Post holding of the Army Commanders Conference organised for the first time in a hybrid model from 17-21 April 23, the Indian Army issued a press release outlining the major decisions taken and the review of activities.
The press release indicates that discussion were undertaken over wide-ranging Strategic, Training, Human Resource Development, and Administrative aspects and took key decisions in shaping the Army for the future.
The Army Commanders and other senior functionaries took stock of the current / emerging security scenarios and reviewed the operational preparedness and readiness of the Indian Army.
Transformation
The forum reviewed the pan-India, quantified progress on the ongoing transformational initiatives in the key domains of Force Structuring & Optimisation, Modernisation & Technology Infusion, Processes & Functions, Human Resources Management, and Jointness and Integration as part of “Year of Transformation” announced in January 2023. Progress on efficient implementation of the Agnipath Scheme was deliberated upon in detail.
The Apex leadership also identified specific areas and actionable points for promoting jointness and integration with other Services and government agencies.
Cyber Security, Information Exploitation
With rapid migration towards net centricity, which entails an increased reliance on modern communication systems, the forum reviewed the requirement to safeguard the networks and decided to operationalise Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings (CCOSW) in the immediate future. In order to augment the capabilities of the forces by absorption of Niche Technologies and equipment, it was decided to nominate Lead Directorates and 'Test Bed' Formations to evolve optimal employment philosophies and scaling to facilitate better exploitation Pan Army.
Training initiatives to optimise on infrastructure, time and resources to maintain an effective and lethal fighting force were widely deliberated upon. Simulator training is also planned to be given a significant push through procurement of 435 simulators at an estimated cost of 791 crores this year as per the Press Release.
Entry Schemes
In the TES entry scheme for entry of officers, it was decided to transit from the existing 1+3+1 years Technical Entry Scheme (TES) model for to 3 + 1 TES model from Jan 2024 onwards. This change will also accrue benefits of the availability of more number of officers in the units and address officers' shortages.
Welfare & Sports Training
To harness Battle and Physical Casualties, it was decided to identify and train selected motivated soldiers for Paralympic Events by training them at Army Sports and Mission Olympic Nodes in nine sporting events.
The welfare of soldiers is an abiding responsibility of the leadership and the organisation. In a significant step towards welfare of specially abled children of those soldiers who die in harness, it was decided to double the sustenance allowance to such children through AGIF.