No proposal before me: Sitharaman on making Army 'lean'

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said she has not received any proposal to downsize the Indian Army.

Sitharaman said a committee under the chairmanship of Lt Gen (Retd) DB Shekatkar recommended measures to enhance tooth-to-tail ratio. A high-level meeting between Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and the seven Army Commanders was held last week where the Army Chief was briefed on the progress of the four studies being conducted under the Military Secretary. The studies include restructuring of Indian Army to make the force lean, agile and suitable for modern warfare.

"There is no such proposal in front of me to cut down or downsize Army. The tooth-to-tail ratio was discussed in the Shekatkar Committee report. The Army chief would be discussing the studies on how to make Army lean and a powerful machine," Sitharaman said.

These four studies including the areas of Army's restructuring, officers review, terms of engagement of the Junior Commissioned Officers and the Other Ranks were recently presented to Army Chief for discussions.

The important headquarters which were under the review are that of Additional Director General (ADG) Military Operation handling the Information Warfare, ADG Public Information, Director General Military Training and Army Training Command.

The study to restructure Indian Army started in June 2018. There are four study groups with each comprising of 25 officers and headed by a senior Lieutenant General and overall head is the Military Secretary, also a Lt General Rank officer. This is the biggest ever study of the Indian Army which is working to overhaul every department and organ of the Army in order to make it a formidable force less it's flab.