Lucrative alternative career luring defence personnel: Defence Minister A K Antony

NEW DELHI: Defence forces, which are facing a shortage of over 13,000 officers and 53,700 men, have taken various initiatives to encourage youths to join the Services, Defence Minister A K Antony said today.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Antony said some of the major reasons for vacancies in the armed forces include lucrative alternative career avenues and difficult service conditions.

"Some of the major reasons for vacancies in armed forces include accretion in force level from time to time, availability of multiple and lucrative alternative career avenues with growth of nation's economy, stringent selection and difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk," he said.

The Defence Minister also provided the number of vacancies in each of the three Services.

Army was short of 10,100 officers till July this year while the shortage of Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR) stood at 32,431 till the month of September.

Till September, Navy had 1,996 less officers against its required strength. It was also short of 14,310 sailors.

In the Indian Air Force, the officer shortage was recorded at 962, while it was working with less than 7,000 less airmen till December.

On the number of cadets passing out of various academies, Antony said, "A total of 9,001 cadets passed out from various academies since the year 2010."

Over 10,800 service personnel have taken premature retirement from the services this year alone, he said.