Came across this yesterday: Armed forces fail to woo; 108 NDA seats vacant
“…Even as the Indian Army is grappling with acute shortage of middle rung officers due to their mass exodus to the corporate sector, the National Defence Academy…has fallen short of 108 quality cadets for its latest batch.
This year only 192 cadets turned up to join NDA, a premier joint services institution to train cadets for the three defence forces, as against the sanctioned strength of 300 for the batch.
…Commenting on the shortage of officers, Defence Minister A K Antony had said on April 29, “The shortage is a reality. The government will take positive and active action in consultation with the Army to lure youngsters to join the army.”
…efforts, including a vigorous media campaign, concentrated at making a career in the Army lucrative for those between age group 18 to 25, have failed to yield results.
…”The problem is that quality candidates are not coming to join the academies and the standards laid down for the officers cannot be lowered,” the official said.
Annually the defence forces need 2,100 officers. It is currently facing a shortage of 11,238 officers. A total of 46,615 is the sanctioned strength.
“If we start filling up the posts today, it is going to take another 20 years to make up for the shortage,” the official added.
The problem has further aggravated with as many as 3,000 officers seeking premature retirement just in the Army in the last three years, with most moving to the corporate sector.
“Earlier, corporate houses used to give good offers to Army officers. But now they are literally catching the capable candidates when they are young,” another senior official said.
“Many of the corporate houses are going to the villages and luring the candidates who have been selected for training to join their organisation at a high salary,” the official added…”
So clearly the economics are not working…This will not surprise anyone who has been following the protests by military personnel against the Sixth Pay Commission (see e.g. A General’s letter in anguish to the PM)
Other than improving pay and perquisities, can anything else be done to make the armed forces an attractive career choice for youngsters?
I don’t know…and I should declare here that I am prejudiced.
I applied twice to join the NDA and on both occassions got rejected at the final stage…I was preparing to attend the SSB interview for the third time when someone older and wiser. told me that my problem was “aptitude” and I must have fared miserably on the psychological aptitude test to have been rejected twice. 
Apparently you cannot really “prepare” for the psychological test - and in that sense it is a useful filter to wean out unsuitable candidates ( - such as those who are rebels, eccentric and/or with a tendency to question authority - I think failed on all these counts).
Anyways, c’est la vie…
The exodus of talent mentioned above (with regards mid-level officers) is of course not unique to the armed forces. I personally know many IAS/ Central Services officers who have quit to join the corporate sector (for different reasons).
Some of you may also have read the sad story of an upright IPS officer who decided it was better to quit than continue in the system. And here is a post by Vivek (an IFS officer) on why IAS officers quit.
One of our loyal readers, Sanjeev Sabhlok quit the IAS many years ago (as did Dr JP Narayan who founded Loksatta Party).
But let me go back to the question I raised earlier:
“What, if anything, can be done to make the armed forces an attractive career choice for youngsters?”
- Is a job in the armed forces really that low paying that it does not attract talent?
- Is it lacking in glamour?
- Or is it considered just plain “too risky”?
- And, is serving your country and patriotism out of fashion?
Thoughts and comments welcome, as always.
Can readers who have first-hand experiences, insights or relatives in the armed forces share their views? and can all my “young” readers pitch in as well?
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
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