THERE MAY NOT BE ANY CUTS IN COMBAT AREAS BUT ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL ARE LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED

NEW DELHI: The possibility of a two-front war with China and Pakistan, the need for boots on the ground to fight in mountains, the ability to endure a drawn-out conflict and force levels required to support India’s rising influence on the world stage.

These are some key questions being pored over by a defence ministry panel tasked with mapping out a strategy to sharpen India’s combat edge and suggest measures to initiate targeted reductions in personnel, sources familiar with the ongoing study told HT.

The 11-member panel, headed by Lieutenant General DB Shekatkar (retd), will submit its report to the government by mid-October, recommending how more money can be funneled into scaling up military capabilities and what steps should be taken to improve the military’s tooth-to-tail ratio — the number of personnel (tail) required to support a combat soldier (tooth).

There may not be any cuts in combat areas but administrative and support personnel are likely to be affected by the streamlining exercise, sources said. “Instead of taking pride in being the secondlargest army in the world, the focus should be on being the most effective. Just being an obese force can’t win you a war,” said an official involved in the study.

The panel, which has five retired three-star officers on board, is studying the existing models of workforces and budgets of leading militaries, including China’s People’s Liberation Army, for a comparative analysis, sources said.

“No other military has to stay prepared to fight in the kind of terrain we may have to — Siachen glacier, mountains of Ladakh and Northeast…We can’t reduce altitudes and the army will have to remain a mountain-oriented force. If that’s flab, so be it,” the sources said, stressing that cutting-edge combat forces will not be touched.

Some departments where workforce could be trimmed include the Military Engineer Services, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Directorate General of Quality Assurance, Directorate General of Defence Estates and the Ordnance Factory Board. Spending cuts have squeezed India’s military budget. The committee will list out measures to help cut down the revenue budget required to meet the current expenses of the armed forces and making more money available for buying weapons and equipment.

In May, army chief General Dalbir Singh ordered a separate study to determine how the force can be streamlined. As first reported by HT on May 9, Singh asked one of his top generals to come up with recommendations by August-end.