Resumption Of Nepali Gorkha Recruitment In Indian Army On The Cards, As Nepal's Foreign Minister Visits India

Resumption of recruitment of Nepali Gorkha soldiers may be on the cards as Nepali Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba arrived in India on Sunday (18 August) for a five-day visit.

Deuba will hold talks with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar during his visit.

In the meeting, the issue of the recruitment of Nepali Gorkha soldiers in the Indian Army is expected to be on the agenda, as since 2020, after the Covid-19 pandemic, not a single Nepali Gorkha soldier has been recruited into the Indian Army.

The recruitment was halted after the pandemic struck.

Following this, India introduced the Agniveer recruitment scheme under which soldiers aged 17 to 21.5 years will be recruited for four years.

Under the scheme, after the completion of four years, only the top 25 per cent of performing soldiers will be retained for permanent commission, while the remaining 75 per cent will be let go with a lump sum monetary compensation of Rs 12 lakh.

Since the introduction of the Agniveer scheme, Nepal has prohibited their recruitment into the Indian Army and is not agreeing to the short-term nature of the service in Agniveer.

This has led to zero recruitment of Nepali Gorkha soldiers in the Indian Army and consequently a shortfall of 15,000 soldiers in the seven Gorkha regiments.

In total, India has 39 battalions with close to 32,000 soldiers deployed.

The Gorkha regiments have an illustrious history in the Indian Army, with its soldiers displaying extraordinary courage and valour in several battles.

Gorkha regiments are the only regiments in the world that are part of the armies of three nations — India, Britain and Nepal.

They have taken part in every major war fought by the Indian Army — from the 1962 war against China to the 1999 Kargil war to their presence in Galwan Valley in Ladakh in June 2020, again against China.