jay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 5
In a decision to curtail expenses, the Department of Military Affairs, headed by General Bipin Rawat, has cut down foreign travel of officers of the armed forces. General Rawat, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), has asked for rationalising ‘foreign travel’ of officers.
Curtailing expenses
- The three forces have been asked to rationalise visits to foreign countries and avoid diplomatic visits by separate services to same country in a bid to curtail expenses
- Foreign trips of military officers are for training, joint exercises, trying out equipment or to liaise with other countries for visits of top military brass
Visits are now being cleared on selective case-to-case basis. Sources within the ministry confirmed the directions had originated from the office of the Department of Military Affairs.
Before the Chief of Defence Staff was appointed on January 1, each service moved its case of foreign visit by its officers through the ‘Establishment Section’ of the Department of Defence. In the previous arrangement too, all cases of foreign visit were not okayed.
General Rawat has asked the three forces to rationalise all visits to foreign countries and try and avoid diplomatic visits by separate services to same country.
In a way, the Department of Military Affairs will rationalise as to which country is the priority. Within the Ministry of Defence, there is a foreign services officer at the Joint Secretary-level attached to give advice on a daily basis.
Foreign trips of military officers are for training, joint exercises, trying out equipment, to liaise with other countries for visits of top military brass.
The permission is given by the Ministry of Defence and sometimes, the Ministry of External Affairs wants an outreach and it coordinates. In case of the Navy, there is outreach on Africa and Asia Pacific, while in case of the Air Force and the Army, the outreach is at multiple levels in neighbouring countries.