DOWNSIZING THE INDIAN ARMY
The current exercise being undertaken by the Indian Army is reportedly to make it lean and mean. Whatever the interpretation, the main gain is supposed to be savings to the tune of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 crore annually which can be used towards modernisation. Just last year, the government appointed the Shekatkar Committee had submitted its recommendations to the MoD saying if all its recommendations are implemented, Rs 25,000 crore will be saved. Ironically, the MoD only implemented what suited the bureaucracy. Army Base Workshops (ABW) were placed directly under the MoD after being privatised and posted with civilian defence employees. In addition, Military Farms were taken over by the MoD – imported cows, infrastructure and most importantly, defence land.
The government had constituted the Shekatkar Committee to, "Recommend measures for enhancing combat capability and re-balancing defence expenditure of the Armed Forces with an aim to increase Teeth-to-Tail Ratio". If the government had any understanding of matters military, then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley would have appointed a serving Lieutenant General to head the Shekatkar Committee, integrating the Army, Navy and Air Force into the study. That would have obviated other studies like the one being done presently by the Army. It was a deliberate act to exclude the Services. To top this, the MoD has avoided acting on the recommendations dealing with restructuring of the Ministry. Not without reason, an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer wrote, "The Shekatkar Committee Report is an Auditor's Report submitted to the 'Super Auditor' of the nation, Arun Jaitley and has 'Nil to 'Negative' operational value and content" (http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/shekatkar-committee-report-genuine-reforms-or-cosmetic-re-grouping/). The Army lost control of the ABWs which will now function under the MoD with the same unaccountability and lackadaisical attitude of the DRDO, and the Army has to approach them through the MoD now.
With the primary objective being to save money, have we taken into account that against 14.5 lakh Armed Forces, there are four lakh civilian defence employees – a ridiculous ratio of 1:3.6. 36 per cent of the defence pension bill goes towards civilian-defence employees? On an average, a civilian defence employee and pensioner is five times more expensive than his uniformed counterpart or military veteran. The allocation to the Armed Forces must also be viewed against – Rs 14,000 crore budget to MES (86,000 strength); Rs 1,500 crore to Ordnance Factories (77,000 strength); Rs 18,000 crore to DRDO labs (31,000 strength); Rs 1,000 crore to Defence Accounts (26,000 strength); Rs 18,000 crore to Defence Estates (18,000 strength) despite complicity in over 13,000 acres defence land encroached upon and 2,500 Defence Bungalows illegally occupied; Rs 16,000 crore to organisations like DGQA, QGAQA, AFHQCS, DOS, MOD, CSD (24,000 strength). Details of the invisible tail eating ferociously into defence expenditure need to be made public by Parliament's Standing Committee for Defence (https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/In-search-of-propriety/cutting-the-defence-budget-the-invisible-tail-that-no-one-talks-about/).
Changes within the Army HQ are a definite must. Even the Vice Chief is authorised to make them, without any fanfare. Pragmatism will naturally be the key, but past mistakes must also be addressed. For example, a Military Survey which was part of Directorate General of Information Systems (DGIS) on the specific directive of the MoD to ensure confluence of Operational Information Systems (OIS), Management Information System (MIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS), was quietly moved out on the whims of a Vice Chief without reference to the MoD, despite having an adverse affect on the development of the Army's Tac C3I System. It would be good to revert the Military Survey to DGIS. The Army must also review the manning of organisations such as the Army Software Development Centre (ASDC) and Army Cyber Security Establishment (ASCE) by personnel on three to five year tenure basis, which is too short. One way out could be to let these organisations be predominantly manned by women for longer durations since permanent commission for them has been introduced.
With reference to doing away completely with Military Training Directorate with Army Training Command (ARTRAC) at Shimla, how smooth the interaction between other Directorates at Army HQ at various levels will be with the ARTRAC, has obviously been taken into account. Perhaps the module of ARTRAC at Delhi may already be inflated; in effect the ARTRAC module at Delhi will replace the MT Directorate. If this arrangement is acceptable, then should the Indian Army seriously not take a re-look at the earlier study done by Lt Gen SS Mehta which had recommended transforming HQ Central Command to 'Logistics Command' and reduce the concerned Directorates of Services at Delhi? The recommendation of 'Logistics Command' was shelved citing Delhi-Lucknow distance, but more so, because of haggling over who gets how many two and three star appointments. But if elimination of the MT Directorate is accepted with ARTRAC sitting at Shimla, then the 'Logistic Command' at Lucknow must be considered. It would also partly address our Eastern, Central, Western and Northern Commands looking after the LAC with China compared to China's Western Theatre Command not only responsible for the entire LAC but China's complete border with Myanmar, India, Nepal, Bhutan, POK and Afghanistan. In fact, there is a need to holistically review the command and control of our international borders at the Army, Tri-Service and the national level.
Elimination of Divisional HQ and placement of restructured all-arms Brigades directly under the Corps, akin to the concept of US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, is also under discussion. Some of our Divisions are as big as Corps. How many Brigades is a Corps going to handle including in the vast frontages in the North-East, what will be the spread on ground of these Brigades, how will the support elements in the Divisional HQ be distributed amongst the Brigades? Hopefully, we are not going to witness the most spectacular derailment of the best organisation in the country. There is absolutely no doubt that the Army Commanders are the best of military professionals, but the problem is that if the end figures of 150,000-200,000 are already fixed, then it boils down to somehow justifying those cuts one way or the other. The word of the Chief is gospel truth. But the politico-bureaucratic nexus has sabotaged the system of selection aimed at subduing Service Chiefs and now, the appointment of Army Commanders has also been made selection grade. In plain words, the conquest of the MoD is complete, leaving little scope for dissent, albeit not in totality depending on individual personalities. It is also about time the Army realises that the unprecedented action of 756 officers knocking on doors of the Supreme Court amounts to crisis in military leadership. Rather than making sundry statements, the need of the hour is for the Chief to stand up to the government lest the situation worsens.
Brig Narinder Dhand,
Founder & Convener
Veteran's Web Portals.
Founder & Convener
Veteran's Web Portals.
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