Armed forces faces shortage of nearly 15000 officers

New Delhi, July 15 (ANI): The Indian Armed Forces is facing an acute shortage of nearly 15000 officers, specially at the level of captain, major and Lt Colonel who actually lead the soldiers in the field.

Defense Minister A. K. Antony in a written reply to Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Dr. Gyan Prakash Pilania in the Rajya Sabha today disclosed that, the Army is in need of 11,387officers, Navy required 1512 and the Air Force needs 1400 officers.

Antony also informed members that during the last five years, 4300 officers of Army, 1177 officers of Air Force and 1096 officers of Navy had sought premature retirement or had resigned for various reasons.ntony said the Ministry is taking various steps to motivate personnel to continue in service and to also attract talented youths to join the Armed Forces.

All officers, including those in Short Service Commission (SSC) are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after 2, 6 and 13 years of service respectively. The tenure of SSC officers has also been increased from 10 years to 14 years Antony informed the house.

A total of 750 posts of Lt. Colonel have been upgraded to Colonel towards implementation of A.V. Singh Committee Report (Phase-I).

Further, 1896 additional posts in the ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General and Lieutenant General and their equivalent in the other two Services have been upgraded towards implementation of A.V. Singh Committee Report (Phase-II).

The implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission with substantial improvements, in the pay structure of officers of Armed Forces will also go a long way in making the services more attractive, Antony said. (ANI)