The Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, Uttarakhand India

The Indian Military Academy, Dehradun (also known as IMA) is the officer training Academy of the Indian Army. IMA was established in 1932.

During the Indian independence struggle, Indian leaders recognized the need for a local military institution to meet the needs of an armed force loyal to sovereign India. The British Raj was reluctant to commission Indian officers or to permit local officer training. Until World War I Indians were not eligible for commission as officers in the Indian Army.

Following the experiences in World War I, where Indian soldiers proved their mettle but British officers had difficulty leading the soldiers in the field, the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms facilitated ten Indians per year to undergo officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 1922 the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (now known as the Rashtriya Indian Military College) was set up in Dehradun to prepare Indian boys for admission to Sandhurst. The Indianisation of the Army started with the commissioning of 31 Indian officers. Among this first batch of officers to be commissioned was Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, who later became the 1st Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army and 2nd Indian Field Marshal.