Between the Battle of Plassey and end of the 18th century, the British empire expanded rapidly throughout the Indian subcontinent. To protect the fruits of expansion, need arose to station loyal troops at various places. Thus British garrisons came up at many places for the protection of the factories, ships, offices and residential colonies of the East India Company.Subsequent decades saw the rapid expansion of British presence in the country, and to house the additional troops more garrisons were created. Owing to the British policy of keeping soldiers away from native influence, the troops were restricted to garrisons only and for their convenience we saw collateral growth of separate garrison bazaars.All garrisons were administered by garrison committees which were formed initially by the East India Company. They later gained official status under the Cantonment Act 1924. Garrison commanders were the ex-officio presidents of these committees. These boards had an equal number of nominated army officers and elected civilian members.All the cantonment boards today have exactly the same composition. Although in England the navy was the dominant service, in India it was the army that got to call the shots as the dominant service. Thus all the British garrisons were established at army stations only. Naval or air force stations do not have ‘‘cantonments’’ even today, and manage their affairs very well.Even during British times, large stations like Calcutta, Mumbai and Bangalore did not have any cantonment garrison boards. Today, except for 62 military stations where cantonments exist, all the other military stations manage their affairs splendidly.Over the last five decades of independence, the ‘‘cantonment culture’’, carefully nurtured by the British, is gradually becoming extinct because of several factors. On the one hand, we see cantonments reeling under political interference, extensive encroachments from the ever-growing cities. Some cantonment boards also show apathy in taking prompt and stringent action against culprits, causing long drawn litigation. At the same time, we also see our army becoming less dependent on the cantonment bazaars. All this gives benefits to ever-growing lawless elements. Further, the system created by the British of giving ‘‘ex-officio’’ presidentship to station commanders is also an undemocratic one. This is a vestige from the early 19th century.It would appear then that the prevailing system of separate cantonments has become not only outdated and outlived its utility, it is also inherently undemocratic. There is, therefore, a strong case to convert the existing cantonment boards into democratically elected and truly self-governing establishments by merging them with the local municipal bodies.The military areas also need to be separated from the ever-increasing and over-populated civil areas. An efficient military station authority will be able to do this more effectively as the senior commanders of defence services better understand the needs and aspirations of defence personnel and their families.
