NEW DELHI: On his maiden foreign trip as the Indian Army Chief Manoj Pande is likely to visit Nepal later this week to carry on the decade-old tradition. The first foreign visit of the Indian Army Chief is generally to the neighbouring country after taking charge as the 29th Chief of the Army Staff. General Pande assumed the office in April.
His Nepal visit holds significance as the country has put on hold the recruitment of Nepalese youth into the Indian Army’s famed Gorkha Regiment under the Agnipath scheme. General Pande is expected to be in Nepal during September 4-8. The visit has not been formally announced yet. The officials have denied possible discussion on recruitment under the scheme.
Indian and the Nepalese Armies share a good rapport and the Indian Army Chief is an honorary chief of the Nepal Army also and vice versa. In June, the Centre announced the scheme of short-term recruitment into the armed forces under which youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years are inducted for four-year tenure.
Twenty five percent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service. A recruitment rally of the Indian Army was to begin in Butwal City of the Himalayan country on August 25. On August 24, Nepalese foreign minister Narayan Khadka and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava held a meeting to discuss the issues. The Nepal government asked him to put the plan on.
“If the Nepalese youths are to be recruited for four-year with no pensions, there is a need to discuss the matter with all political parties in Nepal and build consensus. Till further decision it should be put on hold,” Khade told the Indian ambassador.
Meanwhile Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, said, “We have been recruiting Gorkha soldiers into the Indian Army for a long time. And we look forward to continuing to recruit Gorkha soldiers in the Indian Army under the recently launched Agnipath scheme as well.”
The Nepalese youths are being recruited in the Indian Army under a Tripartite Agreement between India, Nepal and Britain, which was signed in 1947. It also allows recruitment of Nepalese into the British Army. Later in 1950, a Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed between the two countries which reinforced the right of Nepalese citizens to work in India and for equal national treatment. As per the sources in the Indian Army Agnipath Scheme is neither violating the Tripartite Agreement nor discriminating anyone.
Gorkha recruitment
General manoj Pande’s Nepal visit holds significance as the country has put on hold the recruitment of Nepalese youth into the Indian Army’s famed Gorkha Regiment under the Agnipath scheme. General Pande is expected to be in Nepal during September 4-8.