India on Wednesday announced an extensive restructuring of its army, an exercise that will see 57,000 soldiers being redeployed in combat roles to sharpen the force’s fighting edge.
Announcing the government’s decision to usher in the much-needed reforms, defence minister Arun Jaitley told media after a cabinet meeting the “far-reaching” revamp was aimed at improving army’s tooth-to-tail ratio — the number of personnel (tail) required to support a combat soldier (tooth).
“Implementation has begun with the decision of the cabinet committee on security to close 39 military farms in a time bound manner,” a defence ministry spokesperson said.
The restructuring would be completed by December 2019. The army has around 40,525 officers and 1.15 million other ranks.
The defence ministry dubbed the overhaul the first such exercise in Independent India’s military history.
The restructuring effort will involve the shutting down of all military farms and army postal units in peace stations and a revamp of different wings including logistics, communications establishments, repair facilities, ordnance depots and other administrative and support areas.
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