The government must carry forward the momentum generated by its decision to redeploy over 50,000 Army personnel to ensure that this initiative is not a flash in the pan. The Indian Army has downsized itself twice in the past to cut down on the flab and use the savings to buy more weapon systems. In the 1980s, the axe fell on the supply, ordnance and medical corps and signals, while another attempt was abandoned midway because of the Kargil conflict. As opposed to those two efforts, the latest decision improves the numbers in the trenches but does not impact the wage bill. Therefore, the closure of military farms or outsourcing transport in peace locations not only dents revenue expenditure but also divests the Army of noncore activities. The government now needs to review the flab in civilian organisations like defence PSUs and the DRDO.But this is a job that the Army has just begun as compared to its potential adversaries Pakistan and China, whose forces are several times leaner. Therefore, the latest exercise must not be allowed to become an end in itself. Other armies have been much faster in grasping the trend towards reliance on smart weapons. They have also been more radical — China reduced its strength by three lakh soldiers and the UK by 80,000, while Russia has slashed its land forces in two phases. The Indian military, in comparison, is still several initiatives removed from transforming into a smaller, technologically able and mobile force.The government also faces the gigantic task of fostering jointness among the three services. This means having a single chief who will have all the three forces at his disposal, a proposal that has awaited implementation for two decades. Now that China has also reconfigured its military to end departmentalism, it is time for India to bite the bullet. The move to reorganise military manpower and structure to give a better bang to the taxpayer’s buck and reorient to the demands of modern warfare has started afresh. India now needs a full-time Defence Minister to quarterback the tougher reforms.