Chandigarh, Mar, 18
Even as the Indian Army faces a shortage of officers, amounting to almost 17 per cent of its authorised strength, the allocation of vacancies for women officers has witnessed an increase by 80 per cent in the current fiscal year.
“Vacancies have been increased from 80 per year to 144 per year in 2024-25,” Parliament’s Departmentally Related Standing Committee on Defence observed in its report tabled on March 17. The strength of women officers in the Army, excluding those in the medical cadre, is about 1,800.
Vacancies for women officers are allotted based on the organisation’s requirements. Currently, they are permitted to join all arms and services except the Infantry and the Armoured Corps.
Last year, Artillery, a combat arm, was also opened for women officers.
They are being inducted into the Army through the National Defence Academy, Short Service Commission into technical and non-technical streams, the National Cadet Corps, and the Judge Advocate General’s Department. Induction of women through departmental entries in the Remount and Veterinary Corps and the Territorial Army has also commenced.
The Committee noted that the authorised strength of officers in the Army, excluding the medical stream, is 50,538, whereas the posted strength is 42,095. This accounts for a shortfall of 8,443 officers or 16.71 per cent of the authorisation.
Regarding the rank and file, the Army has a shortage of 7.72 per cent at the level of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks. Their posted strength is 11.05 lakh against the authorised strength of 11.98 lakh.
According to the report, the central government has sanctioned the recruitment of 1,700 women into the rank and file of the Army in a phased manner. Currently, their number is 210, and training of an additional 100 women for the Corps of Military Police is underway.
In the Indian Air Force, the shortage of officers (excluding medical) is 1,013 against the sanctioned strength of 12,929. A few years ago, the IAF had brought the shortage down to zero. Women officers comprise about 14 per cent of the IAF’s officer cadre, which is the highest among the three services.
The posted strength of airmen is 1,39,876 against an establishment of 1,46,030, leading to a deficiency of 6,154 in the ranks. This is expected to be mitigated to some extent by 2,317 recruits that are undergoing training at various IAF institutes.
The committee was appraised by service representatives that several proposals have recently been implemented to increase the intake of officers.
These include setting up a Young Leaders Training Wing at Officers Training Academy, Chennai, for training serving soldiers, Approval of a Technical Entry Scheme, after 10+2 on 3+1-year model, which reduces training time by a one year and ensures early availability of officers, and reforming the selection procedures to increase the percentages of intake for pre-commissioning training.
The IAF has also revamped its induction plans so as to gradually bring the strength at par with the sanctioned establishment. It was also brought out that while adequate candidates register for joining the IAF as officers, the number of candidates who eventually get commissioned varies.
