Written and Narrated by Shweta Misra.

First Published here https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/creating-shared-values-for-sustainable-society/believe-it-indians-won-world-war2-29220/

Consider this –

Number of Soldiers in Indian Army currently- 14 lakh. approx.

A number of Indian Soldiers who participated in the Second World War-A Staggering 25 lakh.

Aggregating much more than1.5 times the strength of the existing Indian troops, they made the largest volunteer army of any country in the world! This information hits one like a revelation since it was never a part of history lessons in our schools and even today it is not being brought to the fore either through academics or through any other channels.

More scandalous is the realization that the second world war was actually won by Indians for the Allied Forces! The most pivotal and decisive victory in WWII came when the Japanese army was stopped from advancing towards India via Burma. If Indian soldiers fighting under Union Jack had not disrupted Japanese advance, they would have easily run over the Indian subcontinent and established a link with the German Army deployed in Iran. Winners of WWII would have been different then!

Now come the enigmas, firstly, why Indians fought this war and secondly, why this ginormous contribution of Indians in bringing world order, not being spoken about anywhere in the world.

Untangling the facts, one finds that those Indians who fought the war were young men full of nationalistic fervour who were dreaming of the ultimate Independence of their country. These were soldiers who had the assurance of the British prime minister Winston Churchill that once the war is over, India will be given Independence. These patriots fought the war as British Indian Army, laid their lives and defeated the Axis forces, only because they wanted to see their motherland break the shackles of slavery and become a free republic, post-war.

If only Winston Churchill had kept his promise, the sacrifices of these Indian soldiers would have been validated. But that did not happen. On the contrary, they were simply Forgotten by Britishers because they were Indians.The tragic part is that when India did get independence ultimately, the newly formed Indian government de-recognised the British Indian army. The pension benefits of these soldiers were terminated.

But there’s a solace. Not all forgot them. There is a place where their victory stories are still celebrated with pride and their history embraced with love. It is in the present Indian Army units. Enter any of the older regiments’ offices, officer’s messes, quarter guards etc. and the first thing that catches one’s eye is the shine and glitter of fondly kept trophies, mementoes and memorials which are associated with the WWII veterans. Each of them features the strength, determination, valour and courage of their regimental brethren. Most Indian Army Regiments have immaculately preserved the war moments in these pieces and take immense pride displaying them, particularly for their fraternity to draw inspiration from.

The details of the British Indian army should be made known to millennials.

The present generation should decide whether those soldiers were really undeserving of the tag of Indian Freedom Fighters. The “freedom struggle” narrative of those who formed government immediately after India’s independence can once be given a thought.

The sacrifice of lakhs of Indians during World War II brought world order. It should be acknowledged.

#captainshwetamisra

#captshwetamisra speaks- A story from my past when I was awakened to the realisation of the powers of soft skills. I have been an army officer and After leaving the army and having completed my MBA I started teaching management subjects in a college. This was BIET Jhansi, it is now called National Institute of Technology. So when I joined the college, I used to see a lot of students sitting on dharna (or expressing protest) in front of the principal's office. That continued for almost a month. The reason for that dharna or demonstration I found out later was that out of roughly 400 students that passed out that year, only 2 got jobs through Campus placement drive. They were accusing the principal and administration for not doing enough. I don't remember how ultimately the situation diffused that time. But in the subsequent semester I was summoned by the director principal in his office. Dr Awasthy was the principal then. he requested me to conduct personality development sessions for the students… so that they were better prepared for the forthcoming campus interviews. I agreed. But …There was no syllabus, no reference points on soft skill training at that time in that college . So I created my own modules. For next 3 months I conducted mock interviews of final year students, group discussions, Public speaking extempore, Formal dressing, Verbal communication exercise, body language classes etc At the end of that semester, the first company that came for campus interviews hired 30 students on the very first day. The company was TCS . The hiring manager said for the first-time students of Jhansi are talking in an interview, previously when they came for campus drives students never used to speak. Because of their poor communication skills they used to get nervous and absolutely dumbstricken and so it used to be impossible to gauge their programming knowledge, their technical competence and so they never got hired. Those students were brilliant boys and girls, with very high IQ. Imagine In just 03 months of training their personality improved, image of college improved, and the IT company got employable productive workforce. So that is when I realised how powerful soft skills can be! Now, Allow me to introduce our learned speakers . Himanshi Singh She served in the Indian Army and after leaving army she participated in beauty pageants and was crowned Mrs India. Vinita Dalal has been Additional Director Training in the Indian army. Diving directly into the discussion topic which is Understanding why Soft Skills Training is vital to the success of Individuals in ChatGPT times, why corporates desperately need to step in to fill the wide gap, and how educational institutions can do their bit. Here I will introduce the term hard skills. … What are hard skills? And how are they different from soft skills? In my understanding…..hard skills are more "along the lines of what might appear on your resume" those degrees, diplomas, experience certificates etc Where as soft skills are "non-technical, intangible, personality specific skills" ….These determines your strength as "a leader, listener, a negotiator, or as a conflict mediator" so basically You know technical skills may get you that dream job but to sustain there and rise further you will need to lean in on soft skills. In podcast you hear Anecdotal evidence or experiential evidence or little snippets they Let us Go beyond our conceptual bubble and give us a much wider perspective on the topic. Capt Anubha Rathaur also participated in the discussion. Edited excerpts of live soft skills masterclass held on LinkedIn audios on 25 May 2023. Content created, Produced and Directed by Capt Shweta Misra (Retd) #womanKing #india #careers #future #digitalmarketing #innovation #management #Womenempowerment #gender #training #coaching #workshops