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Armed forces facing shortage of nearly 60,000 personnel, says govt
Nirmala Sitharaman said the total strength of the army as on July 1 is 12.37 lakh personnel against the authorised strength of 12.64 lakh and the total shortage is 27,864.
The armed forces are facing a shortage of nearly 60,000 personnel with the army topping the list with over 27,000 vacant posts, the government said Wednesday.
According to the details provided by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha, the total shortage of officers in the Indian Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force is 9,259 while the number for below officer rank is 50,363.
Replying to a question, she said the total strength of the army as on July 1 is 12.37 lakh personnel against the authorised strength of 12.64 lakh and the total shortage is 27,864.
The current strength of the navy is 67,228 personnel and the number of vacant positions is 16,255.
She said the Indian Air Force is facing a shortage of 15,503 personnel against the authorised strength of 1.55 lakh.
The vacancies excluding personnel in dental and medical streams come to 59,622.
“The recruitment in the armed forces is a continuous process. The government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages,” she said.
Replying to a separate question, Sitharaman said MiG fighter jets of the IAF were involved in 10 accidents since 2014-15.
“10 squadrons of IAF equipped with MiG 21 and MiG 27 aircraft are scheduled to retire by 2024 on completion of their total technical life,” she said.
To another question, she said procurement of two more regiments of Akash missile system has been approved for the Army.
Suicide in forces
A total of 418 armed forces personnel committed suicide in the last four years with a maximum of 335 such cases reported in the Army, the government informed the Lok Sabha.
Replying to a question, minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre also said 41,960 armed forces personnel have applied for premature retirement from service in the last four years.
He said a maximum of 38,953 army personnel have sought pre-mature retirement, followed by 2,542 Indian Air Force personnel and 465 from the Navy.
On the suicide figure, he said 335 army men, 67 from the IAF and 16 navy personnel took the extreme step since 2014.
He said a maximum of 104 Army personnel had committed suicide in 2016 while the number in the current year is 69.
“Some of the reasons for committing suicide are family issues/domestic problems, marital discord, perceived grievances and personal issues,” he said.
The minister said various steps have been taken by the armed forces to create a healthy environment for the officers and other ranks.
