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To trace
the history of the organization, it is neccessary to understand
its origin. The origin of CSD is essentially set in the British
era when Army Canteen Board in India was established as an offshoot
of the Navy and the Army Canteen Board in the UK. While the latter
was abolished in 1922 in the UK, and was replaced by NAAFI(Navy,
Army and Air Force Institute), its counterpart in India continued
till 1927. The Army Canteen Board in India was established mainly
to provide canteen facilities to British troops in India through
grocery shops and bars run by canteen contractors.
The
achievements of NAAFI in the UK did not inspire any corresponding
change in India. However, the Army Canteen Board, liquidated in
1927, was replaced by the Canteen Contractors' Syndicate(CSS).
It floated in the form of a limited company, under government
control with its registration office at Karachi. This company
started off with a paid-up capital of Rs 6 lakhs only. The shareholding
was confined to the canteen contractors. The CSS functioned with
reasonable efficiency until the commencement of World War II.
In
agreement drawn up with the organization,the government had kept
a provision for taking over the organization in an emergency or
a war situation. After World War II broke out,this provision was
not made use of in the initial stages. However, after the heavy
build up of the British troops in India, the CSS could no longer
cope-up with the situation. Therefore, on 1 July 1942, the Government
of India made use of the specific provision in Services(India)
under the Directorate of Wholesale Trade and Indian Canteen Corps
to handle the retail trade in operational areas. Canteen suppliers
poured in from abroad and the organization functioned extremely
well during the War. By 31 March 1946, it was not only able to
pay back to the government the assignements of funds made available
to it but could also function on its own trading capital. However,
with the end of the War and homeward movement of the British troops,
the import facilities dwindled and the turnover of the organization
shrank. With the pulling out of troops from the operational areas,
the Indian Canteen Corps was disbanded and the staff retrenched.
This
was closely followed by the independence and partition of the
country, and the war -time organization gave birth to two Canteen
Stores Departments, i.e., CSD(India) and CSD(Pakistan). The retail
trade, however, reverted to the contractors. A board of Liquidation
was formed to oversee the liquidation of assets of the war-time
organization which ceased to function from 31 December 1947.
The
Canteen Stores Department, the present organization, thus took
birth on 1 January 1948 with a working capital of Rs 48 lakhs
assigned to it from assets of its predecessor war-time organization.
The Government of India had granted the organization a life of
three years on experimental basis. The experiment was a success
by a long margin. The myth that Indian troops were not canteen-minded
had been blown sky high. The situation was reviewed in 1950 and
the Department was accepted as a government undertaking on a permanent
basis. Canteen facilities for the Indian troops had come to stay.
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