INDIA -- Sainya Seva Medal

[Ed_Haynes]

One of the most common post-1947 medals, virtually impossible to avoid.

Sainya Seva Medal / Service Medal

Awarded in recognition of non-operational services under conditions of special hardship and severe climate.

Established: By No.14-Pres./60 of 26 January 1960, by the President of India (with effect from 15 August 1947). Expanded in No.32-Pres./60 of 2 June 1960 and revised by No.56/Pres./68 of 3 August 1968.

General Appearance: Circular 36-mm copper-nickel medal.

Obverse: An image of the Nanda Devi mountain peak with a bamboo stand in the foreground.

Reverse: The gate to a medieval fort (actually the Delhi Gate at Purana Qila in New Delhi). Above, there is the Hindi legend ?Sainya Seva Medal?.

Ribbon: 32 mm, orange-saffron, with two 1-mm stripes, white and green. As it has been so common and so widely produced, there is some considerable variability of the precise shades of the colors in this ribbon. These color variations have no significance (as some have stated).

Suspension: Suspended by a straight-bar suspender to which the clasps are attached.

Naming: The medal is normally named on the edge.

Miniature: Miniatures have been issued. Clasps are also seen in a wide range of official and unofficial styles.

Background: Awarded in recognition of non-operational services under conditions of special hardship and severe climate. The medal has been very commonly awarded and may well be said to be the most common award in the Indian military.

Clasps: The medal was not awarded without a clasp. While all clasps observed have been produced in Hindi rather than English, they will frequently be referred to by their English names.

Outline:

Jammu and Kashmir ? Instituted by Not. No.32-Pres./60 A.I. 298/60 of 2 June 1960; amended by A.I. 84/67 and A.I. 51/73. Awarded: (a) for an aggregate of one year of service in Jammu and Kashmir after 27 October 1947, service which qualified for the appropriate bar to the 1947 General Service Medal or for the ?Himalaya? bar to the Sainya Seva Medal will not be counted; (B) air force personnel who have carried out a minimum of ten sorties or forty hours of flying after 27 October 1947, with the same limits to overlapping service applying here as well. Between the two words on the clasp is a depiction of a chinar leaf.

NEFA ? Instituted by Not. No.32-Pres./60 of 2 June 1960 and A.I. 298; amended by A.I. 157/66 and A.I. 51/73. Awarded: (a) for an aggregate of one year of service in the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) employed in the construction of roads and airfields between 7 October 1952 and 15 November 1958; (B) personnel seconded to the Assam Rifles who have completed an aggregate of one year of service in NEFA (excluding those areas for which the ?Himalaya? clasp was awarded) after 15 August 1947; ? air force personnel who carried out a minimum of ten sorties or forty hours of flying after 7 October 1952. The clasp is designed to look like a horizontal stalk of bamboo. While going through the proposal of the Chiefs of Staff Committee for the institution of the High Altitude Nedal, to be awarded in lieu of the clasp ?Himalaya?, the Defence Minister suggested that the clasp ?NEFA? should be renamed as ?Arunachal?, since the erstwhile Agency had been incorporated into the Indian Union.

Himalaya ? Instituted by Not. No.32-Pres./60 of 2 June 1960 and A.I. 298/60; amended by A.I. 45/64 and A.I. 156/66. Awarded: (a) for an aggregate of one year of service in the defence of the northern in areas (roughly: portions of NEFA, the Tibet borders in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and Sikkim) and time periods specified by the government; (B) air force personnel who carried out a minimum of ten sorties or forty hours of flying in areas and time periods specified by the government. Between the two partial words on the clasp (indicated above by the space in the Hindi) is a depiction of a pine (cedar?) tree. Award of this clasp was terminated with the creation of the High Altitude Service Medal in 1986. A total of 2,27,000 clasps had been issued till September 1988.

Bengal-Assam ? Instituted by A.I. 298/60; amended by A.I. 34/67. Awarded: (a) for an aggregate of one year of service in specified areas on West Bengal and Assam after 26 October 1962; (B) for 10 sorties or 40 hours of flying over specified areas on West Bengal and Assam after 26 October 1962. The clasp is plain.

Andaman and Nicobar ? Instituted by A.I. 298/60; amended by A.I. 34/67. Awarded: (a) for one year of aggregate service in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after 20 May 1966; (B) for 50 hours of flying in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after 20 May 1966. At either end of the unusually ornate clasp, there is a lotus flower.

Marusthal ? Instituted by MoD Notfn. No. 12 dated 20 July 1984. Awarded: (a) for one year of aggregate service in the qualifying desert areas; (b) to aircrew for 10 sorties or 40 hours of flying over specified areasThe clasp is plain.

Edited January 27, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

The clasps.

Jammu-Kashmir / NEFA

Himalaya / Bengal-Assam

Andaman and Nicobar / Marusthal

[Laurence Strong]

The Sainya Seva medal with the Bengal-Assam clasp

1403260 NK. JASBIR SINGH, B.E.G

Not to sure what the BEG was though.

[Michael Johnson]

Bengal or Bombay Engineer Group.

[Ed_Haynes]

Given what it is for, probably Bengal, but no 100% certainty.

[Laurence Strong]

I found this out, though I can't vouch for it's veracity:

...Your chap's unit can be identified from his unique army number which falls within the bloc reserved/allocated to the Bengal Engineer Group which was in the range 1400000 - 1460000.

As information.....

Given what it is for, probably Bengal, but no 100% certainty.

Not worth much I quess, just like to know all I can about any given item.

[Ed_Haynes]

I found this out, though I can't vouch for it's veracity:

...Your chap's unit can be identified from his unique army number which falls within the bloc reserved/allocated to the Bengal Engineer Group which was in the range 1400000 - 1460000.

As information.....

Not worth much I quess, just like to know all I can about any given item.

Generally true, but this is overstated. We have a working list over at the SAGongs forum, which is probably where this seller "borrowed" this information. It is not as absolute as thie assertion suggests, but likely.

[Laurence Strong]

Generally true, but this is overstated. We have a working list over at the SAGongs forum, which is probably where this seller "borrowed" this information. It is not as absolute as thie assertion suggests, but likely.

Actually it was a member on another forum, so it's quite possible.

Edited February 5, 2007 by Laurence Strong