Mountain strike corps will boost India's defence: Experts

The government's decision to raise a 45,000-50,000-strong mountain strike corps has been welcomed by security experts who said it will bridge the gap in India's defence capabilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and possibly inhibit any military adventurism by China.

"When raised and fully operational, this strike corps would fill a crucial gap for India vis-a-vis China in the eastern sector. This will also hopefully make the current India-China negotiations on the territorial dispute more malleable," noted security expert C. Uday Bhaskar, a distinguished fellow at the Society for Policy Studies, told IANS.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved the raising of the new corps. This will involve expenditure of some Rs.64,000 crore - roughtly half the defence budget for 2013-14 - over a seven-year period, official sources said. The formation is expected to give India the capability to launch offensive action into the Tibet Autonomous Region in case of a Chinese offensive.

Noting that the decision was "long-overdue", Bhaskar, however, said it was not clear when funding would be made available for implementing the decision.

"It will be a very firm signal of intent that will lower the probability of China taking recourse to military superiority to alter the territorial dispute in its favour - or encourage provocative intrusions," he added.

Bhaskar said the move was a step in bridging the gap with China's military infrastructure along the LAC.
"In terms of the overall defence capabilities and related offensive component - that gap will be filled."

Bhaskar said the move does not threaten China but definitely adds credibility to India's posture.

He said that the April incursion by Chinese troops in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern Ladakh may have acted as "a trigger-pulse" for CCS decision but the proposal itself had been mooted about 10 years ago.

Bhaskar said India strengthening its defence capability along the LAC "will hopefully inhibit the Chinese PLA's adventurism.

The proposed corps, to be headquartered at Pangarh in West Bengal, would be India's first dedicated corps for offensive mountain warfare.

Lt. Gen. Kamal Davar (retd), the first head of the Defence Intelligence Agency chief, said the raising of the mountain corps will add to country's deterrent capabilities.

"It is a long-awaited, strategically apt decision which will go a long way in contributing to India's combat potential in diverse operations of war to deter our potential adversaries in the mountainous region along our vast Himayalan borders," Davar told IANS.

He said army headquarters must now speedily get down to raising various units required to make the strike corps operational.

"To achieve credible deterrence, the country has to have both strong offensive and defensive capabilities and the raising of mountain corps will go a long way in bridging the current gap," he said.

Savita Pande of School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the government's move was "much delayed" and should have come earlier.

"China is playing a double game. Skirmishes have been occurring even as talks on the border continue," she said.

She said that building defence preparedness was very significant and India had to be as careful about China as about Pakistan.

"It (the mountain corps) will send a very good signal. It is a big step. India can negotiate from a position of strength," she said.

Pande said border talks with China have not produced results so far and the move to raise a mountain corps was a "right step in the right direction."

Lt. Gen. Surinder Nath (retd), a former army vice chief, said the strike corps will strengthen India's posture along the mountains and give the forces greater flexibility.

"It will definitely lead to a stronger posture. There is need to strengthen our posture particularly in the eastern sector," Nath said.

He said April border incursion by Chinese troops may have expedited the decision to form mountain corps but the army had been asking for it for quite some time.

"It will be good morale booster for our troops," Nath said.

He said a certain amount of time will be needed to raise the new corps and put in place the required equipment and weapons systems.

Capt Praveen Davar (retd), general secretary of the Congress' ex-servicemen department, said the government's decision has strengthened security and raised the morale of the people.

"Offensive capability is the best defence," he said.