- Recently,the army has planned to reduce its manpower by about 27,000 soldiers as well as restructure them for better efficiency and effectiveness.
- This proposed reduction is part of the larger reforms to transform the Army into a lean, mean, rapidly-deployable and operationally versatile force
- The army has planned to reduce the manpower by around 1.5 lakh personnel over the next six-seven years to save around Rs 6,000-7,000 crore annually in revenue expenditure.
- Earlier,the army has initiated four studies to undertake overall transformation of the force.
- These include (a)restructuring of Army Headquarters (b)creation of Integrated Battle Groups(IBG) (c)the cadre review of officers and (d)review of the terms and conditions of Junior Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks.
- Further,the Integrated Battle Groups(IBGs) which the Army plans to create as part of overall force transformation is close to implementation.
- Integrated Battle Groups(IBGs) are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations which can swiftly launch strikes against adversary in case of hostilities.
