The NDA government has appointed a committee of experts to recommend measures to enhance the combat capabilities of the over 13-lakh strong armed forces and "Re-balance" the overall defence expenditure in view of the escalating salary and pension bills.

The 11-member committee led by Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (retd), which includes several other top military officers as well as civilian experts, has been given three months to chalk out an action plan.

"The overall aim is to ensure India's combat capabilities and potential are enhanced, with a better teeth-to-tail combat ratio, within budgetary constraints. The committee will hold its first meeting with defence minister Manohar Parrikar once he returns from his May 20-23 trip to Oman and UAE," said a source.

This comes a year after Parrikar first underlined the need to slash the non-operational "flab" of the Army, Navy and IAF after a detailed review to ensure leaner, meaner and cost-effective fighting forces, as was then reported by TOI.

Parrikar feels there is no option but to "downsize in areas which are not of operational importance", both in terms of manpower and infrastructure, due to budgetary limitations. PM Narendra Modi , too, has told top military commanders that instead of constantly trying to expand the size of their forces, they should focus on forces that are "agile, mobile and driven by technology".

While Parrikar stresses there will be no cuts in combat forces, he has repeatedly attacked the previous UPA regime for the "arbitrary way" in which it approved the raising of the Army's new 17 Mountain Strike Corps without any budgetary planning.

As reported by TOI earlier, the Army is being forced to dip into its critical war wastage reserves to raise the 17 Corps with 90,274 additional soldiers, which is meant for acquiring some land combat deterrence against China . As it is, the revenue component (day-to-day costs/salaries) in the defence budget by far outstrips the capital outlay every year, leaving very little for new modernisation projects for the armed forces.

Interestingly, the 1.18-million strong Army has also ordered a study, headed by a senior Lt-General, to determine ways to optimise manpower. "The Army has followed a policy of `save and raise' since the 1999 Kargil conflict to improve combat capabilities without manpower increases. With modernisation and induction of cutting-edge technologies, some more scope for manpower optimisation can be created," said an officer.