Recruitment of British Gurkha not influenced by any factors: British Officials
Senior British Gurkha officials have reiterated that the recruitment of the British Gurkha soldiers are not influenced by any factor and are fair, unbiased and merit-based.
Talking to reporters in Lalitpur on Monday, Major AP Hill of the British Armed Forces said that there were a few agents running around asking for money from the recruit applicants saying that they have liaison with the recruitment officers and could bolster the applicants’ chances of being recruited. He said that these people would have no bearing on the decisions made by the selection committee.
Hill said that the power to make the final decision was vested on him and external pressures would not influence him. He also mentioned that British Gurkha did not support institutions that had been opened to train the applicants because only the rich would be able to take benefit from them.
He said that more than 15,100 boys had applied this year. The British Gurkha recruits 230 boys aged between seventeen-and-a-half and 21, each year after a series of grueling physical and intelligence tests, which change every year.
The preliminary selection procedures for applicants from the western region will be conducted from September 19-30 in Butwal and from September 19- October 02 in Pokhara while it will be conducted from October 17- 30 in Dharan for the eastern region. Four hundred and fifty applicants will be selected from each region and will undergo 15 days of further exercises November 19- December 11, before the final 230 are named, the state-run The Rising Nepal daily reported.
The recruits will then take the induction training before they move to UK in the second week of January.
British Gurkha has been an integral part of the British Army for nearly two centuries. There were 10 regiments of Gurkhas in the British India. Four of them were incorporated into the British Army after India gained independence in 1947.
There are about 3,400 Gurkhas currently serving in the British Army and are especially active in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Brunei. The number of British Gurkhas was slashed to over 3,000 from 8,000 in 1997.
Major Hill said that the work that the British Gurkha are involved in is demanding, difficult and dangerous, it has had special attractions for the Nepalese youth because of the pay scale, which is equal to their British counterparts, minimum of 15-years job guarantee and the education they receive throughout their career.
The news report quoted Colonel JRR Ellis, Commander of British Gurkhas in Nepal said that there was no question of compromise during selection because the British Army wanted to recruit the best possible people.
Ellis mentioned that a review of the pension for the current and future Gurkha servicemen was going on and it could be changed effective from next year. He added that there would also be a change in the structure of payment received by the Gurkha soldiers though they would receive the same amount as their British counterparts do. nepalnews.com by Sep 13 05
