Defence panel raises retirement age of soldiers by TWO years to cut new recruitment
cost
Recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar
Parrikar
The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff
In
order to enhance their combat capabilities, a key defence ministry
panel has made several recommendations including increasing the
retirement age of jawans by two years, doing away with manpower in
non-combat arms and shutting down military farms.
The
recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to
defence minister Manohar Parrikar almost three weeks ago.
The
report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence
Staff - who would be the single point contact for the military with the
government.
The main aim of the committee was to suggest means to
cut down on useless expenditure and use the savings to acquire and
enhance fighting capabilities of the army.
One of the most
important recommendations of the committee was to increase the
retirement age of jawans by two years, which will help the army save a
significant amount on pensions and training of personnel.
Army jawans retire after serving a minimum of 17 years and depending upon their promotion
while in service.
'If
the recommendations are accepted, jawans and junior commissioned
officers till the rank of subedar major will get two more years of
service,' ministry sources told Mail Today.
'This will reduce the
cost of training new jawans along with the problem of providing them
reemployment. Of the one million jawans in the army, almost 60,000
retire every year.
'For two years, the forces can also save on recruiting new manpower,' they said.
The
Shekatkar committee has also suggested ‘optimising’ non-combat support
arms in the army such as supply corps, ordnance and electrical and
mechanical engineers who service cars and heavy vehicles.
'Even in
remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, one can get private
agencies close to the border to service and repair army vehicles,' the
sources said.
Same applies for certain functions of the supply and ordnance corps like supplying rations and
clothes to the forces.
Their roles can be limited to during war and other critical assignments.
The
committee has also recommended abolishing military and dairy farms,
where several thousand army personnel and a considerable number of
officers are involved in mundane tasks like cattle rearing and growing
vegetables.
The committee has also called for downsizing the
remount veterinary corps, which looks after horses and mules for
ceremonial as well as operations in the higher Himalayan regions of
J&K and Arunachal Pradesh.
'With helicopters and road networks
allowing vehicles to reach the last points of border areas and
mountains, there is no need to maintain such a large force of mules,'
the sources said.
The NCC is also on the radar of the Shekatkar committee as a large number of officers from the
Army are sent there.
'The
committee feels that retiring personnel can be trained and sent there
as re-employment. This will save the army the regular personnel for
operational duties,' the sources said.
Source : dailymail.co.uk
