In a major revamp to the promotion process for Major Generals, Army has done away with the promotion advantage enjoyed by pass-outs of the National Defence College (NDC), reports The Tribune. Earlier, NDC alumni were all but assured of being promoted to the Major General Rank but in the latest round of promotions, several NDC officers have been overlooked.

The NDC is situated in New Delhi and operates a year-long course for officers from the Army, IAF, Navy, IPS and IAS.

36 officers in total were promoted to the rank of Major General in the recent round of promotions, out of whom 11 had not attended the NDC. Four brigadiers who were NDC pass-outs were not promoted as Major Generals and two others were assigned ‘staff’ postings instead of ‘command’.

The move follows Army Chief Bipin Rawat’s 23 point directive the Military Secretary’s (MS) branch which including among other things, also pointed out that meritorious officers should not be overlooked for Major General promotions even if they had not participated in the NDC course.

This revamp means that NDC officers will no longer have an ‘edge’ over their peers, and will be on a level playing field during promotions. The Indian Army currently only has 340 positions for Major General while there are over 1,100 Brigadiers, making it a very competitive process to be promoted in the upper echelons of the Army’s Officer Corps.