The Indian Defence Services Staff College, which is located in Wellington - Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu approximately 80 kms from Coimbatore and 14 kms from the famous hill resort town of Udhagamandalam or Ooty - bears the secular and multicultural identity of the country.
A mosque, a temple, a church and a gurdwara is housed in one building. It means Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs are praying or worshipping under one roof in the College which is known for its glorious past across the world.
About 500 student officers from three services – army, navy and air force – including three Bangladeshis in the 50 foreigner’s quota come here in every batch for the 10-month extensive training.
The selection process is rigorous as the College is aimed at training the “best” officers, who have already served 10 years, to prepare them for the next 20 years.
The College has a glorious past and traces its lineage to 1905 when it was set up at Devlali, Maharashtra. In 1907, it was shifted to Quetta, which is in present-day Pakistan. It was shifted back to India in 1947
after the partition and is now home to the joint services course for the three services, under one roof. Besides military leaders, many of those who have graduated from this College have become heads of their states, senior cabinet ministers, chiefs of staff, senior commanders, diplomats and civil administrations.
It functions in accordance with the directives issued by the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The Commandant is responsible to the Chiefs of Staff Committee through the Chairman, Joint Training Committee. The aim of the Staff College is to train selected officers of the three services in command and staff functions in peace and war in their own service, inter-service and joint service environment, and to provide related general education to enable them to perform effectively in command and staff appointments.
A 20-member Bangladesh media delegation visited the College on Monday. The delegation is visiting India at the invitation of the External Affairs Ministry.
It was learnt that Lt Col MA Matin was the first Bangladesh officer to attend the College from Jan 21 in 1974 to Nov 30 in 1974.
The media delegation met three Bangladeshi officers – one from army, one from Navy and the other from air force – who are attending the current course.
With them, 96 Bangladeshi officers got the chance to get the training from this staff college.
Ooty in the Southern Indian State of Karnataka is fondly called the "Queen of hill stations".
It is named among the most beautiful places in India for its towering mountains, sprawling tea gardens and pleasant weather with raining clouds all the time.
It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level.
The Ooty Botanical Garden is one of the oldest gardens in India. It was laid out in 1897 by the Marquis of Tweedale and is spread over 55 acres.
Some of the rare trees such as the Cork tree, the paper bark tree, and the monkey puzzle tree in which monkeys cannot climb, can be seen in the garden, apart from lush green and well-maintained lawns.
