New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed that the military is facing a staggering shortfall of 11,266 young officers in its ranks. The shortage affects the three services — Army, Navy and the Air Force — and is mainly at Major and Captain-level posts.
Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Ajay Bhatt shared the details of the shortage in a written reply to Lok Sabha, which ThePrint has seen.
Bhat said that to mitigate the shortage of officer-level vacancies in the armed forces, the ministry is considering making the “Short Service Entry More Attractive”.
Officers who join the armed forces for a fixed term, usually ranging from 10-14 years, are commissioned under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme.
The Army, being the largest of the three forces, has more than half of the total vacancies. It needs 2,094 more officers at the level of Major and 4,734 more officers at the level of Captain. While the IAF has a shortfall of 881 Squadron Leaders and 940 Flight Lieutenants, the Navy requires 2,617 more officers at ranks of Lt Commander and below.
The ministry attributed the high shortfall to the low intake caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It also said that the shortage is partly due to “low intake in all support cadre entries mainly consisting of Short Service Commission and other service entries”.
It, however, assured that the available strength is adequate to meet current operational requirements and that “the operational readiness and effectiveness of Army units is being maintained with organisational resources”.
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‘No alternative strategies’
According to the reply, the ministry clarified that it had not received any proposal from the armed forces to reduce officers in the headquarters to supplement the shortage. It added that no alternative strategies, such as re-employment of officers to the vacant posts, are being considered to address the shortage.
A 2015 report by an expert committee set up by the defence ministry had recommended making the SSC more lucrative, a suggestion that was backed by the former chief of defence staff late General Bipin Rawat.
The report noted that the SSC is a very important scheme that would also cater to the shortage of officers in the three services. Before 2006, the SSC was applicable for a period of five years, extendable for another five years and then for a further four years.
A person released after five years was granted gratuity and also ex-serviceman status, having been released on completion of terms of engagement.
But in 2006, in an attempt to make SSC more attractive, the earlier 5+5+4 years system was changed to 10+4 years, thereby making the initial tenure of 10 years mandatory for earning benefits, including ex-serviceman status. This is the system which is currently being followed.
Sources had earlier told ThePrint that the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar was actively discussing the idea of reverting SSC to the 5+5+4 system when he was moved out to take over as chief minister of Goa in 2017.
Parrikar wanted to bring SSC officers on the contributory New Pension System (NPS) on par with civilians and further expand the scheme to bring down the pension bill by keeping SSC officers on NPS on par with a similar short-service entry scheme of the Indian Coast Guard.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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