Shortage of Officers in Army: Is it likely to improve in the forseeable future?

Wednesday, May 05, 2010 Ministry of Defence 16:25 IST
The sanctioned strength of officers is 46614 in Army, 9,293 in Navy and 12,212 in Air Force. The present strength of officers in Army is 35,158 and around 11,500 posts are vacant.

One Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai is already functional. The Government has approved setting up of a second OTA at Gaya, Bihar. Necessary steps have been initiated to make the Academy functional.

A number of steps have been taken to attract the talented youth to join the Armed Forces. All officers including those in Short Service Commission (SSC) are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after 2, 6 and 13 years of reckonable service respectively. The tenure of SSC officers has been increased from 10 years to 14 years. A total number of 750 posts of Lt. Colonel have been upgraded to Colonel towards implementation of AV Singh Committee Report (Phase-I). Further, 1896 additional posts in the ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General and Lieutenant General and their equivalents in the other two Services have been upgraded towards implementation of AV Singh Committee Report (Phase-II). The implementation of recommendations of the VI Central Pay Commission with substantial improvement in the pay structure of officers of Armed Forces, is expected to make the Services more attractive.

The Armed Forces have also undertaken sustained image projection and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career. Awareness campaigns, participation in career fairs and exhibitions, advertisements in print and electronic media, motivational lectures in schools, colleges are also some of the other measures in this direction.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in written reply to Shri in Shadi Lal Batra Rajya Sabha today. PK / RAJ
Shortage of Officers in Army

Comments: Neither Implementation of AV Singh Committee recommendations nor Sixth Pay Commission enhanced pay scales are likely to improve the shortage of Officers in the Armed Forces in the foreseeable future. The main reasons are that the rank and honour is totally degraded and Officer status is being reduced and diminished progressively. This is aptly apparent from the number of Judicial Rulings in favour of the Military that are being flouted by the Bureaucrats and the Government with scant regard for the welfare of the Ex- Servicemen.
Only method to offset the shortage is to ensure all bureaucrats including IPS Officers being inducted do at least a 3- year stint in the Armed Forces before they are sent to their respective cadres.