Recruitment has been frozen for two years due to the pandemic but the Defence Ministry seems oblivious to the perilous shortfalls due to this
by Ashok K Mehta
Pradeep Mehra, the lad captured in a video jogging 10 km in his preparation to join the Army, has a place guaranteed provided he is kosher in his medical examination. A retired General appeared on TV and tweeted that he was inspired to help Mehra and had contacted Lt Gen Rana Kalita, Army Commander Eastern Command and Colonel of Kumaon Regiment, the outfit he wants to join. Another Lt Gen claimed he had also spoken to Kalita, urging him to help Mehra. Such is the marvel of electronic and social media that Mehra has become an instant hero. And so have the Generals! Priyanshu Yadav, another aspirant, witnessing this ‘assured recruitment’, sought similar assistance.
Soon there will be thousands of Yadavs and Mehras lining up to join the armed forces with retired and serving Generals acting as godfathers, knocking the gates of Training Centres of Regiments they wish to join. Besides recruitment through all-India rallies, certain quota is reserved for recruitment through regimental centres. The problem is recruitment has been frozen for the last two years due to the pandemic.
The MoD seems oblivious to the perilous shortfalls due to this in combat arms, many of whom are deployed confronting PLA in East Ladakh. The Army informed Parliament’s Standing Committee that due to suspension of recruitment for two years against the sanctioned strength of 12,12000, there is a shortage of 81,000 personnel. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that average of 90-100 Army recruitment rallies are held every year covering all regions. His deputy Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that 97 rallies were planned in 2020-21, of which only 47 could be conducted. In 2021-22, of 87 planned rallies, only four were held. As no Common Entrance Exam was held during pandemic, there was no recruitment. In 2018-19, 53431, and in 2019-20, 80572 candidates were recruited. Normally 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers retire annually from the Army and this gap will be difficult to make up seriously eroding operational capability of the Army. Like the Army, the IAF and Navy have not let the officer strength be depleted but sailors and airmen numbers have degraded.
In some Gorkha regiments, manpower has declined dangerously even before pandemic due to the 60:40 ratio of recruitment of Nepali and Indian Domiciled Gorkhas. As the Indian domiciled Gorkha quota has been undersubscribed, it was a windfall for Kumaonis and Garhwalis to be recruited instead rather than increasing the quota from Nepal and not disturb the fixed class composition of Gorkhas. This self-inflicted injury will prove fatal. How the Army will manage such contradictions, including shortfalls in fighting strength, the Integrated Defence Staff and Service Headquarters have not considered seriously even as the MoD has taken a chalta hai approach. Regimental Training Centres, Recruiting Depots and Army Recruitment Directorate have been mostly idle during the pandemic even as operational deficiencies have mounted.
Creative systems could have been introduced to explore opportunities to recruit and train youth so that a manpower hole is not created. MoD could have selectively extended service of soldiers to avoid existing shortfalls. But there seems to have been a method to madness: Savings on pay and pensions.
BJP MP Varun Gandhi accused the “nationalist Government” for not filling up around 1.21 lakh vacancies in Army and paramilitary forces and “keeping jobless youth waiting for three years”. In a tweet, he gave figures of 1,04,053 jobs in Army, 5461 in Air Force, 12,431 in Navy as lying vacant. Many young men have become overage for recruitment and Bhatt informed Parliament the Government has not considered any relaxation of age. Unlike Mehra, many youth have been running to nowhere. The recruitment ban is expected to be lifted in September but all restrictions except wearing masks would be removed by March 31.
In any case, Mehra will enjoy the opportunity of joining either Kumaon or a Gorkha regiment. 58 Gorkha Training Centre is holding backlog of 1,000 recruits who were enlisted but could not join due to COVID. Of these, there are 300 Kumaonis and Garhwalis. This out-of-area recruitment was sanctioned for four years and some Gorkha battalions will contain lads from Uttarakhand. Some of them will pass out in August 2022, masquerading as Gorkhas.
These youth are physically less hardy than blue-blooded Gorkhas from Nepal but Government policy of not providing a waiver to increase recruitment from Nepal beyond sanctioned 60 per cent will prove woefully shortsighted.
The likes of Mehras are the Gurungs and Thapas in Nepal who make folklore in running — but running away from home stealing family heirlooms to get recruited in Kunraghat, Gorakhpur, where once a recruitment industry had sprung up. Nepal has not permitted recruitment rallies due to the pandemic though one rally was held in the Indian border town of Sunauli in March 2021. Nepali youth crave to become Lahures (soldiers). Last week, a fake notice was circulating in Nepal that Indian Army would hold recruitment rallies at Gorakhpur between April 27 and May 4. Gorkha Recruiting Depot, Kunraghat, has issued a denial. The Government must take military recruitment seriously and not be misguided by those who say there will be no war.
(The writer, a retired Lt Gen, was Commander, IPKF South, Sri Lanka, and founder member of the Defence Planning Staff, currently the Integrated Defence Staff. The views expressed are personal.)
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