Time has come for armed forces' reforms: MPs panel

The Hindu- Tuesday, February 24, 2009 : 1935 Hrs
New Delhi (IANS): Saying it was "high time" reforms were brought in the armed forces to address "undesirable discriminatory practices" based on rank and gender bias, a parliamentary panel has also urged an "attitudinal change" in the mindset of the higher echelons of the military in view of socio-economic changes in society.

In a series of far-reaching recommendations, parliament's standing committee on defence has also asked the defence ministry to also "devise an effective training strategy" to meet the long term requirements of the armed forces and said it was "perturbed" that the measures taken to address the staggering shortage of officers "have not proved efficacious enough".

This apart, the committee, in its 34th report tabled in parliament on Tuesday, noted that the recruitment procedure for officers had remained virtually static during the last three decades and that no attention had been paid to promotional avenues for personnel below officer rank (PBORs) like what had been done in the case of officers.

Turning to the huge shortage of 14,666 officers in the armed forces, with the army alone accounting for 11,807 of these, the committee said it was "not inclined" to accepting the defence ministry's view that this was mainly due to the youth according to low priority to a military career.
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Time has come for armed forces' reforms: MPs panel