Shortage of officers in Indian Armed Forces

How we are facing the shortage

Most  of you all have already heard somewhere that we have a shortage of Officers in our armed forces However very few of them are aware of the actual numbers. Let us look into the subject today. As of September 2018, we have the shortage of 9096 officers in Indian Army.

The numbers are taken from the response of Defence Minister in Lok Sabha Last month. Further, Indian Army has the maximum shortage among all 3 services.

The authorized strength of Officers in Indian Army is 49933 but we have only 42635 officers to fulfill the posts. Consequently, we have shortage of 7298 officers in Indian Army Alone. Coming to the Indian Navy which has only 9736 officers as against the allowed strength of 11352 officers. Air Force on the other hand has shortage of just 192 officers. Air Force is authorized a strength of 12584 Officers.

Certain Measures are being taken up to overcome the shortage, One of them being 3 DAY SSB. 3 Day SSB procedure as compared to the current 5 day SSB is suited to fit current needs. It will leverage selection Boards providing extra time so as to assess more number of candidates.

The shortage Obviously is of the young officers and therefore, emphasis is being laid more on the short service commission by shutting down technical entries such as UES/TGC and more. Moreover, SSC is being made more lucrative to attract youth.

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