Human Resource Management in Indian Army
Indian Army is the second-largest standing army in the world with 1,23,117 active personnel & 9,60,000 reserve personnel in its arsenal. The Indian Army is one of the most professional armies in the world, as it maintains a well-balanced service ethos with the discipline of the armed forces while maintaining its traditions from diverse cultures and ethnicities.
The Indian Army’s primary mission is to ensure national security & national unity. The Indian Army is responsible to defend the Indian sovereign state from both internal and external threats. Therefore, it has a high degree of readiness for action at any given point in time.
At the core of all the action, the primary resource the Indian Army has is on-ground troops and the officers who have been selected through one of the most stringent selection processes in the world and have been trained through one of the most rigorous training programs in the world.
Let us understand how the Indian Army recruits, trains & deploys its massive workforce across the nation by using some basic concepts of Human Resource Management.
Recruitment:- Indian Army has one of the most strict recruitment processes where the selection rate varies from 15% to 3% depending on the type of entry a candidate chooses to apply. The minimum age criteria for applying to an entry is 18 Years for NDA (National Defense Academy) & CDS (Combined Defense Services) exam, SSC (Short Service Commission), TEC (Technical Entry Commission), JAG (Judge Advocate General) & TA (Territorial Army). The Indian Army conducts these examinations through the Service Selection Board or UPSC (Union Public Service Commission).
In the selection process for each entry, the candidate has to pass a written examination first.
Based on the scores of the examination, the candidate then has to go through an elaborate 5 days screening process called “Service Selection Board (SSB)” where candidates are tested on their physical strength, mental abilities, social skills, and psychological aspects.
With each day in the SSB process, the number of candidates keeps on reducing as the filtration process is defined in such a way that only the best candidates shall make it to the final Interview, where a board of evaluators along with a psychiatrist evaluates the candidates on various criteria.
Once the candidate gets selected, then the Service Selection Board recommends the selected candidates to the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and then the candidate has to pass the strict medical examination at the Army Medical Board.
Training:- Once the candidates are tested and passed by the medical board, then the passed candidates become the cadets in one of the many defense academies and training centers of the Indian Army. The Indian Army maintains and runs various defense training institutions and centers where young cadets are shaped like soldiers and professional officers. In other words, the training institutions are the forge where the raw steel is beaten and shaped into the best swords.
Each cadet is allotted to a regiment depending on their skills, background, ethnicity & physical features. The major training centers in India are the National Defense Academy (NDA), OTA (Officers’ Training Academy), Indian Military Academy (IMA). Where each training institute has the special feature of training the specific group of cadets for specific branches in the Indian Army.
Each Institution is focused on building up the cadet’s physical development, building mental toughness, bringing more emotional stability, brushing up their leadership qualities, making them smart survival experts.
By definition, the defense institutions are meant to turn the young cadets into live weapons that carry effective intelligence along with professionalism & courage to face any challenge thrown at them.
Organization Structure:- The concept of organization structure emerged from the military formations on the battlefield, where each branch has specific tasks that are aligned towards accomplishing a common goal. Therefore, the Indian Army follows a top-down management system where the decisions are made at the higher level and the decisions are translated into action in order to assign the specific tasks to troops specialized in a particular trait of warfare.
The topmost office is the Army Headquarters that is headed by the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), then there are two types of commands that report to the Army HQ, the operational commands and the training commands. Training commands majorly control the training operations in the Indian Army training institutions, whereas the Operational commands are responsible for the formations and the troop movements across the area of operations.
The Operational commands are further divided into 6 commands that are responsible for handling the geographical areas of operations.
Each command is further split into a corps that consists of 3 or 4 Divisions. Each division consists of brigades that are composed of about 3000 troops that consist of 3 infantry battalion troops alongside the other support elements. Each Infantry battalion is composed of 4 rifle companies, each rifle company consists of 3 platoons. Every platoon is further divided into sections, which is the smallest fighting unit within each branch. Each section consists of 10 personnel.
Hierarchy:-Indian Army follows a strict hierarchy of rank, with each role having specific tasks and duties assigned. Each rank also has some legal powers bestowed upon by the President of India, as the constitutional head of the state and supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces.
The heads of each branch of the defense forces (Army, Navy & Air Force) reports to the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), the branch of the Indian Army that is responsible to look after land-based combat is headed by the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) or Army Chief which is held by a four-star General rank officer. The General has the reporting of a lieutenant general (lt. General) officer who is responsible to head a command. Lieutenant General succeeds Major General that is responsible for heading a Division, Further in hierarchy comes the Brigadier as the name suggests. A brigadier is responsible for heading a brigade, a battalion is headed by a Colonel rank officer, next in line of command is Lieutenant Colonel rank, an officer who is responsible for a rifle company. Lieutenant Colonel is assisted by a Major or a Lieutenant rank officer.
After the officers, a Platoon is commanded by a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), he is reported by a Havaldar who has the command of a section.
Communication:- Communication is the key factor in deciding the success or failure of any organization in achieving its target or goals. There to maintain interoperability and readiness, the Indian Army uses the “Chain of Command” for effective communication.
The chain of command keeps the flow of orders clear and eliminates the chances of miscommunication at different levels of the hierarchy. A command passed from a senior level office is carefully calibrated to achieve some specific task that in turn leads to complete missions.
Bottom-to-top communication is as crucial as top to bottom communication as it helps the commanding officers in getting every possible information that helps in making timely decisions in the most efficient way. The orders passed down from commanders to the ground troops need to turn into action swiftly, as it may make a difference of life and death for the frontier fighting forces.
On a macro level, the Indian Army maintains a high-speed network of communication systems in the remotest of the locations across Indian and other parts of the world to ensure flawless communication among all its bases & parts.
Perks & Benefits: Similar to a regular employee of any private organization, the Indian Army offers its troops and officers receive some of the most exciting allowances, perks, and benefits while working or even after retirement.
Starting from providing the best pay allowances and benefits. Each officer gets the remunerations based on the pay band that is decided as per the rank and total years of service they have completed, the pay system is currently as per the 7th Pay Commission. Apart from having a handsome salary, the Indian Army provides other allowances ranging from transportation allowances, kit maintenance allowance, uniform allowance, service pay allowances for the personnel serving in the Siachen, J&K, Ladakh regions & the personnel serving in the special forces.
The Army Officers and Jawans also get special concessions in travel tickets, or while using any public sector services while they are off duty. While on duty, army personnel can use any of the army special trains, vehicle convoys & military aircraft to reach any part of the country.
The Indian Army operates 3400 army canteens where the army personnel can buy items ranging from regular groceries to personal vehicles at a very subsidized rate. Also, the army personnel and their family can get treated at any of the army medical centers & hospitals for very minimum or no cost depending on the type of treatment.
Indian Army also provides world-class education to the pupils of the army officers serving or retired from the services. Indian Army runs about 137 Army Public schools across India, where the students are taught as per the syllabus set by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Apart from these, schools focus on the development of the students not just academically but also in terms of physically by promoting sports & NCC programs.
Not just while working, the Indian Army also takes care of the retired officers by providing them the Retirement Benefits & pensions. The retired army officers get to use their rank with their name even after retirement. They are entitled to a lifetime pension and free medical facilities at all the army hospitals across India.
The Indian Army is not just the source of employment for many Indians, It provides them with a sense of pride and purpose. Working with the best of the best in the country is the type of work environment that a lot of us can only dream of. Working 24/7 in an environment filled with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, adventure, and thrill, is a way of life that is inspired by almost every citizen of this country.
Indian Army continues to be one of the best organizations to work for that has motto:-
“SERVICE BEFORE SELF”
JAI Hind, JAI Bharat
Written: Utkarsh Sinha, HR Associate.
