Click to play videoNew Delhi: It's raining sops for the armed forces ahead of the polls. It was a busy day for the Union Cabinet. The team dusted out a 5-year-old report and approved 1,900 more posts for the military in the higher ranks.
Also being seen as a pre-election sop, the military will now have 140 more Generals and over 1,700 more Brigadiers and Colonels.
After taking on the government and wrenching out a better pay deal, the military will now get 1,900 more brass hatters. The military is thrilled that there will be more room at the top.
“This will be a great motivator for everybody in the armed forces,” said Air Chief Marshal F H Major, who is also the Chief of Air Staff.
In beefing up the top brass, the Government has brought into effect the 5-year-old NDA-era Ajay Vikram Singh report, which was aimed at easing the stifling stagnation in military ranks and ensuring younger commanders.
1,900 more slots in the top ranks should flatten the forbiddingly steep pyramid in the military hierarchy.
At the moment, only three per cent of officers can make it to the rank of general. So, this should make it easier to get to higher ranks.
But the ranks of the top brass are set to bloat at a time when the military will not grow but only shrink hereinafter"
Creating more room at the top without any increase in military formations could mean that Generals would have even shorter tenures as Commanders.
Currently, the average tenure of a Corps Commander is under 10 months.
But the leadership feels that the democratisation of higher ranks will bolster morale at a time, when middle-rung officers are queuing up to quit.
“Retention, motivations will always remain perhaps the biggest challenge, “ added the Air Chief Marshal FH Major.
It'll take the Army and Air Force five long years and the Navy a good ten years to figure out where to place the additional Generals and Admirals.
But at the moment, the forces are basking in the pre-election courtship.
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