SOURCE : Tribune News Service
The shortage of officers in the Indian Army will take another eight to ten years to overcome, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar admitted in Parliament this morning.At present there are 11,116 vacancies of officers in the three armed forces. The Army has the biggest shortfall of 9,642 officers and the Navy and the Indian Air Force follow at 1,322 and 152 vacancies, respectively.“The major vacancies appear to be of the officers in the Army, which is short by 9,642.
The Ministry of Defence has made efforts since 2012 to reduce this,” Parrikar said in the Lok Sabha answering queries from MPs.The vacancies were 10,100 in 2012 and 9,590 in 2013. In 2014, it came down to 8,455. “Currently it was actually 7,642, down by 1,000 (over the previous year) but it got increased to 9,642 as approximately 2,000 positions are created afresh,” the minister explained.He said each year approximately 2,000 Army officers were inducted for training every year whereas around 1,000 retire.“We are filling in the gaps and in the next eight to ten years the gap will be filled”, he said of the vacancies in the Army. Though he did not say why new positions have been created, it’s expected that these posts are for the upcoming Mountain Strike Corps.He listed out the reasons for the gradual filling of vacancies. There are two restrictions to increase this number. First, we had training facilities available for about 2,200 personnel, of which we had to give some slots to foreign countries. About 2,000 personnel werebeing trained on our own, he said.Second, if we took one bunch, there will be problem of their placement and promotion when they are due for it, the minister said.Filling the vacancies in gradual manner would help, Parrikar said while answering questions in the Lok Sabha.The Navy which is expanding fast to match the country’s expectations has an intake of around 800 and retirement is about 250. “In next three to four years, the officer shortage will also be taken care off,” Parrikar said.
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