The absolute necessity of orchestrating modern air-power and artillery support fire as the adjunct to the infantry man was duly felt during the Kargil operations. As the Indian Army and the Air Force obtain upgraded weapons, the group cohesion in the display of fire power cannot be overemphasised. The basic infantry arm itself has to refine its tactical role using more sophisticated weapons such as flame throwers, tank destroyers and night illuminating devices.

With the wide range of territorial configuration in our country, the Army has to face deployment and operations starting from the bare deserts of Rajasthan to the heights of Siachen and the inhospitable jungles of the North-East. Training for high altitude operations, counter-insurgency warfare and desert operations requires that the tactical skill be sharpened
with emphasis on innovation, improvisation and ingenuity. The Indian Army has enough expertise to develop battlefield tactics which will enable the fighting forces to cater for all kinds of weather, terrain and environmental conditions. The field formations have to be prepared for the skills of modern nuclear war even though we may not be the proponents of first use as declared by the Government. The fighting soldier has to pivot himself for a combination of warfare under both conventional and nuclear warfare conditions.

On the issue of logistics, it is again evident that the conventional siting of base depots and maintenance areas will not be able to cope up with the wide challenges that are posed both on the Indo-Pak border and in the disturbed areas of the North-East. The logistics chain, based on perspective planning, got toppled during the Kargil operations when even the mainline of communication was almost cut off by enemy intrusions. The Government is now taking active steps to galvanise our strategic roads in the border areas and improve infrastructure such as petroleum installations, pipelines and other communication network. However, the vital requirement of logistics necessitates that the entire Army chain of administrative installations are wired through information technology systems which will provide real time data at all levels of command and logistics supply chain channels.

Some military experts are of the view that a continuous deployment for counter-insurgency and the increased allotment of defended sectors on the ground have slowly negated the principles of rotation and have milked peace-time unit resources. In the present scenario, there is bound to be no let-up in the requirement of ground troops and their presence in many areas of counter-insurgency. If we wish to maintain the morale of the fighting arms, it is necessary that we have a serious look at the concept of using the Territorial Army for deployment in rear areas and less threatened sectors. The budget itself is groaning under the weight of pay and pensions which form almost fiftyfive per cent of the annual expenditure. A national policy on the terms of a soldier and post-retirement benefits have to be evolved if we are not to collapse by sheer manpower cost. The alarming shortage of officers can only be tackled if we accept a graded increase in the intake of officers, specially the short-term service candidates for whom additional training infrastructure can be created at some of the training centres. The supporting services would, on the other hand, have to accept greater quota of intake from those who are selected from the lower ranks to the Army Cadet College or a channel of special list officers.

In peace time, the Army's requirements of accommodation, travel and logistics need more attention for which the Government has to constitute additional allocation through the ministries of Railways and Urban Development. Most of the soldiers are unable to avail of married accommodation facility as they are constantly being churned for counter-insurgency aid to civil power and during natural calamities. It would be worthwhile if accommodation for the entitled soldier is provided at any military station whether he is in an operational area or not.