Block 6
Following India’s “Agnipath” or “Path of fire” military revamp, Nepal is being hurt by the change in how the military gets its long term soldiers. The revamp features a top 1/4 keep and send the rest of the 3/4 troops out with 15k pay out for the 4 years they spent training so they can have time to get another job.
Every year, hundreds of Nepali men join the Indian military and hundreds more go to Britain. These foreign recruited troops signed up for the military, and are called “Gurkhas” and it is a function going back to the 19th century. Today there are about 30,000 Gurkhas in the Indian military, and with this new change, if the Gurkhas don’t make the top 1/4 they will be sent home, this causing an increase of jobless and homeless people in Nepal as a result of the men not knowing what to do, falling into bad habits, such as drinking or doing drugs. Though Nepal has stated that they are putting the problem in a queue, as they deal with domestic problems, they are still not sure what they will do to negotiate this problem.
The issue the article describes is a good example of the collective goods problem wreaking its havoc. India was providing Nepalese men with jobs and pensions, but now with most of the men being sent back home, it is hurting Nepal, but of course benefitting India as they don’t have to budget as much for pensions by decreasing the amount of soldiers while still keeping the quality and ability of their military in a good position.