Lok Sabha Question No. 474 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Shortage of Officers and Soldiers in Armed Forces
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Ramdas Chandrabhanji Tadas, Rajiv Pratap Rudy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

## DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 474

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 TH  FEBRUARY, 2022

## SHORTAGE OF OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS IN ARMED FORCES

474. SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS: SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  there  is  a  shortage  of  officers  in  any  of  the  three  wings  of  defence  and  if  so,  the details thereof, wing-wise, rank-wise along with its implications on the functioning of the forces and security concerns;
- (b) whether the Government has conducted any study in this regard during the last three years and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  fill  the  vacancies  along  with  the  number  of  officers recruited during the last four years, year-wise and State/UT-wise including from Bihar;
- (d) the average timeline of promotion and rate of promotion of officers in defence forces;
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to provide employment opportunity to capable rural youth particularly from the State of Bihar; and
- (f) the steps taken to recruit more women in the defence forces, particularly from Bihar?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

- (a) The shortage of officers (Rank-wise) in the Armed Forces is as follows:

## Indian Army:

| S. No.                 | Rank/Category                                                | Sanctioned Strength (status as on 31 st March, 2021)   | Borne Strength (status as on 1 st July, 2021)   | Surplus/ Deficiency                  |
|------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| (a)                    | Officers (excluding AMC/ADC and MNS)                         | Officers (excluding AMC/ADC and MNS)                   | Officers (excluding AMC/ADC and MNS)            | Officers (excluding AMC/ADC and MNS) |
| (i)                    | General                                                      | 2                                                      | 2                                               | 0                                    |
| (ii)                   | Lt. General                                                  | 94                                                     | 80                                              | (-) 14                               |
| (iii)                  | Major General                                                | 310                                                    | 292                                             | (-) 18                               |
| (iv)                   | Brigadier                                                    | 1181                                                   | 1162                                            | (-) 19                               |
| (v)                    | Colonel                                                      | 5940                                                   | 5586                                            | (-) 354                              |
| (vi)                   | Lt. Colonel                                                  | 16270                                                  | 12620                                           | (-) 3650                             |
| (vii)                  | Major                                                        | 14443                                                  | 11885                                           | (-) 2558                             |
| (viii)                 | Captain                                                      | 10526                                                  | 6637                                            | (-) 3889                             |
| (ix)                   | Lieutenant                                                   | 1315                                                   | 3218                                            | 1903                                 |
| (x)                    | Unspecified                                                  | 1110                                                   | -                                               | (-) 1110                             |
| (xi)                   | Re-employed & Officers in Select Rank Officers outside cadre | -                                                      | 1574                                            | 1574                                 |
|                        | Total                                                        | 51190                                                  | 43056                                           | (-) 8134                             |
| (b)                    | Officers (AMC/ADC)                                           | 5781                                                   | 6647                                            | 866                                  |
| (c)                    | MNS Officers                                                 | 4389                                                   | 3866                                            | (-) 523                              |
| Total Officers (a+b+c) | Total Officers (a+b+c)                                       | 61360                                                  | 53569                                           | (-) 7791                             |

## Indian Navy:

(excluding Medical and Dental Branch)

| S. No.   | Rank               |   Sanctioned Strength (status as on 31 st December, 2021) |   Borne Strength (status as on 31 st December, 2021) | Surplus/ Deficiency   |
|----------|--------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
| (i)      | Admiral            |                                                         1 |                                                    1 | 0                     |
| (ii)     | Vice Admiral       |                                                        23 |                                                   23 | 0                     |
| (iii)    | Rear Admiral       |                                                        71 |                                                   71 | 0                     |
| (iv)     | Commodore/ Captain |                                                       991 |                                                  919 | (-) 72                |
| (v)      | Commander &below   |                                                     10640 |                                                 9155 | (-) 1485              |
| Total    | Total              |                                                     11726 |                                                10169 | (-) 1557              |

## Indian Air Force: (except Medical and Dental Branch)

| S. No.   | Rank              |   Sanctioned Strength (status as on 1 st January, 2022) |   Borne Strength (status as on 1 st January, 2022) | Surplus/ Deficiency   |
|----------|-------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
| (i)      | Air Chief Marshal |                                                       1 |                                                  1 | 0                     |
| (ii)     | Air Marshal       |                                                      28 |                                                 28 | 0                     |
| (iii)    | Air Vice Marshal  |                                                      70 |                                                 76 | 6                     |
| (iv)     | Air Commodore     |                                                     219 |                                                219 | 0                     |
| (v)      | Group Captain     |                                                     993 |                                                992 | (-) 1                 |
| (vi)     | Wing Commander    |                                                    3898 |                                               5000 | 1102                  |
| (vii)    | Squadron Leader   |                                                    4211 |                                               3847 | (-) 364               |
| (viii)   | Flight Lieutenant |                                                    2334 |                                               1261 | (-) 1073              |
| (ix)     | Flying Officer    |                                                     960 |                                                718 | (-) 242               |
| Total    | Total             |                                                   12714 |                                              12142 | (-) 572               |

The available strength of officers in the Armed Forces is sufficient to meet the current operational  requirements.    Pending  making  up  of  shortfall,  the  operational  efficiency  is  being maintained within Organisational resources by the Armed Forces

- (b) Review of manpower requirement in the Armed Forces is undertaken on regular basis. Studies have been conducted by College of Defence Management, Secunderabad and Headquarter Western Command of Indian Army in respect of Short Service entries to improve the intake.
- (c) The Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages. These, interalia,  include  sustained  image  projection,  participation  in  career  fairs  and  exhibitions  and publicity  campaign  to  create  awareness  among  the  youth  on  the  advantages  of  taking  up  a challenging and satisfying career.  Further, the Government has taken various steps to make the job in the Armed Forces attractive including improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces and to fill up vacancies.

The  number  of  officers  commissioned  in  the  Indian  Army  in  the  last  four  years  is  as under:

|   2018 |   1456 |
|--------|--------|
|   2019 |   1241 |
|   2020 |   1272 |
|   2021 |   1192 |

State/UT-wise recruitment details of officers are not held with the IHQ of MoD (Army). However, the State/UT-wise details of officers  recruited in  Indian  Navy  and  Indian Air  Force during the last four years are at Annexure.

- (d) Time Scale promotions are granted upto rank of Colonel in Indian Army.  The reckonable commissioned  service  for  promotion  to  various  posts  subject  to  meeting  requisite  Qualitative Requirements  [except  Army  Medical  Corps  (AMC)]  including  AMC  Non-Technical,  Army Dental Corps, Remount and Veterinary Corps & Army Postal Service are as follows:

| (i)   | Lieutenant           | On commissioning   |
|-------|----------------------|--------------------|
| (ii)  | Captain              | 2 years            |
| (iii) | Major                | 6 years            |
| (iv)  | Lieutenant Colonel   | 13 years           |
| (v)   | Colonel (Time Scale) | 26 years           |

Colonel and above are selection grade ranks in Indian Army

Promotion  upto  the  rank  of  Commander/Captain  (Time  Scale)  in  Indian  Navy  is undertaken as 'Time Scale' promotions as follows:

| Rank                 | Criteria                                                                                                    |
|----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sub Lieutenant       | On commissioning                                                                                            |
| Lieutenant           | 02 years as Sub-Lieutenant (A maximum of 12 months seniority can be gained towards promotion to Lieutenant) |
| Lieutenant Commander | 04 years from date of promotion to Substantive Lieutenant                                                   |
| Commander            | 11 years from date of promotion to Substantive Lieutenant                                                   |
| Captain (Time Scale) | Substantive Commanders who have completed 26 years of reckonable commissioned service                       |

Promotion  by  Selection :  Promotion  of  officers  to  Captain  (select)  and  above  are  undertaken based  on  select  rank  vacancies  available.    Rate  of  promotion  is  subject  to  the  availability  of vacancies.

The promotion policy for officers of each service is peculiar to the requirement of the specific service and is therefore not uniform. The parameters for substantive promotion in IAF for  officers  other  than  Medical/dental  branches  are  stipulated  in  AFI  (Air  Force  Instructions) 3/87 which were approved and issued by the Government of India.

As per existing policies and relevant instructions, the timelines (including ante-date) for promotions upto rank of Gp Capt (TS)/(S) are as tabled below:-

| Rank         | Reckonable Commissioned Service   |
|--------------|-----------------------------------|
| Fg Offr      | On commissioning                  |
| Flt Lt       | 2 years                           |
| Sqn Ldr      | 6 years                           |
| Wg Cdr       | 13 years                          |
| Gp Capt(S)   | 16 to 18 years                    |
| Gp Capt (TS) | 26 years                          |

## Air Ranks:

- (i) Officers are promoted to the Air Ranks through Promotion Boards (PB) on the basis of available vacancies and merit.
- (ii) Since the vacancies are variable, the approximate timelines with respect to reckonable commissioned service (including ante-date) for promotion to Air Ranks is as follows:

- (a) Air Commodore

: 26 to 30 years

- (b) Air Vice Marshal

: 32 to 34 years

- (c) Air Marshal

: 35 to 36 years

The  promotion  policies  in  respect  of  officers  is  reviewed  periodically  and  changes considered necessary are incorporated to further improve the promotion policy so as to ensure that only the most meritorious rise to the top and ensure highest standards of leadership in the IAF.

- (e) Qualified candidates may join Indian Army as Other Ranks (OR), Junior Commissioned Officers  (JCOs) and officers in various  arms and services.  These recruitments are made vide notification published by Recruiting Directorate (JCOs/OR) and Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) (for officers) from time to time.

Army Recruiting Offices carry out recruitment with an endeavour to cover every district at least once in a year in consultation with the Civil Administration.  However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, all recruitment activities have presently been put on hold since July, 2021.

The  Navy  provides  equal  opportunities  to  the  capable  youth  to  join  the  Indian  Navy, during the induction/recruitment process.  The response from youth to join the Indian Navy has been very encouraging.  The Navy has a robust publicity programme extending to rural areas for

attracting  the  eligible  youth  to  join  Indian  Navy.    As  a  part  of  Digital  India  initiative,  the Government has set up Common service Centres (CSC) in Panchayts across the country.  These CSC  provide  high  quality  and  cost  effective  video,  voice  and  data  services  including  web enabled  e-governance  services  in  rural  areas.  Indian  Navy  has  concluded  an  MoU  with  CSC which has enabled to extend its recruitment reach to remote and rural areas of the country.

The IN website (www.joinindiannavy.gov.in) has been migrated to Cloud Server of NIC with  improved  infrastructure  and  enhanced  functionalities,  look  &  feel  as  well  as  increased capacity to make it more user friendly and attractive.

The sustained and aggressive publicity campaign has resulted in the increased awareness about Navy in rural areas which is evident by the upward trend in the response received from the candidates applying for various entries of Navy.

Selection  of  officers  and  airmen  cadre  in  the  IAF  is  carried  out  Pan  India  to  ensure equitable  representation  of  all  regions  of  India  through  online  Air  Force  Common  Admission Test (AFCAT) and Scheduled Test for Airmen Recruitment (STAR).  In addition, recruitment rallies  are  also  conducted  for  recruitment  in  airmen  cadre.    The  selection  is  thus  open  to  all eligible  citizens  of  the  country  without  any  discrimination  /  reservation  on  the  basis  of  caste, creed, sex, tribe, religion or region (state) and is based purely on merit.

(f) Post Hon'ble Supreme Court order dated 17 th February, 2020, Women Officers are being granted Permanent Commission in 10 Arms/Services of Indian Army subject to their meeting the Qualitative  Requirement  (QR)  alongwith  the  Short  Service  Commissioned  Men  Officers. Women  Officers  are  also  being  inducted  in  Army  Aviation  Corps  as  Pilots  from  June  2021 onwards.

The  Government  has  sanctioned  for  enrolment  of  1700  women  in  Corps  of  Military Police in a phased manner.  The induction of women has commnenced from the year 2020.  First batch of women Military Police personnel have completed their training and reported to units.

The Defence Forces have opened entry for women candidates in NDA, allowing girls to appear in NDA entrance exams from July 2022 courses onwards.  For the first batch, written exam has been conducted on 14 th November, 2021.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) undertakes various induction publicity measures to encourage youth including women to join IAF.  Modules like direct contact programme, print and electronic media  is  extensively  used  to  create  awareness  about  IAF  and  educate  students  about  various mode of entries.

Women officers  in  Indian  Navy  are  appointed  onboard  warships.    Until  2019,  women officers  were  being  commissioned  as  Pilots  and  Observers  only  for  shore  based  aircraft. However, in order to employ women at par with male officers, women officers have also been streamed as specialist Observers into helicopters commencing 2020.  Provost specialisation has been opened up for women officers since 2020 and the first women Provost officer has joined the specialisation in March 2021 after successful completion of At-Arms course.

The  Remotely  Piloted  Aircraft  (RPA)  stream  has  been  opened  up  for  women  officers. The first woman officer has joined RPA squadron in March 2021.  One woman officer has been appointed  as  ADA,  Moscow  in  June  2020.    One  woman  observer  officer  has  been  deputed overseas to Maldives in September 2020, as part of Dornier aircrew for a period of one year.  In addition, women officers are also deputed abroad for shorter durations as part of mobile Training Teams and other foreign cooperation engagements.

*****

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  474  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.02.2022  REGARDING  'SHORTAGE  OF OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS IN ARMED FORCES'.

| S. No.   | State/UT            | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   | Intake of officers   |
|----------|---------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
|          |                     | Indian Navy          | Indian Navy          | Indian Navy          | Indian Navy          | Indian Air Force     | Indian Air Force     | Indian Air Force     | Indian Air Force     |
|          |                     | 2018                 | 2019                 | 2020                 | 2021                 | 2018                 | 2019                 | 2020                 | 2021                 |
| 1.       | Andaman & Nicobar   | 1                    | 0                    | 2                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh      | 11                   | 18                   | 14                   | 8                    | 2                    | 14                   | 2                    | 10                   |
| 3.       | Arunachal Pradesh   | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    |
| 4.       | Assam               | 0                    | 3                    | 2                    | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 0                    | 4                    |
| 5.       | Bihar               | 17                   | 21                   | 18                   | 13                   | 16                   | 22                   | 9                    | 15                   |
| 6.       | Chandigarh          | 2                    | 2                    | 3                    | 2                    | 2                    | 1                    | 3                    | 7                    |
| 7.       | Chhattisgarh        | 3                    | 5                    | 9                    | 0                    | 3                    | 2                    | 5                    | 4                    |
| 8.       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 0                    | -                    | -                    | -                    | -                    |
| 9.       | Daman &Diu          | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    |
| 10.      | Delhi               | 23                   | 23                   | 23                   | 9                    | 20                   | 20                   | 19                   | 39                   |
| 11.      | Goa                 | 6                    | 2                    | 1                    | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 0                    | 1                    |
| 12.      | Gujarat             | 5                    | 8                    | 11                   | 1                    | 3                    | 3                    | 4                    | 10                   |
| 13.      | Haryana             | 29                   | 30                   | 36                   | 16                   | 31                   | 45                   | 31                   | 61                   |
| 14.      | Himachal Pradesh    | 20                   | 11                   | 11                   | 1                    | 6                    | 17                   | 5                    | 13                   |
| 15.      | Jammu & Kashmir     | 4                    | 7                    | 10                   | 6                    | 4                    | 5                    | 5                    | 10                   |
| 16.      | Ladakh              |                      |                      |                      |                      | -                    | -                    | -                    | -                    |
| 17.      | Jharkhand           | 2                    | 5                    | 2                    | 4                    | 4                    | 4                    | 4                    | 3                    |
| 18.      | Karnataka           | 20                   | 26                   | 24                   | 20                   | 12                   | 7                    | 10                   | 18                   |
| 19.      | Kerala              | 24                   | 22                   | 19                   | 15                   | 11                   | 20                   | 15                   | 17                   |
| 20.      | Lakshadweep         | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | -                    | -                    | -                    | -                    |
| 21.      | Madhya Pradesh      | 17                   | 25                   | 22                   | 13                   | 12                   | 9                    | 19                   | 19                   |
| 22.      | Maharashtra         | 33                   | 29                   | 35                   | 22                   | 15                   | 24                   | 23                   | 40                   |
| 23.      | Manipur             | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 1                    | 3                    |
| 24.      | Meghalaya           | 0                    | 1                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    | 0                    |

…2/-

: 2 :

|   25. | Mizoram            | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   |
|-------|--------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|    26 | Nagaland           | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | -   | -   | -   | -   |
|    27 | Odisha             | 3   | 7   | 4   | 2   | 4   | 5   | 1   | 2   |
|    28 | Puducherry         | 1   | 1   | 0   | 0   | 1   | 1   | 0   | 0   |
|    29 | Punjab             | 20  | 21  | 14  | 6   | 10  | 23  | 14  | 23  |
|    30 | Rajasthan          | 13  | 15  | 13  | 15  | 13  | 14  | 16  | 31  |
|    31 | Sikkim             | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   |
|    32 | Tamil Nadu         | 21  | 16  | 14  | 8   | 7   | 8   | 8   | 10  |
|    33 | Telangana          | 6   | 15  | 10  | 6   | 3   | 8   | 5   | 6   |
|    34 | Tripura            | 1   | 1   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 1   | 0   | 0   |
|    35 | Uttar Pradesh      | 50  | 71  | 52  | 30  | 7   | 35  | 46  | 75  |
|    36 | Uttarakhand        | 13  | 24  | 21  | 13  | 42  | 21  | 11  | 27  |
|    37 | West Bengal        | 11  | 4   | 7   | 4   | 3   | 6   | 2   | 8   |
|    38 | Under Verification | -   | -   | -   | -   | 70  | 11  | 2   | 11  |

*****