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Sport
The Ministry of Defence administers, jointly with the concerned State Governments, three Mountaineering Institutes namely, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling in West Bengal, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarkashi in Uttar Pradesh and the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering & Winter Sports (JIM), Aru with temporary HQ at Batote (J&K). These Institutes are run as private Registered Societies. The Raksha Mantri is the President of these Institutes.
The Chief Minister of the respective State is the Vice-President of the Institute. These Institutes are governed by separate Executive Councils consisting of members elected by the General Bodies, nominees from amongst donors and/or persons who are likely to promote the cause of the Institute and representatives of Central and the State Governments. A representative each of the Ministry of Defence and the State Government acts as Secretary of the Institute. The HMI, Darjeeling was founded in November 1954 by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to commemorate the first ascent of Mount Everest by late Tenzing Norgay along with Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953. With the establishment of this Institute, an impetus to mountaineering as a sport was provided in India. To give further boost to mountaineering and to inculcate the spirit of adventure in youth, the NIM, Uttarkashi was set up in October 1965 and the JIM at Aru in J&K in October 1983. Due to disturbances in the valley, students were reluctant to come to Aru for training. Accordingly, it was decided to shift the Institute temporarily to Batote on the Jammu side of Banihal in August 1990. However, in view of certain adverse reports regarding the law and order situation, the training courses conducted by the Institute were temporarily suspended from April 1996.
