What happened
The Army Uniforms-2026 Pamphlet strikes a clean decolonizing pose at the front: reviewing officers no longer carry swords in parades, references to 'royal' are excised, and indigenous dress like the Bandi jacket gets official sanction as formal wear. The document then deepens into less historically-charged territory, banning tattoos, body piercings, bracelets, perfumes, and deodorants, and capping moustache length for all personnel. Women officers are separately prohibited from wearing sleeveless kurtas, cigarette pants, and bindis at work — that last restriction being the first known instance in Indian institutional history of formally banning a forehead adornment that predates the institution by several millennia. Netizens described the tattoo ban as 'absolutely stupidity,' a critique the Army did not include in any of its 174 pages. A Battle Jacket is expected to replace the jersey-based winter uniform by 2029, assuming the manual does not require updating before then.