A parliamentary standing committee has slammed the ministry of defence (MoD) and the armed forces for "ill thought-out" manpower planning, which has resulted in a staggering shortage of officers in the army, navy and the air force.

The committee on defence headed by Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil has also blown to bits almost every armed forces excuse, including that not enough youngsters are attracted to the forces because of a lucrative private sector.

"MoD has attributed this shortage of manpower in the officer cadre mainly to low priority being accorded to military career by the youth due to lucrative job opportunities in the civil sector. The committee is not inclined to accept this plea of MoD in view of the fact that a substantially large number of talented youth offer themselves for competitive examinations conducted by the UPSC for military," the committee says.

The group of Lok Sabha members pointed out that the armed forces are continuing with dated procedures of selection and none of their steps has improved the situation.

The shortage of officers in the army stood at a staggering 23.8% of the authorised strength in 2007-end, and at 16.7 and 12.1% in the navy and the air force. 

The committee also rubbished the MoD argument that manpower planning in the army was a complicated issue, because most of the uncertainties cited, such as annual induction, wastage, are annual features.

"The systems and procedures created in the armed forces for this purpose are not sound enough to generate precise information required for proper assessment of manpower requirements," it said.

The MoD also argued that the officer shortage was also because of unpopularity of a military career because of early retirement, frequent transfers and a lucrative private sector. The committee also pointed out that the service selection board (SSC) interview "is negative in approach and the whole exercise is directed towards finding enough reasons to reject a candidate rather than carrying out an appraisal of his good traits for selection." 

SSB tests are "based on antiquated practices and no serious attempt has been made to adopt and implement modern techniques of selection."

Josy Joseph/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication