Better sops for 145;brighter146; officers

The Defence Minister said the Government was also working on removing the bottleneck in the Army with 80 per cent of the officers retiring between the ages of 35 and 40 as Major or Lt Colonel. He said there was a 8216;8216;vested interest8217;8217; among the forces and they wanted the promotion line to be from the ranks. They did not want inductions at a relatively high level. 8216;8216;I am considering it, provided it does not create tension in other areas. It will have to be basically a consideration of the management of forces,8217;8217; he said.

The Minister refused comment on the killing of Manorama Devi in Manipur, saying a probe was on. He said the personnel of the Assam Rifles, allegedly involved in the incident, had been suspended.

On the proposal for creation of the Chief of Defence Staff CDS, the minister said: 8216;8216;I have not yet decided on the the issue8230;I have an open mind.8217;8217; However, he said that the process could take time.

Asked about the widespread concern, among serving and retired officers, that money allocated for defence procurement was not being spent 8212; the Congress itself claimed almost Rs 24,000 crore were returned unused in the past three years 8212; Mukherjee said the funds allocated in this year8217;s budget will definitely be used.

Mukherjee, who is on a two-day visit to Ladakh , visited troops at Siachen Glacier today.