New Delhi: The economic recession might have
hit the world hard but it has had benefits for the Indian Army
as it helped slow down the trend of officers seeking premature
retirement.
The number of officers applying for premature retirement
in the army came down by half last year compared to the
previous year, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said today
while addressing the annual press conference.
"600 plus people had applied for PMR in 2008 and in 2009,
it has come down to 280-odd people. That is the effect of the
economic recession. I hope this trend will continue," Kapoor
said at his annual media interaction here.
He was responding to queries on his earlier remarks on
recession curbing the trend of large number of young officers
leaving the Army on PMR.
The Army has been hit by 11,000-odd vacancies in the
officers' cadre, the sanctioned strength of which was just
over 47,000.
Noting that a new Officers Training Academy (OTA) on the
lines of the Chennai-based institution would come up in Gaya
in 2011, he said more and more youngsters would join the Army
as Short Service Commissioned officers that would "make up for
the gap" in the number of officers the Army had at present.
To a question, Gen Kapoor said more women would be
welcome to join the Army so that the existing deficiencies in
the number of officers is filled up.
"There are about 900 women officers in the Army today. We
want more women to join the Army so that our deficiency in the
number of officers is filled up," he said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 22:41