Indian military forces may be acquiring weapons at a fast clip, but they are surely lack in terms of manpower. Against a authorized strength of 74,000 officers, the Army, Navy and Air Force currently have only 65,000, limiting their ability to run their operation efficiently.
This is a troublesome situation for the country that shares long boundaries with aggressive neighbors and facing internal security challenge in Border States in the north and northeast. Indian military forces have a heavy task of guarding the country's borders stretching 15,106 kilometers and a 7,516 kilometers long coastline.
"There are three main reasons: Ruthless service circumstances and everyday risk to life in the line of duty, pay and perks in the military and avenues for promotion are not as good-looking as is the case with civil services and the third thing is the very attractive pay and package available in the corporate sector, these are the main reasons behind the shortage of officers," Lt. General (retd) Rameshwar Yadav said.
India has 1.4 million active duty workers in three branches of its military is surrounded by two hostile neighbors on its northern and western borders and has fight four wars with them and these border disputes with both Pakistan and China continue to bubble.
As per the latest official data, the authorized strength of officers in Indian Army in March 2018 was 50,028. However, even four months later, in July this year, there were only 42,734 officers. Shortage of 7,294 officers or 14.57% of the authorized strength.
In case of Indian Navy, as on October 2018, there were only 9,925 naval officers against the authorized strength of 11,415 officers; this is a shortage of 1,457 officers in Indian Navy or 12.76%.
It appears that among the three branches of Indian military, Indian Air Force is the only force that is able to attract the talent in a much better manner. As on 1st July 2018, Indian Air Force had 12,392 officers as against the authorized strength of 12,584 officers, a shortfall of just 192 officers or 1.52%.
Indian armed forces have adopted numerous strategies to fill the gap but they appear to be less than successful. Of late, the government has implement several measures including increasing the allowance for difficult area posting but it has it seems that failed to attract the required talent.
