61st Cavalry Regiment (India)

The 61st Cavalry Regiment of the Indian Army is one of the three last remaining horsed cavalry army regiments anywhere in the world.

History
When the British departed the shores of India in 1949, the only horses left in the military stables were with the units of some of the Imperial Service (state Forces) troops in the armies of the Indian Princely States. Finally, on integration of the state forces into the Indian Army in 1951 the states' horsed cavalry units were reorganized and reconstituted into the Gwalior Lancers, Jodhpur/Kachhawa horse, Mysore Lancers, and B Squadron, 2nd Patiala Lancers. During May 1953, Army headquarters further decided to disband all these separate horsed cavalry units and to raise a single unit instead, and so on 1 October 1953, the New Horsed Cavalry Regiment was raised at Gwalior, with Lt. Col. Phulel Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces as the first Commandant on 19 November 1953. The Regiment was re-designated 61 Cavalry in January 1954.

Today, it is one of the few remaining unmechanised mounted cavalry regiments in the world, alongside the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and the 11th Cavalry Regiment of the Moscow Military District.

Recruitment
The regiment recruits Rajputs, Marathas and Kaimkhanis in equal numbers. It was retained in the present form on Prime Minister Jawarharalal Nehru's instructions.

Sports
As the regiment has a unique association with the horse, it has a rich polo playing tradition. The regiment has produced some of the country's most outstanding and inspired polo players. Ever since its raising, its personnel have won the Arjuna award – the country's highest award for outstanding sportsmen – four times for polo and five times for equestrian events.

An officer and a gentleman
While off-duty, Capt. Manjinder Singh Bhinder of the regiment gave his and his family's lives up, saving over a 150 people on his personal initiative, in Delhi's Uphaar cinema fire tragedy in 1997.

A talented rider, he was out celebrating his success at a recent national games, with his family and a junior officer, when fire broke out in the movie hall they were at. Rushing out along with his family at first, realising the gravity of the unfolding tragedy, he and his people went back inside, and tried to set order and guide people out to safety.