The armed forces are short of 14,244 officers, as stated by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in Parliament. As the security environment throws up huge challenges, manpower issues continue to plague the armed forces, especially the officer cadre and some technical trades. The need to attract talent to maintain the forces’ cutting edge cannot be over-emphasised.
Inadequate numbers blunt the cutting edge
Brig Santokh Singh (Retd)
Shortage of officers in the armed forces, particularly the army, which besides fighting six wars (including Sri Lanka) after the Partition, has been constantly involved in internal security duties is a matter of serious concern.
Compared to other government establishments and the private sector, service conditions of the armed forces, which continue to receive step motherly treatment, are a lot more strict and difficult. Even the Supreme Court has opined that the government treats them as beggars. No wonder, therefore, that the well informed youth of today are not attracted to donning the military uniform, the prestige and love for it having considerably waned. A number of academies that came up in the 50s and 60s to train aspirants for getting a commission in the forces, have closed shop for this reason.
Against authorisation of 23 officers, infantry units, for example, are having a posted strength of only 10 officers. Considering officers on courses, leave or temporary duty, those actually present in a unit at any one time are just five of six. This adversely affects administrative and training commitments. The situation gets accentuated for units deployed in operational areas like J&K.
The armed forces are short of 14,244 officers, as stated by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in Parliament. As the security environment throws up huge challenges, manpower issues continue to plague the armed forces, especially the officer cadre and some technical trades. The need to attract talent to maintain the forces’ cutting edge cannot be over-emphasised.
Inadequate numbers blunt the cutting edge
Brig Santokh Singh (Retd)
Shortage of officers in the armed forces, particularly the army, which besides fighting six wars (including Sri Lanka) after the Partition, has been constantly involved in internal security duties is a matter of serious concern.
Compared to other government establishments and the private sector, service conditions of the armed forces, which continue to receive step motherly treatment, are a lot more strict and difficult. Even the Supreme Court has opined that the government treats them as beggars. No wonder, therefore, that the well informed youth of today are not attracted to donning the military uniform, the prestige and love for it having considerably waned. A number of academies that came up in the 50s and 60s to train aspirants for getting a commission in the forces, have closed shop for this reason.
Against authorisation of 23 officers, infantry units, for example, are having a posted strength of only 10 officers. Considering officers on courses, leave or temporary duty, those actually present in a unit at any one time are just five of six. This adversely affects administrative and training commitments. The situation gets accentuated for units deployed in operational areas like J&K.
Inadequate numbers blunt the cutting edge: The Tribune
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Sunday, August 8, 2010
Shortage of officers impacts Military
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Neither the "Report my Signal -Blogs" nor the individual authors of any material on these Blogs accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused (including through negligence), which anyone may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of use of or reliance on information contained in or accessed through these Blogs.
This is not an official Blog site. This forum is run by team of ex- Corps of Signals, Indian Army, Veterans for social networking of Indian Defence Veterans. It is not affiliated to or officially recognized by the MoD or the AHQ, Director General of Signals or Government/ State.
The Report My Signal Forum will endeavor to edit/ delete any material which is considered offensive, undesirable and or impinging on national security. The Blog Team is very conscious of potentially questionable content. However, where a content is posted and between posting and removal from the blog in such cases, the act does not reflect either the condoning or endorsing of said material by the Team.
Blog Moderator: Lt Col James Kanagaraj (Retd)
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