Newshour Press

Indian Army has been considering a proposal – Tour of Duty, which will allow civilians to enroll in the force as officers and in other ranks like front-line fighters for a tenure of three years. The said proposal is a part of broad reforms inculcated for the force. It is expected to be discussed by the top commanders of the Indian Army at a conference. The proposal is said to benefit the army financially.

The three-year-stint will be different from a permanent job in the army as the latter includes other benefits like pension and more. In addition to this, the enrollment will be significantly different in conscription, even though the laws are implemented to various degrees.

‘Tour of Duty’ proposal?

• As per the proposal, the recruited individuals will be eligible to be deployed as combatants with no restrictions in their role. Currently, the Army recruits young professionals for an initial tenure of 10 years which can be extended up to 14 years.
• Indian Army is likely to acquire a significant financial benefit from the proposal as it will save a large sum on severance packages, gratuity, pension and leave encashment.
• The Army has also built a comparative study on whether the training costs would be commensurate with their limited employment of three years.
• The initial financial calculations show that the financial benefits accrued from ToD would be exponential.

The ToD scheme, if and when approved, will initially be launched with around 100 vacancies for officers and 1,000 for jawans. The Army believes that the well-trained, disciplined youngsters “exiting” the force after one-year of training and three years of ToD at an age of 26/27, with a good amount of money in their pockets but no pension and other benefits, will be lapped up by the private and public sectors for a fruitful second career.

Should Military services be made mandatory in India?

Early in the 21st century, many countries did not conscript soldiers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presumes some level of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities. Many states have ceased conscription, however, they can restore it during wartime or the time of crisis. Although, there is only a certain number of vacancies available for the three-year-tenure, it is often said that military service should be made mandatory in India as well. This will not only be beneficial in the long run but will help the country get stronger in terms of army personnel in times of crisis. Though the idea of making military service mandatory for the young physically-abled individuals has been surfacing with the increasing threats from neighboring countries, there is still little information revealed by the army or government.