New Delhi: The Indian Army with a strength of about 1.4 million personnel has overtaken China, which has cut down its strength by half, making India having the world’s largest ground force.
China has now turned its focus on Navy, Air Force and technology, according to the Defence of Japan 2019 report.
The report, released late last year said China has the third largest ground force in the world following India and North Korea with approximately 9,80,000 personnel.
The Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) was always regarded as the largest army in the world with an approximate strength of two million soldiers.
India, which has been keeping close track of PLA’s modernisation, is in the initial stages of building a leaner and modern technology-enabled force as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.
However, while China has been working on a massive modernisation of its force, India has been facing cash crunch and increasing expenditure towards meeting pension and so virtually stalling modernisation plans for its large personnel-driven force.
The Indian Army has so far carried out four transformation studies, and is working on trimming its force by about 1.5 lakh personnel, which could take a minimum of five years.
In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced the downsizing of the PLA to make the force leaner and reliant on modern warfare.
The unprecedented reform began in November that year during which the focus shifted to technology for cyber and space and futuristic weapons besides giving a greater emphasis on building up the PLA’s Navy and the Air Force.
“Since 1985, China has continuously sought to modernise its military by curtailing the number of personnel and streamlining organisations and systems through reforms including those currently being implemented in order to improve operational capabilities … China has rapidly modernised its missile forces in recent years,” the Japanese military document said.
