How Jawaharlal Nehru planned to turn the Indian Army into a labour force
From the book 'General S. M. Shrinagesh: Soldier, Scholar, Statesman' by Brig Satish K. Issar
1. Soon after Independence, after the initial security problems of the nation had been tackled by the Army, the Government of India began to consider downsizing the Army and to make use of it as a labour force. When Shrinagesh took over as Chief in May 1957, the strength of the Army was about 4,50,000. The government had planned to bring it to 1,50,000, reducing 10,000 men per year. General Shrinagesh stated:

2. "Leaders of free India were busy impressing upon the world that we were a peace loving nation, with people wedded to the ideology of Ahimsa, and steeped in the belief that peaceful attitude was a sufficient safeguard against any thought of aggression. As a matter of policy, we hastily expressed our close friendship with Communist China, Nepal, Burma and Tibet. We felt certain that in spite of the necessity of Partition, and while deploring the communal frenzy that it evoked, the people of Pakistan and India were close kith and kin, and would never dream of taking an aggressive attitude to each other."

3. "To me this kind of thinking seemed manifestly short sighted. Dr Katju’s (then Defence Minister) and my arguments on Pakistan seemed to make some headway with Panditji (Nehru). He agreed that Pakistan was making military alliances, had been contemplating rearming with modern weapons, and had by no means forgotten Kashmir. But when it came to China, it drew a firm "No" because the Chinese were our trusted friends; and we (army commanders) were foolish, hot headed, and needlessly belligerent. Unfortunately, perhaps, China had not yet built the Aksai Chin Road, and we came away with the agreement to a 3,00,000 force, less than what we had contemplated, but still a force and a military one — not a labour corps!"

4. "For India, the military situation in Kashmir had been adversely influenced by political considerations. Pakistan had no legal or moral right to operate with its army in Kashmir against the expressed wishes of the people and the ruler of Kashmir, whereas India had. Still India referred the matter to the United Nations, which set up UN Commission on India and Pakistan, before which both parties came to an agreement to refrain from offensive action likely to aggravate the situation."

5. Clearly, Nehru proved to be a complete disaster as Prime Minister. Not only did he allow Pakistan to walk into Kashmir and take 1/3 of it, he also allowed the Chinese to take all of Aksai Chin. Had he succeeded in his plan to cut down the Army to 1.5 lakh men and turn it into a "Labour Force", there is no doubt that the Pakistan border would have been near Rohtak and Chinese would have taken Ladakh, Assam, Arunachal, Sikkim, north Bihar and north Bengal.
Ends