The Army has decided to reform and restructure its cadre and troop strength in a phased manner to enhance operational and functional efficiency. The restructuring includes reducing the troop strength by over 1,00,000, increase the service tenure of jawans from 15 to 20 years, and do away with the rank of Brigadier for faster promotions.
These recommendations were part of four in-house studies conducted by the Army in the past few months and the ongoing Army Commanders Conference here decided on Saturday to implement them in a phased manner after getting feedback from all sections of the 12 lakh strong force.
Giving the case of proposed reduction of troop strength by one lakh over next few years, sources said the Army will save at least Rs 5,000 crore every year. Moreover, by increasing the service tenure of jawans due to better health and fitness standards over the last four decades or so, the Army will save on training a raw recruit besides reducing pension bills. At present, the jawan has to retire after 15 years of service.
As regards doing away with the rank of Brigadier, officials said the Army will be on a par with the civil services in terms of ranks and promotions. At present, an Indian Administrative Service(IAS) officer has six steps for promotions to the highest rank while the Army has nine thereby leading to lot of heartburn amongst ranks.
Giving details of the Army Commanders conference held twice a year, officials said current operational, administrative and human resource challenges facing the Indian Army were reviewed in detail and future course of actions have been deliberated.
Four major studies regarding restructuring currently underway were presented to the top brass. The focus of the studies is holistic integration thereby enhance the operational and functional efficiency, optimise budget expenditure, facilitate force modernization and address aspirations.
The first study on 'Re-organisation and Rightsizing of the Indian Army'is focused on the operational structures to make them efficient, future ready by taking into account the operational situation on Western(Pakistan) and Northern(China) borders. This study pertains to reduce troop strength by one lakh.
The second study is on 'Re-organisation of the Army Headquarters,' aimed at integration and preclude the redundancies. Over a period of time, with emerging scenarios; new structures have emerged and measures to integrate and synergise the same is underway.
Giving an example, sources said the headquarters of Rashtriya Rifles(RR) raised in the early 1990s to deal with insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir is at present located in New Delhi. The proposal is to shift it to Northern Command to induce better synergy. The RR has more than 65 battalions(one battalion has 1,000 soldiers).
The third study on 'Cadre Review of Officers' is aimed to incorporate the proposed reorganisation, restructuring and endeavours balanced cadre to meet the aspirations of the officers' cadre. The collegium further deliberated on the longer tenure of flag ranks with a view to ensure better continuity, achievements of objectives and aspirations. This study deals with removing Brigadier rank.
The fourth study on 'Review of Terms of Engagement of Rank and File'is aimed to harness the higher life expectancy, ensure younger profile and ensure due motivation. It deals with service tenure of jawans.
The Conference concluded that the above studies will be implemented progressively in a phased manner. The phases will comprise requisite refinements of the studies making them pragmatic for implementation.
It was also decided that all operational aspects of the studies will be validated through test bedding them in exercises. During the deliberations, many options were discussed and it was decided that all value-inputs will be factored,360 degrees evaluation to be undertaken, course-corrections to be instituted if required and implement the same with specific timelines. The conference also decided on the 'enhancing linguistic skill in the Indian Army,' they said.