New Delhi: The Indian military has decided to carry out common annual confidential reports to facilitate cross service postings. The development comes at a time when plans for greater integration and theaterisation of the Indian armed forces is afoot.
At present, appointments to the tri-services are based on parent or service-specific parameters.
Sources in the defence and security establishment have said that over a period of time, employment of officers in the tri-services organisations will only increase as the armed forces progress towards joint structures. As such, a need has been felt to synergise the appraisal system to undertake tasks for tri-services appointments, they added.
To begin with, a common Confidential Report (CR) for two and three-star officers of the armed forces will be implemented. The new system is likely to be put in place in the next three to four months, the sources said.
A common CR, the sources further said, will be instrumental in achieving commonality of procedures and assessments, and contribute to the jointness and integration of the armed forces.
It will also lead to better identification and selection of officers for tri-services appointments in the command, staff or instructional channels, based on their suitability, the sources said.
The new decision follows a similar integration decision taken to cross post about 40 officers of major and lieutenant colonel ranks in each service, the sources said. They added that this was being done to ensure the personnel understand each other’s operational doctrine when it comes to common platforms like missiles and drones.
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