What a Gorkha pullout means for the Indian military  

Representative image of Indian Army soldiers. (Image: AP/File)

In 1816, military commander and one of the leading lights of the East India Company, Sir David Ochterlony, signed the Treaty of Sugauli with Nepal at the conclusion of the two-year-old Anglo-Nepalese war.

Impressed with the undoubted martial capabilities of the Gorkhas, he signalled their first recruitment into the East India Company’s forces, a hiring tradition reinforced in 1947 with the signing of a tripartite agreement between India, Nepal, and the UK.

The newly introduced Agnipath Scheme, however, threatens to break this arrangement. In the last week of August, Nepal urged India to suspend the recruitment of Gorkhas to the Indian Army under this new plan.

Agnipath is a tour of duty scheme introduced by India in June 2022 for recruitment of soldiers below the rank of commissioned officers into the three services of the armed forces. All recruits will be hired for a four-year period.

In a somewhat choppy bilateral relationship between the two countries, which share a 1,850-km-long border and close political, religious and cultural ties, the Nepalese decision to stop sending Gorkha recruits for the Indian army is symbolic but significant.

It hasn’t helped that China, perpetually keen to expand its sphere of influence worldwide, wants to establish its suzerainty in South Asia. In 2020, it funded a Nepalese NGO, China Study Centre (CSC), to conduct a study on Gorkha recruitment to the Indian Army.

There are seven Gorkha regiments in the Indian Army comprising 28,000 Nepali citizens. The regiments have a total of 39 battalions. Before 1947, there were 11 Gorkha regiments, four of which went to the British Army.

Given the sensitivities involved, Indian army chief General Manoj Pande's five-day trip to Kathmandu last week was an attempt to deepen the military relationship between the two countries, which has often functioned independent of the political ties between the two sides.

In continuation of a seven-decade-old tradition, the Indian Army chief was conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Nepal Army by the Nepalese president, a custom, which is fully reciprocated: India confers General of the Indian Army honorific to Nepal's army chief.

Moneycontrol talked to five former top Indian military officials to examine the options before New Delhi and the way forward.     

Lt Gen RK Sharma (Retd), former Adjutant General

India is formulating a policy that suits it the best 

Your take on Nepal putting a ban on Gorkhas joining the Indian army.   

The Indian government has changed its policies regarding hiring in the armed forces and every government has the right to formulate what suits it the best. The same applies to India and Nepal and I am sure the Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) would have put that point across to his counterparts in Nepal during the visit.     

Would you see a China hand in this entire operation?

I have also heard that some Confucian Institute in Nepal was conducting a study on the history of why Gorkhas have traditionally joined the Indian army. But I would not read too much into this; if you start speculating that the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) would use Gorkhas, it is letting imagination get the better of you and there would be too much negativity! The Chinese army is demobilizing, so where is the question of hiring Gorkhas, enrolling them into the Chinese Army?.

Do you believe that Nepal is a special case, and that India can make an exception in terms of giving the Gorkhas a different deal, other than what it is planning to offer under the Agnipath scheme? 

I can’t see how it can be worked out. Roughly, of the Gorkhas who join the Indian army, about 60 percent come from Nepal while 40 percent are domiciled Indians. How can we offer a different deal to two people from the same ethnic stable?

And what happens to the other regiments in the Indian army? To be sure, our relationship with Nepal is too deep- rooted and strong and many former Indian army men are present in just about every Nepalese village and people-to-people contacts are limitless. I am sure the COAS would have brought out these points with the Nepal government and the army.

Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (Retd.)  former director general of military operations (DGMO), India

Domiciled Gorkhas can join the Indian Army in any case  

Is the great Gorkha tradition in the Indian army under threat?

Well, Nepal is a sovereign republic. If it doesn’t want to send its youngsters to India, be it so. Gorkha officers and their men have excellent records serving for India and have won their fair share of gallantry awards.

Do you see a China hand in this?

I don’t think so. It is more psychological than anything else. India and Nepal have great political, social, and cultural linkages. That is not going to go. Gorkhas can join the Indian army if they like, in any case; there are many Gorkhas domiciled in places like Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh, Dehradun and several others. The military ties between the two countries are too steeped in tradition – since 1965, the two sides started the tradition of conferring the title of an honorary general on each other's army chief. China can never replace such an equation. If the youth in Nepal wanted to go join the PLA, they had many opportunities in the past. They didn’t do it then and they will not do it now. They don’t need work permits to come to India.

Lt Gen Satish Dua (Retd.), ex Corps Commander Kashmir, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff 

Fears about disenchantment with Agnipath have proved to be unfounded    

Agnipath has created a controversy, including in Nepal.

Agnipath has created a lot of controversy both in India and abroad, and what we see in Nepal is on similar lines. People are upset with this four-year recruitment plan, but so far, most fears have proved to be unfounded. Young men are still lining up for military recruitment in India. Some experts said that youngsters will not join the army after Agnipath, but that is not the case.

Do you think Kathmandu will come around?

Personally speaking, recruitment from Nepal is not going to stop if the government there agrees to continue with the current arrangement. It is a very old tradition, and the Nepalese government would not want a disaffected, young population at hand. So, if it is not a lifelong recruitment, it is still a four-year plan with some of them being permanently absorbed in the Indian army. I don’t see any problem with that. Well, the Indian army chief is also an honorary chief of the Nepalese Army. So, hopefully, better sense will prevail, and the government of Nepal may well relook its policy.

There is also the China factor in Nepal.

There are irritants in bilateral ties between countries, but in international relations, equations fluctuate. There was a time when relations with Bangladesh were not good; today bilateral ties between the two are on a sound footing. Likewise, relations between India and Nepal have their own ups and downs.

Lt Gen. Prakash Menon (Retd), director Strategic Studies Programme, Takshashila Institution

I am sure the COAS would be able to convince Nepal  

Is the subject of Gorkha recruitment linked to Nepal’s domestic politics?

The Nepalese government has not said `No’ to the Agnipath recruitment scheme; it is only saying that the plan is under their review. They are examining the plan. In my view, the subject is also linked to Nepal’s domestic politics, and I am sure that the COAS would have convinced the Nepalese government about the benefits of the new Indian policy. The ball is now in Kathmandu’s court.

Do you see a Chinese hand in this reported tension between India and Nepal?

Well, you can expect China to throw the spanner in the works and create friction between the two countries, as they have been trying for some time. But more than that, this is an issue that needs to be settled between India and Nepal, who have ancient, historical ties and old military and defence relations. I believe it is a temporary hiccup and the relations between the two countries will be back at an even keel.

Maj. Gen AK Siwach, former head, Territorial Army

The loss of Gorkhas to the Indian army will be great

How do you see the decision of the Nepal government blocking the recruitment of Gorkhas?

It is a very tricky and sensitive issue. I don’t think that India has contravened the 1947 tripartite treaty between India, Nepal, and the UK over the recruitment of Gorkhas into the Indian army. India has merely changed its recruitment policy, which applies in equal measure to India and to Nepal, so there is no discrimination here.

Having said that, there are apprehensions in some quarters that the Agnipath Scheme may not be as popular as the traditional recruitment policy, as far as Nepal is concerned. Kathmandu’s predicament is understandable: how do they take back 75 percent of their population laid off by the Indian army under Agnipath and absorb them into their economy, which is weak? India can take those who do not get permanent commissions in the private sector or the paramilitary, but that is not an option for Nepal.

Do you think the Nepal government will agree to Indian proposals on army recruitment if any? 

I frankly do not see the Nepalese government agreeing to the proposals of the Indian government unless guarantees are given, which New Delhi cannot give because you cannot have two sets of rules for the Indian army.

What could be the consequences of a break with Nepal on this issue?

Well, China is waiting in the flanks. Gorkhas are some of the best fighters in the world and if India does not take them, someone else will. This is why Gorkhas are employed in the British Army and the Singapore police force. I have no doubt that China, which has a conscription army, is waiting for such a thing to happen. The Indian army was able to block China off in eastern Ladakh because it is well trained and motivated as compared to China's conscripts.