Army facing acute shortageof officers

New Delhi: The Indian Army continues to face shortfall of officers despite recruitment drives across the country to attract the youth.

The army life fails to appeal to the youth who prefer jobs offering fat pay packages and city life, an officer said.

However, additional director general (recruiting) Major General Amar Aul said: "Considering the overall service conditions of the Army, such as educational and training facilities and recreational infrastructure, the services are as good as any other profession."

The decline in the number of officers is because of new battalions that have been raised to counter insurgencies in the northeastern states since 1991.

The shortfall of 14,000 officers has been reduced to 11,000 in the last two to three years, Aul said, adding training capacity has been enhanced to augment the requirements.

The educational and medical standards of candidates cannot be lowered in view of the professionalism required for the service and all the training centres have been working on full capacity, he said.

On a question about the headcount for Muslims being undertaken at the behest of the Centre, he said: "The army is apolitical and recruitment is not based on caste, class or religion. In fact, the army does not maintain a record of the officers and jawans on these bases."

The army recruits between 50,000 and 100,000 people for 182 trades and 13 categories every year and the rejection rate is over 190 aspirants for every successful candidate.