Compulsory military service could be option at some stage: COAS

New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) Admitting to a serious lack of the 'right material' considering an armed forces career, Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor today said compulsory military service could be one of the options at a later stage but denied it for the present. ''Compulsory military service could be one of the avenues before the government sometime in the future, but it is not the stage for such a step now,'' he said at the customary press conference on the eve of Army Day.

Disclosing there was a current deficiency of 11,200 officers, the Army Chief said another point of concern for the forces was that most of those applying were ''not the right material.'' ''Our deficiencies should not be met by lowering our quality standards,'' he asserted. He attributed the higher pay in the corporate world as attracting more people there, and hoped that some of these problems would be addressed by the Sixth Pay Commission.

''All organisations draw from the same national pool. The government and the services cannot compete in the matter of salary and other emoluments with the corporate world,'' he said.

Gen Kapoor said he was hopeful of the Pay Commission resolving some of these issues.

UNI VD SP BST2004