Army is facing a shortfall of 7,399 officers and 38,235 other ranks against its sanctioned strength. According to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Indian Army as on 01.01.2019 has a vacancy of 45,634, out of which 7,399 posts are above the rank of Second Lieutenant.
In August 2018, the then Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre had said that as on January 1, 2018, the authorised strength of officers in Army was 49,933, but the number of officers is 42,635, which is 7,298 short of the sanctioned strength.
The vacant posts in Army is a situation of concern as India shares boundaries with hostile neighbours like Pakistan and China. Besides the hostile neighbours, India is also facing internal security challenges in Jammu and Kashmir and some northeastern states with the Army responsible for maintaining law and order in these states.
| A CAUSE OF CONCERN |
| The vacant posts in Army is a situation of concern for the country as India shares boundaries with hostile neighbours like Pakistan and China. India is also facing internal security challenges in J&K and some northeastern states with the Army responsible for maintaining law & order there. |
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha, the Defence Minister tried to allay concerns overs the vacancies in Army saying that recruitment in the armed force is a continuous process and vacancies occur due to various reasons like accretions of posts from time to time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in the service career. He added that the inherent limitation of number that could be trained without compromising the quality of training is also a factor behind the vacancies in Army. Singh added that vacancies in Army are filled progressively through recruits who complete training.
The shortage of officers in Army has been a longstanding problem and the government has been trying to tackle this problem by commissioning advertising campaigns in order to attract youth to join the Army.
Global News 
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