Ministry of Defence : Filling up of Vacant Posts

Details of strength of Officers in the three Armed Forces (excluding AMC, ADC and MNS), force-wise are as under:

Service

Authorised Strength

Held Strength

Shortage

Army

(As on 1.1.2019)

50312

42913

7399

Navy

(As on 31.5.2019)

11557

10012

1545

Air Force

(As on 1.6.2019)

12625

12142

483

Details of strength of Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR) / Airmen / Sailors in the three Armed Forces, force-wise, are as under:

Service

Authorised Strength

Held Strength

Shortage

Army

(As on 1.1.2019)

1223381

1185146*

38235

Navy

(As on 31.5.2019)

74046

57240

16806

Air Force

(As on 1.6.2019)

142917

129094

13823**

* Excluding 1718 APS Non-regular JCOs/ORs

** Additionally, 10486 ab-initio trainees are undergoing training at various training Institutes.

Recruitment in the Armed Forces is a continuous process. The Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages. These include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career. Further, various steps have been taken to make career in the Armed Forces more attractive including improvement in promotion prospects, more attractive pay package, better compensation for risk & hardships, additional family accommodation through Married Accommodation Project (MAP) etc.

This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in Lok Sabha today.