Army chief General Pande hands over non-lethal military aid to Nepal

The non-lethal military aid handed over to Nepal by army chief General Pande covers artillery equipment, mine protected vehicles, medical stores and even horses

Army chief General Pande on Monday handed over non-lethal military aid to his Nepali counterpart General Prabhu Ram Sharma, with the assistance covering artillery equipment, mine protected vehicles, medical stores and even horses, officials familiar with the matter said.

The visiting army chief General Pande was conferred the honorary rank of general of the Nepali Army by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday as a tradition of friendship between both the armies. (AFP)

Pande is on a four-day visit to that country to strengthen bilateral defence ties.

The visiting army chief was conferred the honorary rank of general of the Nepali Army by President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the officials said. The army chiefs of India and Nepal are the honorary generals of each other’s armies, an arrangement that reflects the strong connection between the two countries.

Conferring the chiefs of each other’s armies the highest rank is a tradition that Nepal and India have followed since 1950 when then Indian army chief General KM Cariappa visted Nepal.

Pande laid a wreath at Bir Smarak and inspected a guard of hnour at the Nepali Army headquarters.

Nepal hopes that Pande’s visit help clear the air on the possible recruitment of Nepalese citizens under the Agnipath scheme that aims to induct personnel for four years, as reported by HT on August 31.

The Indian side submitted a formal proposal to Nepal seeking approval for recruitment of Nepalese citizens under the Agnipath scheme in July but there has been no official response from Kathmandu so far, people familiar with the matter said.

Nepal’s foreign minister Narayan Khadka called Indian envoy Naveen Srivastava to the foreign ministry on August 24 and asked for plans to recruit Nepalese citizens under the new scheme to be deferred until there is consensus on the issue among all political parties in Nepal, according to a report by news portal myRepublica.

India on June 14 announced the Agnipath scheme, replacing the legacy system of recruitment to lower the age profile of the armed forces, ensure a fitter military and create a technically skilled war fighting force capable of meeting future challenges. The move sparked widespread protests and forced a concerted outreach by the government to scotch apprehensions about the scheme.

The scheme seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 years after another round of screening.