Pokhara: For 20-year-old Bivas Rana, training for the Indian Army was more than a career plan. It was a chance to follow in his father’s footsteps, to wear the proud uniform of the Gorkha Regiment that had defined generations of Nepali men, and to secure a future of stability, honour.
But now his plans have changed. Rana has been training for the past two months at the Eminent Defence Academy in Pokhara and plans to join the Nepal Army soon. He does not want to be inducted into the Indian Army under the Agnipath scheme, introduced in 2022.
India launched the scheme to reform armed forces recruitment, enrolling youth aged 17-and-a-half to 21 for four-year terms. Aimed at boosting military readiness through merit-based selection, India wants its forces to be more technologically oriented and younger.
However, the scheme has disrupted a centuries-old pipeline of Nepali recruits into the Indian Army’s famed Gorkha regiments.
Under the plan, only a quarter of recruits are retained after four years. The rest return home without pensions or job security unlike in the past when they used to retire after 15 years of service and come back with a steady pension to support them and their family.
Since 1815, Nepali Gorkhas have served in the Indian and British Armies, as well as in the Bihar, Bengal, and Assam Police.
However, after the introduction of the Agnipath scheme, no Nepal-domiciled Gorkha has enlisted in the Indian Army because Nepal has formally rejected the new recruitment scheme. “Everyone here is sad and frustrated,” Ashok Sunar, a trainer at the Eminent Defence Training Centre in Pokhara, told ThePrint.
“Enrollments have also gone down drastically. For decades, joining the Indian Army was a matter of pride. Now the boys feel there is no future in it,” he said.
But with a new interim government in Kathmandu—seen as more pro-India—assuming office after violent protests that toppled the K.P. Oli-led government this month, hopes are rising that recruitment will return to the previous system.
Some hope the new government may work toward a consensus to allow Nepali youth to pursue opportunities in the Indian Army once again. “This government is not tied to any political party,” retired Col D.B. Thapa told ThePrint. “The prime minister studied in India, some ministers are sons of ex-servicemen. They may not have the power to take a major decision right now, but they can create an environment for recruitment to restart.”
A regiment and a history
The Gorkha regiments are more than just units in India’s military; they are a cultural inheritance. Their reputation for fearlessness dates back more than two centuries, when the British East India Company first encountered Nepali fighters in the Anglo-Gorkha War of 1814-1816.
Admiring their discipline and ferocity, the British began recruiting them in 1815, a practice formalised by the 1947 Tripartite Agreement between Nepal, India and Britain.
The agreement formalised the division of the original Gurkha regiments, assigning six to India and four to Britain. It also ensured that Nepali soldiers serving in these armies would receive comparable pay and pension benefits.
Even before the British, Maharaja Ranjit Singh had enlisted Gorkhas after the Battle of Kangra in 1809. Since then, Nepali soldiers returning from service abroad have been called “Lahure”, literally meaning “one who returned from Lahore”, a nickname that survives to this day.
Nepali Gorkhas have fought in two World Wars and in every major conflict India has fought since its independence in 1947, from Kashmir to Kargil in 1999.
Today, around 40,000 Nepalis serve in the Indian Army across seven Gorkha regiments, with battalions deployed from Ladakh to the Northeast.
The Army chiefs of both countries are the honorary heads of each other too: Since 1950, India and Nepal have upheld a tradition of conferring the honorary rank of General of each other’s army on their respective Chiefs of Army Staff (COAS).
In 2019, Nepal’s then foreign minister, Pradeep Gyawali, said the treaty had lost its significance in the current political context and that Nepal now prefers to negotiate separately with India and the UK.
In 2022, Nepal’s then foreign minister, Narayan Khadka, informed the Indian Ambassador, Naveen Srivastava, that recruiting Nepali soldiers under India’s Agnipath scheme did not align with the provisions of the 1947 agreement.
India did not consult Nepal before extending the Agnipath scheme to Gorkha recruitment, a move that replaced the earlier system of 15 years of service with lifelong pensions. The decision seemed to overlook the potential strain on the traditionally close ties between the two countries.
“It is not just recruitment,” ex-subedar major honorary captain Ram Prasad Gurung ASM, a retired Indian Army officer of 5/4 Gorkha Rifles who now runs Pokhara’s oldest training institute, said. “It is tradition. The name our ancestors earned is disappearing if this stops. Being a Lahure has always been a matter of pride, a badge of honour for Nepal.”
From security to uncertainty
Traditionally, a career in the Indian Army meant 15 years of service, lifelong pensions and secure livelihoods. But under Agniveer, most recruits leave after four years with only a one-time severance package.
“They train for six months to a year,” Tanka Bahadur Ghale, head of the ex-Army Association in Pokhara, told ThePrint. “Then they are sent back, uncertain and disillusioned. This affects their minds, their families, their futures.”
“If service is only four years, they will only get a salary and about 20 lakh NPR in gratuity,” Colonel D.B. Thapa said. “But without pensions, the long-term security is gone.”
Under the Agnipath scheme, recruitment for non-officer ranks is limited to four years, with only 25 percent of each batch retained for permanent service. The initial four years do not count toward pensions, though all recruits receive allowances for risk, hardship, travel and compensation for death or disability as part of insurance.
Around 122,000 Gorkha pensioners in Nepal currently receive Indian support, but Agnipath will reduce future pensions.
Former Brigadier General Ram Chandra Khatry, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Nepal’s former military attaché to India, emphasised that the central concern lies in ensuring the long-term financial security and career stability of Nepali youth serving in the Indian Army.
“The British Army recruits only a limited number of Nepali youths annually with pension entitlements; the larger intakes by the Indian Army in earlier decades—together with guaranteed pensions—had played a vital role in enhancing the socio-economic wellbeing of Gorkha families in Nepal,” he said.
Subedar Ghale insisted that recruitment should return to the old system. “Under the Agniveer scheme, the Indian government keeps only 25 percent of recruits and sends 75 percent back. That’s not how it should be,” he said. “It should be the other way around.”
Ghale argues that those who are not retained should at least be absorbed into roles such as the BSF, bank security or other government jobs.
“The Indian government should take responsibility for settling them,” he added. “People train for six months to a year, and then after four years, they are sent back. It affects their mental state—they live with the uncertainty of whether they’ll fall in the 25 percent retained bracket or not,” he explained.
He also noted that even Indian training centres are not recruiting at the moment, which exacerbates the problem. Previously, roughly 60 percent of trainees would join the Indian Army, 20 percent the British Army and 10 percent the Nepal Army. “Now, 60 percent of them are left unemployed because vacancies have shrunk,” Ghale said.
The financial stakes are huge. According to 2020 data, NPR 1,28,52 crore inward remittance comes to Nepal annually from Gurkhas serving in the Indian Army. A World Bank report from April 2025 notes that remittances played a crucial role in Nepal’s economic growth in the preceding fiscal year, accounting for 20.9 percent of the country’s GDP for the year ending mid-2024.
Also Read: Nepal ex-PM Bhattarai says ‘old guard became what it fought against, youth will rebuild nation’
Alternatives abroad & domestic politics
With Indian Army recruitment in limbo, many young men are seeking riskier alternatives. Some pivot to the Nepali Army, which opens around 5,000 vacancies annually, or to the British Army, which continues to take 400 recruits each year. Others, disheartened, migrate to the Gulf, Europe or even war zones.
In the last few years, Nepali fighters have turned up in the Russia-Ukraine war. Reports suggest hundreds have joined Russian units, drawn by promises of high pay and residency. Dozens are believed to have been killed or captured.
At least 200 Nepalis are reported to be serving in the Russian Army, though unofficial numbers may be higher. Immigration records show that 1,890 Nepalis were issued tourist visas for Russia and Ukraine in 2023, most of whom have not returned.
“Because the government stopped sending our youth to the Indian Army, many have joined the Russian and Ukrainian armies,” Retd Indian Army Colonel Dhan Thapa, from the Kumaon regiment, said. “Some have died there. This is a heinous crime against our youth.”
“Young men here used to dream of the Gorkha Rifles,” Sunar said. “Now they go abroad for construction or security jobs, or try their luck in Europe. It’s not the same.”
Diplomatic efforts
Thapa urged Kathmandu to push diplomatically for changes.
“The Indian government is justified in saying that when no concession is given to Indian citizens, the same applies to Nepali youth,” said Thapa. “If the Nepali government wants our people to get the old service conditions, they must talk to the Indian government. Some concessions might be possible.”
He added that Indian officials had suggested Agniveer recruits might later join paramilitary units such as the BSF and ITBP. “That will apply to Nepali youth as well,” Col Thapa said. “So there are advantages, if only the government allows recruitment to begin.”
Brig Gen Khatry recommended extending the service tenure to 8 to 10 years instead of four, retaining at least 50 percent of recruits rather than 25 percent, and offering structured opportunities for the remaining personnel to voluntarily re-engage in India’s paramilitary forces by inducting them to the BSF or Assam Rifles, thereby strengthening career continuity and long-term prospects.
He further noted that those completing 8-10 years of service and opting to return could be granted a meaningful share of pension benefits—around 70–80 percent—as a balanced and equitable measure.
Even the younger generation is hopeful that things might be resolved diplomatically under the new government.
“When Nepali Gorkhas went to India, they made history. Their service strengthened ties between the two nations and bolstered diplomatic relations. Why would we want to go fight someone else’s war when we can fight for India?” 20-year-old Bhatinendra Baniya, a trainee at the Eminent Defence Academy, told ThePrint.
Geopolitics
Veterans also say geopolitics cannot be ignored. According to some, external forces are at play. “The communist government (of Nepal) was leaning north, and our northern neighbour does not want Nepalis joining the Indian Army,” a retired serviceman told ThePrint.
The suggestion of Chinese pressure reflects how recruitment has become entangled in Nepal’s delicate foreign policy.
For decades, the Gorkha connection symbolised Nepal’s special relationship with India, which symbolised an open border, shared military interests and deep economic ties.
Now, Kathmandu’s hesitation adds to a list of grievances, from trade blockades to territorial disputes, that cloud bilateral trust.
According to Brigadier General Khatry, with thoughtful reforms, the Agnipath Scheme holds significant potential to become more professional and sustainable—delivering strategic benefits to the Indian Army while simultaneously addressing the genuine aspirations of Nepali Domicile Gorkhas (NDG).
He suggested that both governments consider a special joint review committee to revisit the provisions of the historic Tripartite Agreement of 1947 to explore practical and mutually acceptable adjustments that serve the interests of all stakeholders.
Yet for ordinary Nepalis, the issue is not geopolitics but dignity. “Fighting for India was always a matter of pride,” said Gurung, the veteran trainer. “The Gorkha name carried respect across the world. Losing that is as painful as losing the pensions.”
D.B. Thapa is more blunt.
“It’s better for Nepalis to join the Indian Army than go abroad for menial jobs. For us, this is not just recruitment, it’s tradition,” he said. “But if recruitment doesn’t restart properly, the 40,000 Nepalis still serving will be the last.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)