The government recently informed the Parliament that there is a shortage of officers at the major and captain levels in the army with over 6,800 vacancies. However, it maintained that the strength is “sufficient” to meet the current operational requirements.
Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, in a written response to a query in Lok Sabha, said that there is a shortage of officers all three services – the Army, Navy, and the Air Force – and is mainly at the Major and Captain-level ranks.
News18 takes a look at the details of the shortfall and the probably causes behind the shortage:
Details of the Shortfall?
In the army, there is a shortage of over 8,000 officers, including Army Medical Corps and Army Dental Corps. The government said that there are 2,094 vacancies for major rank and 4,734 for the captain rank in the army.
In the navy, the figures are 2617 for Lt Commander and below ranks, while in the air force, the figures are 881 for squadron leader rank and 940 for flight lieutenant rank.
Earlier in March this year, Ajay Bhatt informed that the armed forces were short of around 1.55 lakh personnel, with the Army accounting for the majority of the 1.36 lakh vacancies.
In February 2022, the government said that there was a shortage of 9,920 officers in the three services, while in 2021, the government said that there was a shortage of 9,362 officers and around 1.13 lakh soldiers, airmen and sailors.
Why is there a shortage?
The Defence Ministry has attributed the shortfall of officers to the Covid-19 pandemic. The shortage can be attributed to “low intake during COVID-19 pandemic; low intake in all support cadre entries mainly consisting of Short Service Commission and other service entries,” Ajay Bhatt said in the statement.
Bhatt earlier revealed that there were only 47 recruitment rallies during 2020-21 instead of the planned 97 rallies. Similarly in 2021-22, only four such rallies took place out of the 87 recruitment rallies scheduled across the country.
A report in The Indian Express said, that the Army was planning to reduce the posting of staff officers at various headquarters to overcome the shortage in units. The report also said that the Army is considering posting re-employed officers for appointments in various headquarters. The re-employed officers, mostly in the ranks of Brigadier and Colonels, are those who serve in the Army for additional years after their retirement.
However, the minister said, “The available strength is sufficient to meet current operational requirements. The operational readiness and effectiveness of Army units is being maintained with organisational resources”.
Shortage in Nepali Gurkha Regiment
The Gurkha Regiment has also suffered a severe shortage in the past few years, as the Indian Army has not recruited any Gorkha soldier from Nepal amid the ongoing deadlock between the two countries over the Agnipath scheme.
In 2020, the recruitment rallies of soldiers in the army was put on hold due to Covid-19 and the Agnipath scheme of army recruitment in 2022, led to a severe blow in the recruitment of Gorkha soldiers.
According to reports, there is a shortage of 10,000 to 12,000 Gurkha soldiers in the Indian Army in the last three years. The Army has 43 units of 7 Gurkha regiments, in which there are around 40, 000-45,000 soldiers.
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