Indian Army to undergo major reforms, government says

[hassamun]

Major reforms will be carried out in the Indian Army to enhance its combat capability which will include redeployment of nearly 57,000 officers and other ranks as well as ensuring better utilisation of resources, the government announced on Wednesday.

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said perhaps for the first time after Independence, such a big and "far-reaching" reform process is being initiated in the Army.

Replying to a question that whether the exercise was undertaken keeping in view the Doklam episode, Jaitley said, "This is not specific to any incident. It had been going on much prior to Doklam."

The reform initiatives were recommended by a committee headed by Lt Gen DB Shekatkar (retd) which had a mandate to recommend measures for enhancing of combat capability and rebalancing defence expenditure of the armed forces to increase "tooth to tail ratio".

The 'tooth-to-tail' ratio refers to the amount of supply and support personnel (termed as tail) for each combat soldier (tooth).

The panel had suggested 99 recommendations for structural changes in the Army and out of which the defence ministry has accepted 65 after consultations with all the stakeholders, Jaitley said.

The defence ministry said the reforms will be carried out by December 31, 2019.

The ministry said civilians will be redeployed in different wings of the armed forces for improving efficiency.

Jaitley said the Union Cabinet was today apprised of the defence ministry's decision to carry out the reform process in the Army.

The Shekatkar committee was appointed in May last year and it had submitted its report in December.

"In a first ever exercise after Independence, the Ministry of Defence in consultation with the Indian Army has decided to reform the Indian Army in a planned manner. These decisions were approved by the Defence Minister," the ministry said in a statement.

In the first phase, it said the reforms will involve redeployment and restructuring of approximately 57,000 posts of officers, junior commissioned officers and other ranks and civilians.

It said optimisation of signals establishments, closure of military farms and army postal establishments in peace locations as well as restructuring of repair echelons in the army including base workshops will also be part of the extensive exercise.

The ministry said there will be redeployment of ordnance echelons to include vehicle depots, ordnance depots and central ordnance depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms.

The reform will also be carried out to ensure better utilisation of supply and transport facilities and animal transport units.

There will be enhancement in standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in the Army as also improving the efficiency of the National Cadet Corps.

"Implementation has begun with the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security to close 39 military farms in a time bound manner," the ministry said.

The army's commanders' in April had deliberated extensively on enhancing the Army's overall strike capability.

"Restructuring by the Indian Army is aimed at enhancing combat capability in a manner that the officers/JCOs/ORs will be used for improving operational preparedness and civilians will be redeployed in different wings of the armed forces for improving efficiency," said the defence ministry.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...r-reform-initiatives/articleshow/60291900.cms

 

[Jlaw]

After the embarrassment at Donglang...

 

[hassamun]

Overhaul of Indian Army is good, now also integrate the three services

If the Shekatkar Committee’s recommendations are properly implemented, India would add three divisions without having to increase the number of overall personnel to the armed forces

The recently-concluded Doklam standoff is a stern warning of the importance of a credible military capacity. One of the continuing problems in the Indian military is the excessive number of civilian personnel in its ranks. This means that despite the impressive statistic of having a million plus military, less than half are actually combat personnel. The Narendra Modi government has reportedly ordered the implementation of many of the recommendations of the Shekatkar committee which seeks to redress this problem. If properly implemented, it would result in India adding an additional three divisions without having to increase the number of overall personnel.

The Indian military’s ‘tooth-to-tail’ ratio stands today at about one soldier to 1.15 civilians, when the number should preferably be reversed. Even using more refined measures doesn’t help the country’s ranking. A McKinsey study, using 2008 data from the Institute of International Strategic Studies, showed that in a country like Israel the combat plus combat support component of the military was 44%. Relatively, pacific Japan scored 40% while China had a figure of 34%. India, however, came in at a lowly 25%. The expectation is that technological and infrastructure improvements will mean a more streamlined communications and transport system.

Similar recommendations have been made over the decades. The Krishna Rao committee was able to abolish stretcher-bearers and animal transport units in the 1980s. But the real reforms required are still being avoided by the government. The most important is the integration of the three services. For example, the army, air force and navy wastefully have their own separate logistics networks which results in considerable redundancy and even more waste. Tri-service integration and the creation of theatre commands remains a bridge too far it seems even though it would arguably do more to enhance India’s combat readiness than almost any other policy change.

At least the military will have a powerful incentive to do its best to implement the changes. The number of personnel has been effectively capped and the services recognise that whatever is saved in terms of expenditure will be used to purchase capital equipment – guns, airplanes and ships that remain the brass’ number one demand. Military reforms are among the most difficult to carry out because of the sensitivities concerned and the web of vested interests that will oppose change in any form. Given their importance to national security, however, the government would do well to put the Shekatkar recommendations on the fast lane.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/edito...ee-services/story-dYZztoAlMeqs0m3GEjNLCM.html