Panel moots military term for bureaucrats

new delhi: a parliamentary committee has suggested that anyone joining government service must first be made to serve in the armed forces. if mandatory military service does not go down well with young bureaucrats, it offers an alternative. give incentives to those who join the government service after spending a couple of years with the forces. the suggestion forms part of a 111-page report tabled in parliament friday by the standing committee on defence.for this report, the committee -- made up of mps from both the houses -- had considered "manpower planning and management policy in defence." it expressed concern over the continuing shortfall of officers in defence forces, and also the ageing of the officer cadre. it said the government should take effective steps towards the implementation of the proposal for compulsory military service of at least two years for anyone joining government service -- at the centre, in the states or with public sector undertakings. the situation caused by the shortage of officers was grim, it said, particularly in the army. the army is short by nearly 12,000 officers, which is 26 per cent of its sanctioned strength. the air force suffers from a shortage of 652 officers (there are also 3748 airmen vacancies), and the navy needs 979 more officers (also, 8,920 sailors). the committee expressed serious concern over the fact that most of the shortfall was in the ranks of major and below, or their equivalents in other services, "the fighting element of the officer class." officers needed to have "a first class brain" combined with a "fighting spirit." and candidates with these qualities did not find the military a remunerative career as the cost of living had increased due to economic liberalisation, the report said. there were other problems: long separation from the family, housing, children's education, stagnation in promotions. the committee felt that the government had not taken sufficient action to fill the vacancies over the years. it was told that the army had always lived with a shortage of officers: in the 1962 india-china war, the army was short by 28.9 per cent. the committee was also told that officer cadets generally favoured the supporting arms and services. among combat arms, the armoured corps and air defence artillery were favoured over infantry and artillery. the committee has asked the government to consider incentives like combat allowance, and transfer of officers between the arms to correct the bias. the defence ministry, however, clarified that cadets were not sent to a particular arm just because they had asked for it. the committee wanted the defence ministry to encourage youth from villages to join the army as officers. of 653 cadets who joined the national cadets corps, only 39 were from a rural background -- a figure lower than that in the three previous years. the committee also fretted over the ageing' of the army's officer cadre. in india, an officer gets the command of a battalion when he is around 42. in pakistan, it happens at 37. in china at 40. the increase in retirement age of officers by two years following the fifth pay commission award had contributed to this ageing, the commission noted. expressing its concern over the pay commission fall out, the committee said the government should make an indepth examination of the issue.