Armed Forces face shortage of 9,362 officers, 1,13,193 personnel

In the Indian Army, 7,476 posts of officers and 97,177 posts of junior commissioned officers and other ranks are vacant. In the Indian Air Force, a total 621 officers and 4,850 junior commissioned officers and other ranks are vacant. In the Indian Navy, 1,265 officers and 11,166 junior commissioned officers and other ranks' posts are vacant.

Minister of State (Defence) Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to BJP's Rakesh Sinha in Rajya Sabha said the government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages.

These include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions and publicity campaigns to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career in the Armed Forces.

To encourage the youth to join the Armed Forces, motivational lectures are regularly organised in schools, colleges, other educational institutes and National Cadet Corps (NCC) camps.

Further, the government has taken various steps to make the service in the Armed Forces more attractive including improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces and to fill up vacancies.

As per the government policy on the subject, all citizens irrespective of their caste, creed, region or religion are eligible for enrolment in the Indian Army.

"After Independence, it has been the policy of the Government not to raise any new regiment for a particular class/ community/ religion or region," the minister said.

The deficiency is spread across all Arms and Services of the Indian Army.