On August 5, Ministry of Defence (MoD) refuses to disclose the data in relation to the shortage of staff including officers, soldiers, and medical officers etc., in the armed forces, citing “national security” as reason.
Notably, on August 5, the Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth addressed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply, stating that the requisite data was “a sensitive operational matter concerning national security” and that revealing such details would not be in the national interest.
The response was given in answer to an unstarred question asked by Congress MP Anil Kumar Yadav Mandadi, who had asked whether the government has taken note of the fact that there is a shortage of staff including officers, soldiers, medical officers etc., in the armed forces also what steps were being taken to address these vacancies.
Traditionally, the Ministry of Defence has provided updates on personnel shortages. For example, on March 13, 2023, the then Minister of State in the Defence Ministry Ajay Bhatt reported that, as of March 10, 2023, the Army had 8,070 officer vacancies and 127,673 vacancies among Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and Other Ranks (ORs). Additionally, Bhatt mentioned that between January 1, 2023, and March 10, 2023, 613 officer positions and 19,065 JCO/OR positions were filled. The recent policy shift comes after the introduction of the Agnipath scheme on June 14, 2022. This new recruitment initiative, which replaces the previous process, enlists soldiers for a four-year term, with a maximum intake of 1.75 lakh personnel until 2026. Upon completion of their term, up to 25% of Agniveers may join the regular cadre through a further recruitment process. Reported India today
The answer of the Ministry can be read here:
MoD’s refusal to disclose armed forces vacancies led to criticism from the opposition. Congress President and Senior leader Mallikarjun slammed the centre ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party and posted on X that “Modi ji, your own Govt has been publishing this important information on the number of vacancies of officers, soldiers, JCOs and medical officers, from time to time, since the past few years.”
“We fail to understand, why suddenly you have refused to provide it now. Are you afraid that this information on the number of vacancies will further put a question mark on the ill-thought Agniveer induction which you have unilaterally imposed on the Armed Forces?
In the Rajya Sabha, there have been previous instances where the Defence Ministry has provided this key information. Why stop now? He said.
.@narendramodi ji,
Your inept Govt has now started brazenly misleading the nation and undermining institutions by hiding critical data on the vacancies in Armed Forces.
Fake Nationalists of the BJP who imposed the Agnipath Scheme on our patriotic youth, and destroyed their… pic.twitter.com/wyB5EPyf6T
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 6, 2024
Kharge further added that “National Security is paramount for the Indian National Congress, and real National Interest demands that the actual number of vacancies in the Armed Forces be made public, so that comprehensive measures are taken to fill in those vacancies to protect the territorial integrity of the nation”
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