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Defence ministry trims Army flab; 57,000 soldiers to shift to combat roles

Shekatkar Committee reforms to shave Rs 25,000 cr off defence budget

Arun Jaitley, Thawar Chand Gehlot
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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot addresses a press conference after a cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: PTI

Ajai Shukla New Delhi
The lead photograph in this article has been changed to make it more relevant to the story.

The Army currently deploys more soldiers on non-combat administrative and supply chain duties than in the trenches in wartime.

On Wednesday, to increase what the defence ministry terms the Army’s teeth-to-tail ratio by putting a larger percentage of soldiers on the frontline, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley ordered 65 reforms to the structure of the military.

Improving the teeth-to-tail ratio involves whittling down administrative and logistic units that support combat operations, and redeploying the manpower thus saved into combat units. The defence

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