Express News Service
NEW DELHI: At the time when the video footage of youth Pradeep Mehra is getting viral for his determination to join the Indian Army, there has been no recruitment at the soldier’s level within the force since two years. Indian Army has started to bear the operational cost of it.
While the Ministry of Defence on Monday informed that there has been no induction of the fresh recruits, the numbers of soldiers leaving the Army has not come down.
A senior Army officer explained that while retirement continues and there is no new recruitment the operational contingencies have intensified in the recent years, “While the retirement has remained to the tune of 50 to 60,000 every year the stoppage of the new recruits joining has started pinching us operationally.”
There is protracted tension along the Line of Actual Control with a heightened deployment along the LAC in the Eastern Ladakh and the deployment has also been spruced up as a precautionary measure.
Every year about 50,000-60,000 new soldiers were used to be inducted into the Indian Army but after 2019 no new recruitment has been made informed the MoD and this has led to rise in the workload of the soldiers as they are continuing with duties with the lesser number of men in the units and this has effected those men deployed at high altitude areas or operational areas had to suffer a lot with lack of manpower.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt stated Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for not cancelling all the rallies nationwide.
“All Recruitment Rallies planned by Army Recruiting Offices /Zonal Recruiting Offices have been suspended till further orders due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country,” he informed the Rajya Sabha.
He also shared the details of the recruitment rallies that the Indian Army was supposed to carry out in 2020 and 2021.
Bhatt stated that 97 rallies were planned in 2020-21, out of which only 47 rallies could be conducted. Out of the 47 recruitment rallies, Common Entrance Exam (CEE) for only four rallies could be conducted before suspension of recruiting activities.
For 2021-22, as many as 87 recruitment rallies were scheduled, out of which only four Rallies have been conducted so far and no CEE could be conducted.
The situation will worsen further as even I the recruitment begins now it will take years for the new lot to join their designated places in the force. “Even if we start recruitment process today it will take around 1.5 years to select and train them.” told another officer.
The shortage of the manpower has accumulated with the Army suffering the most.
It was during recently concluded assembly elections, the youths had raised the issue of recruitment rallies in Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s election campaigns in Uttar Pradesh. Singh had assured them of resuming it soon. The Armed Forces remain the biggest job provider for youths from rural background.
The government on 10 December 2021 had informed the parliament that the shortage in Army stands at 104053 personnel, 12431 in Navy and 5471 in the Air Force. The shortage has struck the publicised recruitment of the women at the Other Ranks as well.
A total of 300 vacancies for recruitment of Women Military Police have been released till date. But only 101 have been inducted in 2019.
Other 200 were supposed to be inducted in 2020 and 2021 but the recruitment has been withheld due to spread of the pandemic.
