Tense situation along Pakistan-China borders to top discussions at Army brass meet
New Delhi, Oct 26: Border tensions along the borders with China and Pakistan will be the top focus when the top commanders of the Army will meet today.
The commanders will also deliberate on a slew of long-pending reform measures like cutting down on ceremonial practices and non-military activities to ensure a rational distribution of resources, they said.
Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane will chair the Army Commanders' Conference (ACC), which is a top level biannual event that formulates important policy decisions through a collegiate system of deliberation.
It will be attended by all Army Commanders, Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) of the Army headquarters and other senior officers.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will address the commanders on Tuesday, the sources said.
"The Army Commanders will carry out a comprehensive review of the security challenges facing the nation including the situation in eastern Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir," said a source.
The situation in eastern Ladakh remains tense as both Indian and Chinese armies deployed over 50,000 troops each along the LAC following escalation of standoff that began in early May.
The sources said the commanders will exclusively deliberate on matters relating to human resource management in the Army on Monday while they will carry out an in-depth discussion on Wednesday on various agenda points highlighted by the top Army Commanders.
There will be a discussion on issues flagged by the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, which is India's only tri-services command.
Besides reviewing the security challenges facing the nation, the Army commanders will attempt to finalise various reform measures recommended by separate internal committees in utilisation of limited resources while at the same time focusing on enhancing operational capability of the 1.3-million strong force, the sources said.
Some of the proposals to be on the table at the conference include discontinuing or at least bringing down the scale of the Army Day and Territorial Army Day parades, cutting down on various ceremonial practices and reducing the number of officers' mess within individual peace stations, the sources said.
Similarly,
the
top
Army
brass
will
also
examine
a
proposal
to
bring
down
the
number
of
guards
at
official
residences
of
senior
officials
and
another
one
on
reducing
the
number
of
CSD
canteens
if
several
such
facilities
are
operating
within
one
station,
they
said.
Another
proposal
on
the
table
for
discussion
would
be
to
asking
various
units
to
cut
costs
on
celebrating
Raising
Day
and
Battle
Honour
Day.
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The
sources
said
the
last
day's
agenda
of
the
conference
will
include
a
briefing
by
the
Director
General
of
Border
Roads
on
the
various
infrastructure
development
projects
being
undertaken
by
the
Border
Roads
Organisation
(BRO)
and
allied
formations.
They
said
"automation
initiatives"
to
optimise
utilisation
of
manpower
at
various
levels
of
the
Army
will
also
be
discussed.
(With agency inputs)