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| Why is India rapidly reducing the size of its army and can it affect the country's defense capability? |
Retired Major General Ashok Mehta, a leading Indian defense analyst, has expressed concern over the rapid reduction in the number of Indian soldiers, saying that the reduction in the number of soldiers will adversely affect the military capability of the army.
In an article published in the Indian Express, a leading newspaper in India, he has written that during the Corona pandemic (i.e. from 2019 to June 2022), there was no recruitment of soldiers in the army for three years. The overall strength of the evil army has decreased by 180,000 soldiers.
From June 2022, 40,000 soldiers have been recruited into the army for a specified period under the new law of recruitment called 'Agni Veer'.
Former Major General Ashok Mehta has written that there is talk of 'right-sizing' i.e. keeping troops as per the need among the top officials of the army.
He says that in addition to the reduction of 180,000 soldiers, the overall strength of the army will be reduced by another 100,000 soldiers. According to him, the headquarters of the Integrated Defense Staff issued an order last month to further reduce the number of existing personnel in all branches of the armed forces by ten percent.
The main reason for reducing the size of the army is the pension and other expenses incurred by the retired soldiers.
Ghazala Wahab, editor of the military affairs magazine 'Force', while talking to the BBC, said that 'India's defense budget has two parts, the revenue budget which covers salaries, medical facilities, transport, fuel, and other facilities. Second is the capital budget which is allocated for the purchase of arms and munitions.
According to him, when India's economy was growing at the rate of eight and nine percent, giving two to two and a half percent to the defense budget would have been a huge amount. Now that the economy has gone down, defense spending has also gone down. The government has been thinking of reducing expenditure for many years, that's why they have started recruitment schemes like 'Agniveer' and 'Agnipath'.
Under these recruitment schemes, the recruits are now only for a short period of four years and after completion of four years they will be retired with a lump sum of Rs.12 lakhs but they will not get any pension after retirement.
After completion of four years, 25% of these soldiers will be taken into the permanent cadre while the remaining 75% will go back to civilian life. This new recruitment scheme will significantly reduce the huge expenditure on pensions.
70,000 soldiers retire from the Indian Army every year. The average age of these soldiers on retirement is 37 years. While the average age of citizens in India is between 70 to 75 years. This simply means that a soldier who retires at the age of 37 years has to be paid a pension for about 35 to 40 years, apart from the medical and all other facilities provided to him and his family.
In India, the pension of retired soldiers and officers is about 23 percent of the total defense expenditure, which means that 23 percent of the defense budget is spent on pensions alone. Eight years ago this rate was 12 percent but it was increasing with time.
According to defense experts, the main purpose of downsizing the army is to reduce pension costs.
Defense analyst Rahul Bedi says that many military experts do not agree with the new schemes of 'Agniveer' and 'Agnipath' that the government has launched. According to him, this will reduce the pension bill, but the reduction in the number of soldiers may hurt the defense capability of the country.
He said that India has a border dispute with Pakistan, a border issue with China, internal security issues, and militancy in Kashmir. It will require the full number of soldiers and if the number is not there, it will be difficult to deal with these issues.
Rahul Bedi says that India currently has an army of about 13 lacks, which is planned to be reduced to 8 lacks. If the army is reduced by five lacks, the expenditure on pension, salaries, medical and other facilities will also decrease accordingly.
Ghazala Wahab says that with new technology and the use of artificial intelligence in weapons, major countries have reduced their army 'but in India, the modernization of the army and modern technology has not come to the extent of reducing the size of the army. '
Rahul Bedi is also of the same opinion that in the background of India's border situation, reducing the army is quite a difficult matter. India has a border of 3500 km with China and 774 km with Pakistan.
These are mostly mountainous and difficult areas. It is very difficult to monitor these difficult borders with the technology currently available to the Indian Army. There is a need for military presence there. There is a need for young people. Modern technology has come a long way but it takes a lot of money to achieve it.
The Indian Army has reduced the number of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations from these regions after the decline in militancy in the northeastern states and Kashmir.
Retired Major General Mehta believes that at a time when the army is not fully armed with modern technological equipment, reducing the combat strength of the army is not the right step.