Brigade of Gurkhas - Other

Other

The Brigade of Gurkhas – or to be precise, their salaries and pensions – is a significant source of income for Nepal. Every year, Gurkha recruiters select 270 out of tens of thousands of applicants, mostly from the Rai, Limbu, Gurung, Pun and Magar tribes. The British Gurkha Welfare Society estimates that 24,000 Gurkha veterans who served before 1997 and their dependents receive only a third of what their British counterparts get in pension."Worse still, it is estimated that about 7,000 Gurkha veterans who served for less than 15 years receive no pension at all and around 5,000 veterans and widows currently rely heavily on charity from the Gurkha Welfare Scheme to survive."

Gurkha soldiers have been awarded 13 Victoria Crosses, although all but one (Rambahadur Limbu) were awarded when all Gurkha regiments were still part of the Indian Army. A further 13 have been awarded to British officers in Gurkha regiments. They have affiliations with the Royal Scots, the King's Royal Hussars and the Royal Green Jackets.

Gurkhas are also recruited by the British Army for the over 2,000 strong Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force. Approximately 2,000 Gurkhas also serve in a similar role in the Gurkha Reserve Unit in Brunei.

In addition to the British Army, Gurkhas are also recruited by the Indian Army (approximately 100,000 in 44 battalions plus 25 battalions of Assam Rifles), as part of the tripartite agreement that was signed at the time of India's independence. This is further documented in a list of Gurkha regiments serving under the Indian Army.

Under international law, according to Protocol 1 Additions to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Gurkhas serving as regular uniformed soldiers are not mercenaries, According to Cabinet Office official histories (Official History of the Falkland Islands, Sir Lawrence Freedman), Sir John Nott, as Secretary of State for Defence, expressed the British Government's concern that the Gurkhas could not be sent with the task force to recapture the Falkland Islands because it might upset the non-aligned members of the fragile coalition of support that the British had built in the United Nations. The then Chief of Defence Staff Sir Edwin Bramall, like Nott a former officer in the 2nd Gurkhas, said that the Gurkhas were needed for sound military reasons (as a constituent part of 5th Infantry Brigade) and if they were not deployed then there would always be a political reason not to deploy Gurkhas in future conflicts. So he requested that Nott argue the case in Government for deploying them against the advice of the Foreign Office. Nott agreed to do so commenting that the Gurkhas "would be mortified if we spoilt their chances ".

In 2007 the Brigade of Gurkhas announced that women were allowed to join. Like their British counterparts, Gurkha women are eligible to join the Engineers, Logistics Corps, Signals and brigade band, although not infantry units.

In September 2008 the High Court in London ruled that the British Government must issue clear guidance on the criteria against which Gurkhas may be considered for settlement rights in the UK. On 21 May 2009, and following a lengthy campaign by Gurkha veterans, the British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that all Gurkha veterans who had served four years or more in the British Army before 1997 would be allowed to settle in Britain. Gurkhas serving after 1997 had been given UK settlement rights in 2004.