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.
