Revisiting Mountain Corps to deter China

Context: India needs to raise the Mountain Corps to counter China's aggressive behavior along the LAC.

Need and significance of the Mountain Corps:

• Dedicated Corps: To comprehensively look at the operational dynamics of the entire border with China.

• For Eg: Collate the entire intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance(ISR) canvas of Chinese activities, provide acclimatized battle-ready formations, with inbuilt rapid air mobility to respond to situations.

• Create capabilities: To enable military-diplomatic negotiations from a position of relative strength.

• The Mountain Corps provide multiple military employment options in mountain-specific platforms.

• Asymmetric warfare: They enable synergizing the asymmetric warfare means.
• Active defence: Can be induced in place of deep offensive capability along the LAC. 

Government steps so for:

• During the face-offs at Depsang, the government-sanctioned the raising of 17 Corps with a non-defensive role along Northern borders. 
• Manpower accretions and initial raising expenditure were considered for long-term investment to mitigate the financial burden.
• Other options explored are: 

• Building maritime capability instead of land-based Corps.
• Induction of long-range missiles.
• Raising of Special Forces units to interdict lines of communication. 
• Raising small-size formations instead of a Corps.

Way Forward:

• Need to revive the raising of the Corps for mountains with its integral force multipliers. 
• Shekatkar Committee reforms: Substantial cost optimization can be carried out by utilising the manpower savings.
• Focus on economic development: India must focus on economic development, with the ability to respond to the weaponisation of trade.