The Centre has authorised the army chief to mobilise the Territorial Army, a reserve military force, for countrywide deployment till 2028 to supplement the regular armed forces amid the escalating tensions with Pakistan.

The May 6 order, which became widely known only on Friday, directs the “embodiment” of 14 of the Territorial Army’s 32 infantry battalions across all the major commands of the army. “Embodiment” means a shift to full-time service from part-time service.

Defence ministry sources said these 14 battalions — made up of about 14,000 personnel — had already been deployed and the possible embodiment of the remaining 18 battalions would “depend on the situation”.

The Territorial Army is a volunteer force whose recruits receive basic military training annually so they can be mobilised for the country’s defence in an emergency. Apart from supporting the regular army, it can help the civil administration tackle natural disasters and other crises.

One tidbit about the Territorial Army is that it has Malayalam actor Mohanlal and cricketers Kapil Dev and M.S. Dhoni in honorary positions.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 33 of the Territorial Army Rule 1948, the Central Government empowers Chief of the Army Staff to exercise the powers under that rule to call out every officer and every enrolled person of the Territorial Army to provide for essential guard or to be embodied for the purpose of supporting or supplementing the regular army,” the defence ministry’s May 6 notification said.

In instances where the deployment is requested by ministries other than defence, that particular ministry will bear the costs of the deployment, the notification added.

It said the order would remain in effect till February 9, 2028.

“The decision to call out the Territorial Army has been taken to achieve heightened readiness and strategic reinforcement amid the sustained cross-border provocations, including missile and drone attacks,” a defence ministry official said.

He declined to comment why the Territorial Army is to be deployed for three years.

The reserve force will be deployed across the Southern, Eastern, Western, Central, Northern and South Western Commands as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Army Training Command.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh had in 2023 approved the posting of the Territorial Army’s women officers with its engineer regiments along the LoC.

The Territorial Army began commissioning women officers in 2019 in its ecological task force units, oil sector units, and railway engineer regiment.

Meeting

Rajnath on Friday met the top military leadership “to review the security situation along the western and northern border and operational preparedness of the Indian armed forces”, a ministry official said.

The Chief of Defence Staff, the three service chiefs and the defence secretary attended the meeting.