India mulls draft to augment officer corps
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - The 1.13-million-strong Indian army is facing a crippling shortage
of officers. For the first time, a serving army chief has indicated that the
government might need to consider conscription at some point to address the
looming crisis.
According to official figures, the army is facing a shortage of 11,238
officers, against a sanctioned strength of 46,615 officers - a staggering 25%
shortfall. And it's not the army alone that is confronted with a dearth of
officer corps. The much-smaller Indian Air Force is 1,565 officers short of its
sanctioned strength of 12,128, and the navy is short 1,461 officers of its
optimal strength of 8,797.
"The shortage is at the level of majors and captains," points out P R Chari,
research professor at the Delhi-based Institute for Peace
and Conflict Studies. "These are the men who lead the troops in battle." The
shortage therefore could "seriously degrade the army's effectiveness" in
battle.
According to a senior army officer, the shortage of officers was keenly felt by
the army during the India-Pakistan conflict at Kargil in 1999. "Officers had to
be rotated from one operation to another with different battalions to direct
artillery fire," he told Asia Times Online.
Even if the likelihood of war with Pakistan or China has receded, the armed
forces are engaged in counter-insurgency operations in various parts of the
country. Here too, the shortage of officers is being felt acutely. "The problem
is serious," Chari said.
The shortage of officers is not a recent development and has persisted despite
efforts to address it.
The armed forces are no longer attracting the best and the brightest in the
country. Low salaries, high stress and slow promotions in the armed forces have
contributed to its downgrading as a career option. Youngsters prefer jobs in
the more lucrative private sector.
The declining interest in employment in the armed forces is evident from the
fact that seats for courses in the highly reputed defense academies are now
going unfilled. Only 190 of the 300 seats at the National Defense Academy at
Khadakwasla were filled this year. The situation at the Indian Military Academy
at Dehradun was worse; only 86 joined up for a course that offered 250 seats.
In comparison, almost 200,000 students competed for 1,200 seats in the reputed
Indian Institutes of Management last year.
What's more, the armed forces are facing serious attrition. Officers are
handing in their papers, with the number seeking premature retirement mounting
from 290 in 2004, to 365 in 2005, 464 in 2006 and 306 up to July 2007.
"If things don’t improve, the government may have to take a decision on it
[conscription]," Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said on Monday when asked at
a press conference if compulsory military service was an option to address the
shortage of officers in the army. Kapoor, however, quickly added that the
country had not yet reached "that stage" where it needed to conscript.
The Indian army is a volunteer force. It has never conscripted, not even at the
height of the Sino-Indian war of 1962 (when the Indian armed forces found
themselves ill-equipped and outnumbered at the front) or during the
India-Pakistan wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
There have been sections in India that have recommended conscription as a
solution to diverse ills in the country. It is not uncommon to hear Indians -
even civilians - recommend a compulsory stint in the military for youngsters to
discipline them, to instill patriotism or to make men out of boys.
Retired military officers, too, have suggested conscription in the past. A
decade ago, retired Chief of Naval Staff J G Nadkarni suggested "limited
conscription" as a cost-cutting measure. Educated boys in the 18 to 21 age
group who are conscripted could be paid a small stipend and provided
accommodation. He argued that not only would conscription help cut costs but
also, "the services will gain from an educated crop of men. Nearly a million
men can be inducted each year for a three-year tenure who will meet the Army
goal of keeping the service young." The country would benefit as well. "The
nation will have a million disciplined and well-trained men each year, bringing
to their civilian life self-confidence and maturity. The Army will take youth
and give the country men," Nadkarni said.
Not everyone sees conscription as beneficial. "Conscription goes against the
ethos of democracy. It would be a break from India’s post-independence
tradition of having a totally voluntary army," Sumona Dasgupta, assistant
director of the Delhi-based Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace
said.
Many believe conscription would also increase the militarization of society.
There are also serious doubts as to whether conscription would ensure quality
of recruits. A volunteer army draws willing recruits. People are drawn to join
the army out of patriotism, commitment or a sense of adventure. Their
motivation is high, points out Chari. But conscription entails force to bring
people into the army and not all those who are brought in are likely to be of
high caliber.
This is of particular concern in India, where the armed forces are used
extensively in counter-insurgency operations. Dasgupta argues that "such
operations in particular require personnel who are disciplined, have greater
commitment and a moral fiber of the highest kind, so that human rights
violations do not occur".
"When even a voluntarily recruited army has fallen short of expectations in
zones of active conflict in our country, what can we expect from conscripted
officers? What can one expect from people who have been drafted and then put
into counterinsurgency roles and commanded to 'win the hearts and minds' of the
people?" she asked.
Army officers admit that they are not in favor of conscription. They do not
want to lower the standards of the army, they argue. The solution to the
officer shortage in the armed forces is not conscription but measures to
attract bright youngsters. "If the army should be an attractive career option,
salaries should be hiked and employment benefits should be made more
attractive," the senior army officer said. "Advertisements promising an
exciting, adventure-filled future or a great career are not enough."
Government officials told Asia Times Online that Kapoor’s statement was by no
means an expression of support for conscription. Neither was the General
pointing to conscription as a solution to the shortage of officers. "It was a
warning to the government of what lies ahead if the latter refused to read the
writing on the wall," said a civilian bureaucrat in the Ministry of Defense.
"It was a warning that if salaries were not increased, the only way out would
be conscription."
The timing of Kapoor’s comment on conscription is significant. It has come
ahead of the submission of the report by the Sixth Pay Commission, which is
reviewing salaries and perks of central government employees and defense
personnel. The three services submitted a joint memorandum to the commission
last year seeking a raise in pay scales, enhancement of existing allowances and
introduction of new allowances, among other things.
Kapoor's statement on Monday is a reminder to the government that it could well
have a huge crisis on its hands if steps are not taken to attract talent into
the army and retain it. And then it would have no option but to go for
conscription - a politically unpopular move.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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