Army chief sets up board to probe infantry resentment

Army chief General VK Singh has constituted a board of inquiry comprising three Lieutenant Generals to look into alleged resentment in the infantry over the promotion of Brigadiers as Major Generals.

The Major Generals were selected by a board last year and the procedure was declassified a couple of months ago.
When the infantry top brass discovered that nine of the 37 officers promoted were from Armoured Corps, it became unhappy.

According to the top brass, nine is a huge number compared to the size and proportion of the corps vis-a-vis the infantry. The infantry is six times the size of Armoured Corps. 

It had been decided in 2008, when AV Singh-II recommendations were implemented, that senior ranks would be promoted on a pro-rata basis. This meant the bigger the force the more the promotions.

It was also decided that after promotion to Major General’s rank, there would be no quota for any arm of the army, making this elevation crucial to all officers.

An infantry officer said, “Since armoured corps officers stay in peace, they are exposed to sand models and a better life, unlike infantry officers who are in jungles and the Valley with the troops.

This is why armoured officers always get better marks in annual confidential reports, making them rise to the top easily. Also, they are always in armoured divisions where they are assessed by armoured officers only, which may or may not be the case with the infantry. When they come up for senior ranks, the lowest on the armoured list would be equivalent to the topmost officer in the infantry, which explains why so many of the armoured officers make it.”