Kathmandu. India has taken a leap in a major policy decision as the Army Headquarters has sanctioned the recruitment of non-Gorkha aspirants from Uttarakhand into Gorkha Rifles (GR) regiments. This practice will come into effect from the next recruitment cycle making Garhwali and Kumaoni youths from Uttarakhand eligible for the GR.

With the Indian Army having 40 GR battalions, it has a 60-40 ratio of Nepal-Domiciled Gorkhas (NDG) and Indian-Domiciled Gorkhas (IDG) indicating their uniformly bound ethnicity of Gorkhali blood possession. Although an all-Indian Gorkha battalion was raised in a regiment a few years ago, sources claim that the approval to admit non-Gorkha personnel has been given for three of the seven GR regiments.

According to the Indian Express, a senior officer in Army Headquarters confirmed the development stating, “There is no shortage of recruits coming from Nepal in the various GR battalions. However, there has been a shortfall of Indian Gorkha recruits for some units and therefore this measure has been adopted to make up the numbers. At present, this induction of non-Gorkhas has been limited to the next two years and thereafter a call will be taken after seeing the numbers of Indian Gorkhas volunteering to join up.”

Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had recently termed the Gorkha recruitment a legacy of the past and had called the 1947 Tripartite Agreement between the United Kingdom, Nepal and India redundant against the backdrop of the Kalapani dispute between the two neighboring countries.

Mixed opinions have arisen since the decision. As per the Times of India, Retd. Col. Ajay Kothiyal who runs a youth foundation in Garhwal that trains young aspirants wishing to join the Indian Army, mentioned that the move will prove to be a boon for the youth of Uttarakhand. Retired Brigadier PS Gurung and Major VS Thapa were opposed to the idea, believing it would disturb the essence of the battalion, which has its own ethnicity and art of warfare embedded within the Gorkhas.

There have been speculations that this move is a result of Nepal-India tensions since the Kalapani-border-dispute. Major Thapa asserts that the Army should stop recruiting from Nepal altogether if it has any apprehension as such.