(a) whether there has been a perceptible decline in the interest amongst the youth to join the armed forces;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor and the action, if any by the Government to check this trend;
(c) the number of vacancies that occurred in the ranks of commissioned officers in the three services, respectively during each of the last three years; and
(d) the number of officers recruited/commissioned during the corresponding period?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (SHRI U.V. KRISHNAM RAJU)
(a) to (d): A statement is attached.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK
SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2555 FOR 8.8.2001.
With the opening up of the economy leading to new
vistas of lucrative job opportunities in the civil sector,
coupled with relatively risky and hazardous career in the
armed forces, there has been some impact on youth’s
preference for a career in the armed forces.
Several steps have been initiated by the government.
An Image Projection Campaign of the Army was launched during
1997-98. The campaign has made a positive impact on the
availability and selection of candidates. Steps have been
taken to continue the campaign.
Sustained publicity efforts are on to attract talented
youth to join the Air Force. About 3000 schools and
colleges are on the mailing list for sending the publicity
material. Schools and colleges are visited regularly for
administering motivational talks.
Increased publicity and candidate friendly recruitment
procedures have been adopted by Navy in addition to general
publicity and motivation drives.
The number of vacancies that occurred in the ranks of
commissioned officers during the last three years and that
recruited/commissioned during that period is given below:-
Service No. of vacancies No. of officers recruited/ commissioned
Army 1998 – 2590 1998 – 1431 1999 – 2683 1999 – 1712 2000 – 2978 2000 – 2211
Air 1998 – 687 1998 – 467 Force 1999 – 709 1999 – 397 2000 – 737 2000 – 407
Navy 1998 – 418 1998 – 261 1999 – 346 1999 – 248 2000 – 330 2000 – 240