The concept of part-time soldiering carries a great value in the present geo-political and geo-strategic atmosphere of our country wherein; we are fighting the menace of terrorism from within and outside. Our regular forces although, are deeply involved into it, however; the thing that is lacking in our overall strategy, is the citizen’s involvement. The regular forces also have a drawback of reaction time to a given situation, which was evidently visible at Mumbai’s 26/11 and more recently during another terror attack in the metropolitan city.
In India, time and again attention has also been drawn to the exorbitant cost of manpower in the defence services. The concept of Citizens’ Army is therefore, a logical idea in this regard to cut on the cost of maintaining a large standing army and at the same time is able to meet the requirement of additional force in times of need. The primary purpose of such forces all over the world is to support the regular forces. The methods of doing so however, may vary.
Army, we all know is a highly demanding profession both on personal & professional fronts. An option therefore, of part-time military service or a short spell of few regular years followed by the part-time service has many advantages. In a country like India, where we are facing the acute shortage of army officers, this concept would open great dimensions to the officer intake of our army. This would also entail the overhauling of our civilian system of functioning by giving people the option of serving in the army as well as being in the civilian stream. Another important beneficiary would be the armed forces themselves; there is a general feeling prevailing that our services are more or less disconnected from the society and there is no platform for civilians to interact with them. The concept of part-time soldiering therefore, would act as a barometer for the services to understand the pulse of the nation and evolve as an institution as per the aspirations of our society.
Army comprises many specialists (such as Doctors, Researchers, Scientists, Lawyers, Pilots, Engineers, Nurses, PR Experts, Writers, Photographers, Film Makers, IT Professionals, etc.) fields which require a huge amount of investment on infrastructure for training and skill development. The same experts however, can be hired from open market under the schemes of Citizens’ Army at a very minimal cost and that too, without any infrastructural investments. These part-time specialists would in fact, be more competent than regulars due to their constant interactions with the latest trends. In countries like the United States and United Kingdom, more than 90 per cent of specialists in the armed forces are hired on the concept of part-time soldiering.
A nation may also use the huge potentials of Citizens’ Army to do things which are generally not associated with armed forces. These nation building activities would eventually strengthen the very foundations of the state, thereby, minimizing the option of using army as a last resort. Citizens’ Army can be used exclusively to relieve the Regular Army from all kinds of internal commitments like aid to civil authority, disaster management, combating terrorism, etc.; thus, allowing them to focus on their prime role of defending India from any form of external aggression.
(Published by the team of TERRITORIALS)
Photograph: Copyright with author
