Army’s rightsizing plan: Veterans at training institutes and cross-skilling

The official said work on the planned reform is underway, as part of which every arm and service of the force has been tasked with preparing and submitting plans detailing their rightsizing plans. A final decision will be taken subsequently, based on the inputs and the existing shortage of manpower in the 12.8-lakh strong Army.

With recruitments suspended for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the estimated shortfall at present is about 1.25 lakh soldiers.

The 40,000 vacancies released to recruit Agniveers under the government’s Agnipath scheme last year will not be adequate to match the annual retirement rate of approximately 60,000 soldiers.

Another senior defence official told The Indian Express that there are plans to employ veterans with expertise in certain military subjects in Category A training institutions on a contractual basis.

Category A training institutions include the Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy, the Army War College and the Infantry School in Mhow, among others. Category B training institutions include various regimental centres. It is also being discussed if National Cadet Corps (NCC) training can be handed over to veterans on a contractual basis.

There are also plans to outsource administrative services for static units, such as catering, facility management and conservancy, which, at present, are carried out by the tradesmen employed with the Army.

Additionally, discussions are on to check if various specialist trades can be merged, leading to multi-skilled tradesmen, said an official. For example, in EME (Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers), a single technician could be trained in repairing communication equipment and computers – a task currently done by two separate individuals.

The Army will also look at the current extra-regimental employment from all combat arms as part of the exercise. This includes personnel posted to various headquarters in the chain of command, NCC, static formations and other training institutions. Similarly, a significant reduction in clerical staff is also expected.

The senior defence official said that with a push for automation of weapons, there could be reduced requirement for personnel operating guns and tanks, leading to manpower optimisation in the Regiment of Artillery and Armoured Corps.

Moreover, with several equipment getting phased out, there could be reduction in the personnel strength.

The increased use of civil companies for construction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges and shelters in forward areas has reduced the requirement of employing combat engineers for other than close support tasks.

“In the future, with increased induction of artificial intelligence and satellites, surveillance and communication tasks have become easier and are less manpower intensive, opening scope for optimisation in the Corps of Signals,” said the first official.

The EME, Army Service Corps and Army Ordnance Corps are also slated to see significant manpower optimisation with the implementation of the Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO) model for base workshops and modernisation of ordnance depots, leaner logistics capabilities.

As per defence sources, downsizing of the Army Postal Corps, animal transport units and the Remount and Veterinary Corps is also in the cards.

The second official said there is a likelihood of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), the Army’s counter-insurgency force, being resized by reducing upto two companies of each battalion. It is being discussed if one force headquarters and a few sector headquarters of RR can also be reduced, even as the drawdown plan is yet to be finalised.

The manpower cut, officials said, will get implemented once the recruitment for these vacancies is stopped. There are also plans to plough back some of this manpower into newer structures to be raised such as drone units.

Last month, Army Chief General Manoj Pande had said the Army is looking at closing several legacy institutions and establishments or reorganising some of them and outsourcing some non-core functions.