28 September 2016

News Report: Indian Gov’t Mulls Rewarding Soldiers for Capturing, Killing Terrorists

Any Indian armed personnel who manage to nab or kill terrorists will be eligible to receive incentives like out of turn promotions.

New Delhi — India is planning to have a uniform reward policy for its more than one-million strong armed forces following an internal investigation that revealed some complacency on the part of security forces in highly guarded Uri camp terrorist attack. 

India’s Defense and Home Affairs Ministry is expected to complete the consultation before announcing a comprehensive reward policy. The policy will be for all ranks from junior to middle and senior level officers.

The comprehensive reward policy would include Out of Turn promotions, cash incentives, better career prospects and gallantry medals for killing terrorists or foiling infiltration bids from across the border.

In a preliminary investigation into the Uri attack, the NIA, India’s apex investigative agency, found some security lapses where two manned guard posts were not able to detect the intrusion inside the base by the terrorists. Government officials think that complacency, negligence or fatigue could have led to the lack of coordination between the two guard posts. 

Many former security personnel argue that soldiers deployed in sensitive areas barely get either hours of sleep. Long shifts and a lack of basic facilities combined with unscheduled or unforeseen events further aggravate the fatigue among soldiers responsible for securing borders. India’s armed and paramilitary forces make it one of the biggest standing armies with around 3 million personnel.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.