Gorkha Rifles reunion focuses on declining strength amid Nepal ban on intake

As the foothills of the Shivaliks resounded to the chorus of ‘Ayo Gorkhali’ during the reunion of the First Gorkha Rifles (GR) at its Regimental Centre in Subathu on October 18 and 19, it once again focused attention on the declining strength of the Army’s Gorkha Brigade because of Nepal not permitting fresh recruitment of its citizens after the implementation of the much-debated Agnipath scheme.

There has been no recruitment of soldiers from Nepal since 2020. Army sources said at present, close to 15,000 Gorkha troops have retired since 2020 and these vacancies have not been filled from Nepal, leaving gaps in the posted strength of operational battalions. Earlier, the annual intake from Nepal varied between 1,500 to 1,800 recruits. This would also be the average discharge from service in the coming years.

About 500 serving and retired officers and men from India as well as Nepal congregated for the event — held once every four years — where besides camaraderie and sharing old experience and fond memories, regimental matters were also up for discussion.

After an overall hiatus on intake in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic came the Agnipath scheme that entailed short-term recruitment into the rank and file of the Armed Forces for a period of four years. The pause in recruitment, with no immediate solution in sight, has strategic implications for India as well as socio-economic concerns for Nepal.

Nepal did not agree to the terms of the Agnipath scheme for its citizens, saying that it violated the terms of the tripartite India-Nepal-Britain agreement of 1947. The neighbouring country has also voiced concern over the re-employability of Gorkha soldiers after their term of four years.

The matter has been a point of discussions between the two countries since then and also reportedly figured on the agenda when the Nepalese foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba made a visit to India this August.

An Army officer said at the time of Independence, 90 per cent of the troops in Gorkha battalions were Nepal-domiciled, with the remaining being Indian-domiciled. This ratio at present stood at 60:40. Sources said among the suggestions doing the rounds in military circles to deal with the situation was to reduce gradually the number of Gorkha Battalions and increase the intake to India-domiciled Gorkhas.

The Gorkha Brigade comprises 39 battalions making up seven infantry regiments — 1 GR, 3 GR, 4 GR, 5 GR 8 GR, 9 GR and 11 GR. Their history goes back to April 1815, when 1 GR was raised by the erstwhile East India Company as part of the Bengal Army. 11 GR is the only regiment to have been raised post-Independence, which accommodated Gorkha troops from battalions allocated to Britain, but opted not to return.

Sources said about 32,000 troops from Nepal are presently serving in the Army and in addition, an estimated 1.25 lakh ex-servicemen and widows are residing in Nepal, who draw their salaries and pensions from the Indian Government.

There is also the strategic dimension to the issue, with a pro-China communist government in power in Nepal and the spectre of weakening military ties with India. While a valuable recruitment base for India has been put in abeyance, it opens up the possibility to China recruiting Nepalese citizens for its own forces. After the India-china stand-off in eastern Ladakh in 2020, there were reports that China was keen on recruiting local Tibetans from that region as soldiers.