Gen Bipin Rawat, army brass discuss force restructuring

NEW DELHI: Army chief General Bipin Rawat and top army commanders on Tuesday discussed various aspects of a proposed restructuring of the 1.2-million strong force to sharpen its effectiveness and prepare it for future wars, said two officers familiar with the move.

Four concurrent studies are underway in the army covering wide-ranging issues including downsizing, i mproving t he army’s tooth-to-tail ratio, revamping different verticals, cutting down the size of the army HQS, enhancing career prospects and other organisational reforms.

The top brass discussed issues related to the force’s restructuring ahead of a top commander’s conference scheduled to take place next month, one of the officials cited above said.

As reported by Hindustan Times on September 10, the army is likely to cut over 1.5 lakh troops over the next four to five years under the overarching cadre review exercise.

In August 2017, the government announced an extensive restructuring of the army to redeploy 57,000 soldiers in combat roles to sharpen the force’s fighting edge.

This was done following the recommendations made by the Shekatkar committee on enhancing the army’s combat potential and trimming its revenue expenditure.

The committee had listed out measures to bring down the budget f or meeting day-to-day expenses and making more money available for weapons and equipment.

Currently, the army’s revenue expenditure stands at 83%, leaving only a measly 17% available for modernisation.

THE ARMY IS LIKELY TO CUT OVER 1.5 LAKH TROOPS OVER THE NEXT 45 YEARS UNDER THE OVERARCHING CADRE REVIEW EXERCISE