The Indian Army wants to become like western armies.
OKAY! So they reduce manpower.
OKAY! Reason? “We want to be more high tech like western armies”
OKAY! Do they equip their soldiers to the standard of western armies? No. Do they have eyes on the ground from the air and proper santization and recon? (For eg, In the rare case a U.S. patrol gets ambushed they can get exact terrorist locations, supporting bombs, and leave the ambush almost scartchless)
Do they have night fighting capabilities? No. Do they have SOFs inside PoK actively eliminating enemy assets? No. Do they have even proper SOFs? No. Do their soldiers have proper kits and armor? No.
What we are seeing is the decline of the general IQ. What the IA lacked in equipment they made up for in proper HUMINT networks, planning, etc against hardcore foreign terrorists in the 90s/00s era. As a result they were able to find groups and eliminate them within months of activity.
Current IA doesn’t beleive in HUMINT or proactive in planning. Instead it’s “Chalta Hai” “we want to be like ameirca” and then makes a half assed attempt to westernize. If you want to westernize the forces then copy EVERYTHING about them from equipment to SOP. Using the same SOP doctrine while reducing manpower has caused huge gaps in the J and K region. If the IA wants to fight the insurgency old school then at least have manpower heavy operations. If you want to be like ameirca then have air assets and proper reconnaissance and communications so your patrols and convoys aren’t blindly walking into ambushes.