The army has drawn up major plans to boost career prospects of its personnel below officer rank who constitute almost 90 percent of the force of 1.1 million.

Under the proposals discussed at the four-day Army Commanders Conference which concluded on Friday, a soldier can now expect to rise upto the rank of havildar before he hangs up his fighting boots in a career spanning 20 years.

The proposals, which after finalisation would be handed over to the Ministry of Defence, envisages that a soilder, irespective of making the selection stream, would still get promoted to the rank of havildar in a time scale of 17 to 20 years.

However, if he makes the selection stream, he would be entitled to the rank in just 12 to 13 years.

Simlarly, soliders now can rise to the rank of naiks six to eight years after being recruited also in time-bound scale.

Hitherto, army officials said, there had been no time-bound avenues for promotion to naik.