Strategies to attract more people towards the defence forces
What should the government do to attract more people towards the defence forces?
Introduction
Applications for the Indian armed forces have seen a dip in the recent past. With more officers quitting service mid-way, and more officers opting for voluntary retirement, the defense forces are facing a real problem. Apart from this, the young workforce today prefers to join the private sector, with the advantages of higher earning potential, and the freedom of shifting jobs.
Potential steps to increase recruitment
Jobs in the government sector come with several perks. Some benefits are:
• Job security,
• Retirement benefits,
• Cash incentives,
• Residential quarters (for some sectors),
• Assured hikes,
• Other allowances, etc.
Those in the armed forces get much more benefits, like rations at subsidized rates, education (for officers and children), post-retirement insurance etc. Apart from this, life in the defense also shapes an individual’s personality; it inculcates discipline, professionalism, steadfastness and so on. People in the armed forces also enjoy a lot of respect in the community.
One of the reasons that are causing the drop in defense recruits could be the stringent testing system. The army has four main criteria to select officers- education, aptitude, medical fitness, and absence of any criminal record.
The armed forces are taking many steps to fill the gap of required officers. These steps include, increasing the pay scale for officers, increasing the tenure of the Short Service Commission (SSC), providing post-retirement benefits, pension schemes for families, reaching out to students in the college level, etc.
Other possible steps that can help could be-simplifying the examination system, providing coaching and assistance for the exams, reducing the transfer rates, greater benefits and security to those deployed at the borders and high risk areas, etc. Apart from this, the defense forces can bring retired officers to hold talks at colleges and educational institutions, and answer the students’ doubts and queries.
Conclusion
With careful planning, and sufficient marketing, the defense forces in India can increase the number of people joining, and bridge the gap. There is no doubt that the life of defense personnel is a noble and honorable one. As civilians, we can also do our bit by encouraging our younger siblings, children, and the young generation to join the armed forces, and protect the nation.
Discussion
- RE: Strategies to attract more people towards the defence forces -Deepa Kaushik (04/30/14)
- Patriotism itself attracts the true citizen to the defence services. Many people voluntarily try for the defence services, but get failed in the selection criteria by one or the other means. The commitment of the Indians towards the nation and its security has been well established at times of war like Kargil, with lot many civilians standing up to save their motherland.
Though there is no special requirement to make the defence services lucrative, still there are many such offers for the people in defence services which the common man lacks. The special quarters at the cantonment area with all the basic amenities within the enclosed geographic area of defence persons is a charm in itself. The job respect and pride in the job is worth saluting.
Next comes the job security during the course of the service and also a good scope post retirement is another attraction. The allowances and the retirement benefits of the defence personal is always special in comparison to the common man.
With both wealth and pride in both the hands, along with the opportunity to serve our motherland, there could be hardly any individual who would resist joining the defence services.
- Strategies to attract more people towards the defence forces -Nupur Bhargva (04/04/14)
What should the government do to attract more people towards defence forces?
Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard are the services that come under the umbrella of Defence Services. As per the statistics, it has been observed that not a lot of youngsters prefer to join any one of these services and hence the defence services are facing a dire need of youngsters who can join the defence services. The government is already putting in efforts to rope in more youngsters in the defence forces. The scarcity of officers has been afflicting the force for a number of years and hence abating the management at unit level.
One of the major reason that students or youngsters are not inclined to join the defence services is that the selection criteria in these services is difficult and not only this but also the working conditions are not very favourable and hence it demotivates the youngsters from joining these services. The other reasons why the defence services forces are unable to attract new joiners is low salary, slow promotions, staying away from the family for a long period of time, frequent transfers, corruption. Because of lack of safety and difficult surviving condition parents also discourage their children from joining defence forces.
The government has taken certain steps to attract the youngsters into this profession, they are increasing the pay packages, a 6th pay commission has been implemented for the officials. The Short Service Commission tenure has been increased from 10years to 14 years, thereby growing the promotional opportunities for the officers. The army officials are also trying to create awareness in colleges and discuss the career options in defence forces with not only the children but also with the parents and trying to sort out the queries of the parents. There are a lot of publicity campaigns to be held to upsurge the sentience of the procedure to apply for these services and motivate more and more youngsters to join the forces. Countries like Norway and U.K have a trend that once the child passes his post – graduation in any field, he is liable to join any of the defence forces of the country by force.
If the candidate fails to do so he does not get his passing degree. With this step, a lot of youngsters get influenced and join the defence forces, so may be a similar action can be taken here also to motivate the youngsters to join the defence forces. It can first be tried on doctors; students who complete MBBS degree have to compulsorily be a doctor in the defence forces.
The above mentioned are some of the steps that can be taken to motivate the youngsters to join the defence forces. A better understanding need to be conveyed in regards of the benefits of joining the defence services.
