Facing a shortage of over 9,000 officers, the Indian Army has for the first time decided to launch a drive wherein gallantry award winners will accompany handpicked young officers — in the ranks of Captain and Major — to give motivational lectures in schools and colleges all over the country to attract GenNext to don the olive green uniform.
Army chief General Bikram Singh recently issued instructions to all the four operational commands, South, South-West, Northern and Eastern, to depute young officers, both men and women, to visit educational institutions starting next year.
They will highlight the positives about a career in the Army as an officer, growth prospects, challenges and adventure involved in serving in all kinds of environment, officials said here on Thursday.
These handpicked officers will be accompanied by gallantry award winners like Paramvir Chakra, Mahavir Chakra and Ashok Chakra as they are the ideal role models for youth, sources said.
Stressing the point that these lectures will not be a one-off event, they said the Army will undertake this activity throughout the year. Elaborating upon the schedule, officials said the lectures will be held on all important occasions like Republic Day, Independence Day and Vijay Diwas on December 16 which marked India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.
Moreover, the Command chiefs were given the freedom to draw up their own calendar of the lectures besides these national days and instructed to cover as many schools and colleges as possible. Plans are also afoot to allow students to visit some Army establishments and allow them to see tanks and hold infantry weapons like AK-47 rifles and 5.62 rifles in their hands, they said.
The Army was forced to launch this drive as it faces a shortage of 9,000 officers as youth now prefer to join the private sector or take up more stable Government jobs. A career in the Army is tough with frequent transfers and separation from family for long durations due to deployment in forward areas as compared to other jobs, they said.
The Government in the recent years has taken several steps to make a career in the Armed Forces more attractive with good emoluments, more health and education facilities for the officer and his or her family and faster promotions.
But, these measures have not yielded the desired results, officials said while justifying the need for the forthcoming drive. In fact, the issue of shortage of officers also came up in Parliament in the recently concluded Winter Session. Defence Minister AK Antony said the present strength is 38,754 as against sanctioned strength of 47,762.
listing some of the steps taken, Antony said all offices including those in Short Service Commission (SSC) are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and lt Colonel after two, six and 13 years of reckonable service respectively. Also, the tenure of SSC officers was increased from 10 years to 14 years.
Besides this, a total number of 750 posts of lt Colonel were upgraded to Colonel as recommended by the AV Singh Committee report. This committee was asked to recommend ways to fast track promotions at the lower levels so as to make the service attractive.
Moreover, 1,896 additional posts in the ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General and lt General and their equivalents in other two Services were upgraded, he said adding the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission with substantial improvement in the pay structure has made the Services more attractive. Incidentally, the IAF is holding such motivational lectures in educational institutions for the last few years.