New Delhi: With increasing commitments on
both its eastern and western fronts, the Indian Army has
proposed to increase its sanctioned strength by another over
16,000 officers.
During a recent meeting attended by high-level Defence
Ministry and Army officials, a proposal to increase the number
of officers by another 35 percent was discussed, Army sources
said here.
The proposal comes at a time when the Army is facing a
shortage of 12,349 officers against its sanctioned strength of
around 46,500 officers and the other two sister Services are
also facing similar shortfalls.
On the need for expansion, they said the Army has
expanded its strength by two divisions in the Northeast along
the China border and is also involved in counter insurgency
operations in the North Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir
and increased strength was required to cater for future plans
also.
Recently, Defence Minister AK Antony had said the
shortfall was partly attributed to accretions from time to
time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions
coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in
recruitment and training.
A number of steps have been taken by the Government to
attract youth to join the armed forces, which include increase
in tenure of Short Service Commission (SSC) officers from 10
to 14 years, increasing promotional avenues for officers by
restructuring of officers cadre.
Overall, the armed forces are facing a shortage of
15,004 officers including 1,818 in the Navy and 837 in the Air
Force. The IAF is short of 426 pilots.
PTI
