Part
01
of one
Part
01
What is the average length of service in the Indian Army (Infantry) before soldiers secure a first promotion to Lance Naik or are promoted for Lance Naik to Naik or are promoted from Naik to Havildar?
Hello! Thank you for your question regarding the average length of service a soldier must undergo in the Indian army in order to be promoted to the position of lance naik, or from lance naik to naik, or from naik to havildar.
The short answer is that there is no set number of years of service before an individual is automatically considered for a promotion. Instead, a promotion to any one of these three positions happens only by selection, and quite often, does not happen at all, even after one has served for several years. Below you will find a deep dive of my research on this subject.
METHODOLOGY
In order to find the answer to your question, I began by familiarizing myself with the three ranks you had inquired about, and understanding what each role’s identifying features were. Following this, I did research into how the promotions worked, and what benefits a soldier was eligible for even if their entire military career went by without a single rank promotion.
LANCE NAIK
A lance naik is the first position that a soldier can be promoted to. The initial role which is assigned to all individuals who enlist in the Indian army is that of the sepoy. A sepoy’s grade pay is 1800 rupees. A lance naik, whose role is essentially the same as that of the sepoy’s, only truly differs in terms of their grade pay, which is 2000 rupees, or 200 rupees more than that of the sepoy. A lance naik retires either after 22 years of service or at the age of 48 - whichever comes first.
NAIK
After achieving the rank of lance naik, a soldier’s next step up would be their promotion to the position of a naik. The naik receives a grade pay of 2400 rupees, which is 400 rupees more than that of a lance naik, and they retire either after 24 years of service or at the age of 49 - whichever comes first.
HAVILDAR
Above both the lance naik and the naik is the position of the havildar. People often harbour the misconception that the havildar rank in the army is equivalent to the havildar rank in the police, when in reality the former is far more sophisticated and receives a significantly higher grade pay of 2800 rupees.The havildar retires either after 26 years of service or at the age of 49 - whichever comes first.
PROMOTIONS
As mentioned above, promotions amongst these three ranks take place only by selection. In nearly 80% of cases, a sepoy who was recruited for the army between the age of 17.5 years and 23 years will retire after 17 years without any promotion. This implies that a sepoy will generally retire between the ages of 35 and 50.
Even the few individuals who are promoted generally do not get past the position of lance naik before they are due for retirement, and this can be the case after even 15 years of service in the military. As New Delhi based research consultant and policy analyst Pathikrit Payne put it, this lack of opportunity for promotion can be hugely discouraging for the soldiers, for whom badges and higher ranks on their arms and shoulders may act as boosters of motivation and social recognition, as well as non-monetary incentives.
Perhaps it was this realization that contributed in part to the Indian government’s establishment of the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme, which served as a partial resolution to the lack of available vacancies for soldiers to be promoted to higher ranks. Under this scheme, defense personnel, or those serving in the army, would receive a financial promotion by being granted the same pay and allowances as the next highest rank after 8, 16, and 24 years of service, even if they were not officially promoted to the next position. This meant that a sepoy would be paid the same as a naik after eight years of service, the same as a havildar aver sixteen years of service, and the same as a naib after 24 years of service - who is ranked higher than even the havildar and gets paid 60% as much - all the while retaining the status of a sepoy.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, although there is no standardized, time-based system for the promotion of a soldier from the ranks of lance naik, to naik, to havildar, the Indian government has attempted to compensate for this by offering financial promotions, since there are simply not enough vacancies available for rank-based promotions.
I hope you find this information useful, and continue to use the Wonder network for all your future research purposes!