The Hindu : National : Army bid to bridge officer shortage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 13, 2004

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National

Army bid to bridge officer shortage

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 12. The Government has cleared a couple of proposals to partially bridge the shortage of Army officers that has touched 13,000 mark, official sources has said.

The short service commission (SSC) has been made more attractive with the tenure increased from 10 to 14 years and permission for the retirees to avail of concessionary health and canteen facilities that are so far restricted to the regular cadre.SSC officers will now be considered for foreign postings and permitted one year of leave for attending specialised courses outside the Army.

The Army felt few opted for the SSC because of the relatively short service tenure of 10 years. Post-retirement benefits too did not match of officers from the regular stream. It now hopes to enrol more officers through the SSC route. Another proposal for increasing the intake of woman officers was in the final stages of clearance.

The shortage of officers was likely to come down by 300 on an annual basis, said official sources. Army is encouraging its brighter troops to attend courses to enable them to graduate to the officers' cadre.

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