Indian Defence Forces in Numbers

[Ankit Kumar 002]

Strength of Defence Forces

The details of authorised strength and held strength of officers and soldiers in all three Wings of Defence Forces are as under:-
Officers:
Army
(as on 01.01.2016)
Navy
(as on 31.05.2016)
Air Force
(as on 01.08.2016)
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage

Authorised
strength
Held strength

Shortage
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage
49833

41162

8671

11384

9866
1518

12244

12215

29
Soldiers:
Army
(as on 01.01.2016)
Navy
(as on 31.05.2016)
Air Force
(as on 01.08.2016)
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage

Authorised
strength
Held strength

Shortage
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage
1202257

1159093

43164*

67639
57999

9640

138596

128216
10380**
* Presently 87322 recruits are under training against this deficiency.
** Presently 8792 trainees are under training against this deficiency.
Some of the major reasons for shortage in Armed Forces include increase in authorized strength due to new accretions of posts from time to time, availability of other attractive career avenues, stringent selection criteria coupled with perceived high degree of risk.
Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages. These include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career. Further, Government has taken various steps to make armed forces’ jobs attractive. These include implementation of recommendations of the Central Pay Commissions with improved pay structure, additional family accommodation through Married Accommodation Project (MAP) and improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Radheshyam Biswas and others in Lok Sabha today.
NAMPI/RK

(Release ID :148814)

 

[PARIKRAMA]

Strength of Defence Forces

The details of authorised strength and held strength of officers and soldiers in all three Wings of Defence Forces are as under:-
Officers:
Army
(as on 01.01.2016)
Navy
(as on 31.05.2016)
Air Force
(as on 01.08.2016)
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage

Authorised
strength
Held strength

Shortage
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage
49833

41162

8671

11384

9866
1518

12244

12215

29
Soldiers:
Army
(as on 01.01.2016)
Navy
(as on 31.05.2016)
Air Force
(as on 01.08.2016)
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage

Authorised
strength
Held strength

Shortage
Authorised
strength

Held strength
Shortage
1202257

1159093

43164*

67639
57999

9640

138596

128216
10380**
* Presently 87322 recruits are under training against this deficiency.
** Presently 8792 trainees are under training against this deficiency.
Some of the major reasons for shortage in Armed Forces include increase in authorized strength due to new accretions of posts from time to time, availability of other attractive career avenues, stringent selection criteria coupled with perceived high degree of risk.
Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages. These include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career. Further, Government has taken various steps to make armed forces’ jobs attractive. These include implementation of recommendations of the Central Pay Commissions with improved pay structure, additional family accommodation through Married Accommodation Project (MAP) and improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Radheshyam Biswas and others in Lok Sabha today.
NAMPI/RK

(Release ID :148814)

The table portion

 

[GuardianRED]

The table portion

View attachment 325236

For IAF shortage of Officers is Only 29? Wow. Was reading old threads and the our friends from the other side keep saying that the PAF is better giving one of the reasons that there is a Shortage of Pilots!

 

[PARIKRAMA]

For IAF shortage of Officers is Only 29? Wow. Was reading old threads and the our friends from the other side keep saying that the PAF is better giving one of the reasons that there is a Shortage of Pilots!

Definition of Officers and Soldiers will differ. In all probability Pilot numbers will be in under Soldiers head..

I remember last year Parliamentary committee said pilot ratio as 0.82 against a sanction strength of 1.25 so this year the shortage wont come down to such a low number. Thus my point its clubbed under soldiers

 

[GuardianRED]

Definition of Officers and Soldiers will differ. In all probability Pilot numbers will be in under Soldiers head..

I remember last year Parliamentary committee said pilot ratio as 0.82 against a sanction strength of 1.25 so this year the shortage wont come down to such a low number. Thus my point its clubbed under soldiers

Point taken. But Isn't Most Pilots are officers?

 

[Ankit Kumar 002]

Definition of Officers and Soldiers will differ. In all probability Pilot numbers will be in under Soldiers head..

I remember last year Parliamentary committee said pilot ratio as 0.82 against a sanction strength of 1.25 so this year the shortage wont come down to such a low number. Thus my point its clubbed under soldiers

If no action taken , the deficit will increase as new introductions are made. And with twin seater Flankers ,its also pushing the required numbers up.

I am expecting the NAVY to overcome this sooner than all three , as Coast Guard is now not dependent upon navy , hope they get their Training Ship sooner , it will certainly help the cause of Navy here.

Army won't get a respite sooner as new corps coming up will cause an increment in the numbers of officers required.

 

[Star Wars]

In 2010 Army had 26% shortage of officers, got reduced to 18% in 2016, should go down to 12% by 2021

 

[PARIKRAMA]

Point taken. But Isn't Most Pilots are officers?

Officer can be belonging to other departments except front end ops like flying. or people from technical side.

As an example if we roughly divide the IAF into 3 major segments and sub segments, we get this..

Flying:

• Fighters
• Transports
• Helicopters

Technical branch:

• Mechanical
• Electronics

Ground duty branch:

• Administration
• Accounts
• Logistic
• Education
• Meteorology
• etc etc

Again i am guessing.. i dont have full clarity on the basis of differentiating "officers' and "soldiers"
Perhaps @Abingdonboy @Joe Shearer @hellfire @third eye @MilSpec may help to understand the terminology and classification better

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

India shouldn't be maintaining such a massive Army in the first place.Many troops are under equipped.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Definition of Officers and Soldiers will differ. In all probability Pilot numbers will be in under Soldiers head..

I remember last year Parliamentary committee said pilot ratio as 0.82 against a sanction strength of 1.25 so this year the shortage wont come down to such a low number. Thus my point its clubbed under soldiers

A person holding the President's Commission is an officer. A person not holding it but warranted to act as one is a warrant officer, but is not counted among the officers when counting officers and other ranks. A person promoted to his office, Havildar or Naib Havildar, is a non-commissioned officer, also not counted among officers.

Pilots who hold the President's Commission, for instance, Pilot Officers, are counted among officers. There may be a pilot who is not a commissioned officer; I know of examples from the RAF, during WWII, of Flight Sergeants, but typically the pilot is a commissioned officer, starting off as a Pilot Officer and moving on as usual to a Flying Officer, then to a Flight Lieutenant.

 

[Director General]

cut the size of army.
we don't need 1.2 million army

 

[Signalian]

The table portion

View attachment 325236

Pakistan Army is also facing a dire shortage of officers for which 4th Pak Battalion in PMA has been commissioned. A main reason has been WOT since early 2000's.
whats the reason for Indian officer shortage in Army?

 

[Gregor Clegane]

Additionally there tens if thousands if civilian employees for example Indian Navy says it has 100,000 employees if which 31,000 are civilians.
Civilians do most of the maintenance and logistical jobs in Navy.

 

[Gregor Clegane]

Pakistan Army is also facing a dire shortage of officers for which 4th Pak Battalion in PMA has been commissioned. A main reason has been WOT since early 2000's.
whats the reason for Indian officer shortage in Army?

2 Reasons:

1)Sanctioned strength is sometimes too high.

2)Lower salaries compared to private sector.

 

[Armoured Division]

Holy crap, a 1.2 million army.