management.

In addition, MCMM, Jabalpur, and Armoured Corps Centre & School (ACC&S), Ahilyanagar received the e-Office Excellence Awards for effectively promoting paperless administration.

Several officers and junior commissioned officers were conferred the Award of Technical Excellence for their innovative contributions, including personnel from HQ ARTRAC, MCTE Mhow, CME Pune, EME School Vadodara, and MCEME Secunderabad.

The GOC-in-C Spot Commendation Cards were presented to five individuals for distinguished service: Col K Sundaresh of HQ ARTRAC, Constables Sunita Devi and Riya of Himachal Pradesh Police, Shri Kailash Chand of CPWD, and Shri Ramesh Chand of the Amateur Dramatics Club.

In his address, Lt Gen Devendra Sharma highlighted ARTRAC’s strategic transformation initiatives aligned with the Indian Army’s Decade of Transformation and Year of Technology Absorption. With 57 initiatives underway across domains like Jointness, Force Restructuring, and Human Resource Management, ARTRAC is laying the foundation for a Future-Ready Force.

The Commander emphasised the integration of 33 niche technologies across 15 major training establishments, with an ambitious roadmap to train over 30,000 personnel in these technologies by 2026. An investment of ₹390 crore is planned over the next five years to support R&D and infrastructure development.

He also acknowledged the growing role of women in the Armed Forces, with over 1,800 women currently serving, and underlined ARTRAC’s efforts towards gender neutrality and equal opportunity in training and leadership roles.

In his closing remarks, Lt Gen Sharma congratulated the awardees and urged all personnel to draw inspiration from their achievements in pursuit of excellence.