Key Points
In the Indian Army, the enduring markerforthe selection of its senior leadershipisthe lineage or inherited identity,particularlythe professional segment one is initially inducted into.. Recently, there has been an attempt tostandardise identity in the Army by making uniforms the same for Brigadier and higher ranks..
They are divided into Combat(Infantry, Armoured Corps, and Mechanised Infantry), Combat Support(Artillery, Engineers, Air Defence, Signals, and Army Aviation), and Services(Army Service Corps, Ordnance, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and Medical Branch), which provide logistic support...
However, from the Brigadierlevel and beyond, officers from the Combat Supportarm, withexpertise in a broader knowledge base as well asproficiency in managing human and material resources, can also be included in the General Cadre, which iscrucial forcommandingoperational formations..
However, post the reforms initiated duringGeneralKrishnaswamy Sundararajanstenure, the General Cadre promotions were split into two streams:Command and Staff.Therefore, only those General Cadre officers approved in the Command stream are eligible for higher levels of operational command..
First,Combat Support arm officers, now part of the General Cadre, stilloccupy vacancies allotted to their original armwhen nominated for the NDC.For example,an engineer officer, transferred to the General Cadre and commanding an Infantry Brigade during NDC nomination, will eat into the vacancies allotted to the engineers..
