India prepares blueprint for leaner, meaner military

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Army revamp: India prepares blueprint for leaner, meaner force

New Delhi, Aug 9

"Military analysts said the restructuring was aimed at bringing down

age limits to match those of Pakistan, China and Israel."

 

Indian defence planners will soon offer a blueprint to tone up the

health of the million-plus army and find ways to replace ageing

military commanders with younger and leaner men in uniform,

officials said Thursday.

 

A defence ministry committee comprising bureaucrats and military

experts, in the blueprint has called for lowering the ages of

battalion and brigade commanding officers and introducing a golden

handshake policy for armed forces personnel.

 

"We are contemplating a monetarily attractive exit policy which will

be applicable to all officer ranks," an official said.

 

The 1.3-million-strong army is facing a shortage of around 14,000

officers and despite publicity campaigns and offers of perks the

government has failed to draw young men and women away from India's

booming private sector to military boot camps.

 

Ministry officials, however, said the high-powered panel has

suggested the army reduce the age of battalion-level commanders from

the present 42 years to 37 years and that of brigadiers from 51

years to 47.

 

Military analysts said the restructuring was aimed at bringing down

age limits to match those of Pakistan, China and Israel.

 

An Indian army major commands a battalion of around 1,000 soldiers

while brigadiers have responsibilities of three such combat

battalions.

 

Sources from the defence ministry said the blueprint, which will be

given to Defence Minister George Fernandes shortly, also aims at

energising frontline combat units.

 

"Younger officers unlike their ageing peers do not carry the baggage

of post-retirement worries and domestic concerns and that helps in

making lightning decisions and execution," one source said. "This is

also true for our paramilitary units," she added.

 

The Indian army has committed several of its fighting divisions -

each with 20,000 men - to Pakistan's borders while part of the

military is on internal security duty in disputed Kashmir, fighting

Islamic guerrillas.

 

Several divisions are also on India's northeastern frontiers with

China, which is reportedly unpopular with the army's senior

citizens, while units are also on the rugged Siachen glacier, which

has proved to be graveyard for men of frail constitution.

 

The committee's major recommendations for a leaner-and-meaner force

also seek to jack up the rank structure of colonels and brigadiers

and clear bottlenecks for stagnating junior-level officers, the

officials said.

 

"The recommendations will thus lead to a consequent proportional

increase in higher rank structures of major generals and above,"

said one official amid reports that the army has raised a demand

with the government for 432 new general-ranking posts.

 

The officials said the restructuring aimed also to benefit junior

officers up to the rank of major who constitute 85 percent of the

army's officer cadre.

 

The steps to the lower age profile would also benefit the Indian air

force and the navy, they said, adding the implementation of

recommendations, if accepted, would be carried out in the next five

to seven years.