The Indian Army jawans while saluting their officers will continue to use their regimental salutation. For instance, a jawan of Gorkha regiment says “Ram-ram”, an Assam regiment soldier gives a crisp “Tagda Raho” (Remain Healthy), a Sikh regiment soldier says “Sat Sri Akal” with a smart salute to an officer.
The three forces also have different salutes—like in the Army a salute is executed by keeping the open palm forward, with fingers and thumb together and middle finger almost touching the hatband or right eyebrow. The Navy, in turn, salutes with the palm facing towards the ground at a 90-degree angle, basically to hide the dirty hands of sailors working onboard warships. The IAF salute involves the right arm being sharply raised from the front by the shortest possible way, with the plane of the palm at 45-degree angle to the forehead.
- Sunday Standard