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.