'Army needs 20 years to bridge officers shortage'

New Delhi, Oct 25: The Indian Army is facing a shortage of 11,500 officers because of low recruitment at military academies and a high rate of premature retirements, and it may take 20 years to fill up the vacancies, a internal study said.

According to the study, the Army has said the projection was conditional and the vacancies could be filled up in two decades only if training capacities in the academies are increased.

"On the basis of the study, the Army headquarters has suggested to the commanders that the intake of recruits at the Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai be increased," an officer said.

He also said that senior Army officers have been discussing the issue of officer shortage for quite sometime now and it was again debated at the recently concluded conference of senior offices.

The study also pointed out that the Army faced the prospect of an average of 1,500 premature retirements (PMRs) of officers every year.

OneIndia News