In This Maharashtra Village, At Least 1 Member From Each Family In Armed Forces

It has been a dream of countless youths across the nation to join the defence services for years. Many young people work day and night to prepare for recruitment in the Indian Armed Forces. Some make it while others don’t. But do you know that there is a certain village in India that has been producing soldiers for almost a century now?

Apshinge village of Satara district in Maharashtra is home to families, almost all of which have been serving in the Indian Armed Forces. A total of 350 families live in Apshinge village which has a population of around 3,000 people at present. And each of the families has at least one serving member in the Armed Forces. The practice of members of this village joining the military has been going on for generations.

Members of Apshinge village served during World War 1 while the nation was still under colonial rule. The contribution of the village during World War was recognised by the British government which built a memorial in the village in the memory of 46 soldiers who got martyred fighting in battle. Members from Apshinge also fought in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 and 1971 as well as the Indo-China war in 1962. The village lost four soldiers in 1962, two in 1965 and one in 1971.

According to the reports, the children of Apshinge village are given training to join the army in the school itself. Parades and drills are a must in the schools here. Apshinge village of Satara district is once again in the news because the Indian Army’s Southern Command Chief General Commanding-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar recently visited the village.

A learning centre and a gym were inaugurated by him. Also, Institutional Social Responsibility (ISR) has been set up in this village to give direction to the youth of the districts of western Maharashtra. About Rs 80 lakh has been spent on this initiative. This setup has been prepared with the joint efforts of Shri Shanmukhanand Lalit Kala, Sangeeta Sabha and the South Indian Education Society.