Army to recruit 16,000 officers

NEW DELHI June 14:-With increasing commitments on both its eastern and western fronts, the Indian Army has proposed to increase its sanctioned strength by another over 16,000 officers. During a recent meeting attended by high-level Defence Ministry and Army officials, a proposal to increase the number of officers by another 35 per cent was discussed, Army sources said here. The proposal comes at a time when the Army is facing a shortage of 12,349 officers against its sanctioned strength of around 46,500 officers and the other two sister Services are also facing similar shortfalls. On the need for expansion, they said the Army has expanded its strength by two divisions in the Northeast along the China border and is also involved in counter insurgency operations in the North Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir and increased strength was required to cater for future plans also. Recently, Defence Minister A K Antony had said the shortfall was partly attributed to accretions from time to time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in recruitment and training. A number of steps have been taken by the Government to attract youth to join the armed forces, which include increase in tenure of Short Service Commission (SSC) officers from 10 to 14 years, increasing promotional avenues for officers by restructuring of officers cadre. Overall, the armed forces are facing a shortage of 15,004 officers including 1,818 in the Navy and 837 in the Air Force. The IAF is short of 426 pilots. (PTI)