Abhishek Mishra 1

Is Defense Services a lucrative career option for the youth of our nation?

American Astronaut Duane G. Careys words perfectly capture the emotions of a young man

aspiring to join defense services, particularly Air Force. He says , And then, when I thought

about joining the Air Force, flying seemed like a natural extension of the motorcycle experience.

You are going faster, higher. Youre operating a machine thats lot more powerful than you.

Whether it's donning the olive green uniform of Army, holding the controls of a jet being an

Airman or gazing at the vast sea being a Navalmen, these visuals justify the motto of Indian

Army, Live a Life less ordinary.

Before delving further, we need to understand what the term, defense forces refers

to. Wikipedia defines defense services of a country as, its government-sponsored defense,

fighting forces, and organizations. It is an umbrella term for Air Force, Army and Navy. Air

Force is the branch of defense forces concerned with fighting in air or protecting the air

boundaries of a country. Army is the organized military force equipped for fighting on the land

and protecting the land borders. Navy is the branch of defense forces responsible for conducting

operations in sea and protecting the sea frontiers of a country. Collectively, these forces are often

called military forces and sometimes, army.

Since its independence, India has fought four major wars and one conflict war. Three

wars with Pakistan, in 1948, in 1965 and in 1971; with China in 1962 and although not a full

fledged war but a cross border conflict over Kargil in 1999. Our country has never fell short of

patriotic people. However, it is falling short of military officers. Headlines of two prominent

dailies of India, The Indian Express and The Times of India, stated, Why Indian Army is short
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of Officers and what is being done and Shortage of over 9000 officers in Army, government

says respectively. Despite having a population of over 1.25 billion, our defense services are

facing a shortage of officers. Why is it so? Are defense services not a lucrative career option for

the youth of our nation? They could have been, but they are not. How is this problem related to

the common people? The constant conflicts with our neighboring countries, Pakistan and China,

emphasize the need for a strong defense force. Furthermore, defense service is a public good.

Being a public good implies it is open to everyone and nobody can be excluded from being

protected by it and from attempting to join it.

The decreasing value of defense services is a matter of concern. The value has

decreased for sure, otherwise, the military would not have been facing the shortage of officers.

Despite our army being the largest voluntary army in the world, it was unable to attract the youth

or prevent the outflow of officers, despite the recession. There are several reasons behind this. A

brief look at the history of army and treatment of military by the government, is required.

Since its inception, the army always has been an integral part of our nation. Present day army has

emerged from the forces set up by the Britishers during the 18th century when India was being

ravaged by internal wars and conflicts. There have been many other armies throughout the

nation's history, but our current forces carry the traditions and roots of the British Army. Right

after the independence, the army officers were given the choice to either stay with India or to

join Pakistan's defense service. Hence, it carried the British tradition of the army being loyal to

people of the nation and to the government. This is to imply that defense forces follow the

tradition of serving the nation rather than questioning the government. Hence, they always have

looked up to the government for their needs. Due to this, the condition of defense personnel, and
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the forces itself declined. A solution to this problem is to let military make its own budget and

have its separate pay commission. Pay commission is a committee that reviews the salary over

regular intervals and decides how much should be the increment, with respect to inflation and

other economic factors. This will reduce the armys dependence for their needs up to a great

extent.

When the outflow exceeds the inflow, a gap is created. Same is happening with the

army. More officers are leaving than those joining. According to another report published in The

times of India,

The defense minister said that in 2012, 564 officers opted to exit before their set

date of retirement; in 2013, 448 officers sought early retirement, and in 2014 the

number was 319. So far, in 2015, 97 officers have opted for premature retirement.

This is a major concern for the army, as well as for the government. When officers leave before

their set retirement period, significant time, effort and money spent on their training, goes

wasted. Hence, the problem is never cured. Majority of officer leave when they feel their chances

to reach the top positions are not great. A solution to this problem is to make promotion patterns

fixed like in civil services.

As per the research paper on Armed Forces as a Career Option for Todays Youth

by Dr. Nidhi Pandey and Tushar Tale, most of the retired officers move to the lucrative corporate

sector. Donning the uniform is a different experience altogether. Even with a job perspective, it

has additional perks along with a handsome salary. The Sixth pay commission raised the salary

structure bar, with seven commission recommendations awaiting implementations, it will go

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higher only. There is lots of encouragement and emphasis on sports and extracurricular in the

forces. This gives army an upper hand from private sector jobs. Many of the Olympic medalists

were Officers in the military such as Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won the silver

medal in double trap shooting in Athens Olympics in 2004.Government Accommodation for

families is another advantage. Canteens are highly subsidized. This further enhances the

purchasing power capacity of defense personnel. Job security is one big advantage. Layoffs are

common during the time of recession. But a defense personnel cannot be fired unless

court-martialed. Post retirement benefits like pension and medical treatment, are not there in any

of the corporate jobs. There are opportunities to study abroad in foreign military institutions.

Defense personnel can pursue further studies as there are provisions for study leave of up to two

years. Above all, the force is unique in the manner that personnel are allowed to retain the rank at

which they have retired. This implies that if someone retired at the rank of, for instance Major,

they can use it as their title.

The problem is deeply rooted in Indian society, that is, aversion to taking risks and not

promoting independent thinking and freedom among children. As per the paper, Armed Forces

as a Career Option for Todays Youth by Dr. Nidhi Pandey and Tushar Tale, a majority of

present day youth population is not clear about their career. Most of the time, their career choices

are influenced by their parents' choice. Indian parents tend to prefer security and stability as it is

a deeply rooted concept of having a job among Indians. (26)

There are many misconceptions related to defense services. The most prominent one is that

only those people join services, for whom no other option is left. This is not true. The aspirants

and most of the Officers who join forces, want to serve the nation. There is no dearth of
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intellectuals in the forces. Field Marshal Manekshaw, who led Indian military to the triumphing

victory in 1971 war against Pakistan, was a prime example of an intellectual officer. Another

misconception is the threat to life. The common belief is the life in the army is dangerous.

Although it is true for a defense personnel, martyrdom is the supreme honor. But this does not

imply that if one joins the forces, then they will have to sacrifice themselves at the war front.

During the wartime or when one is posted near the national border, it is a different story

altogether. Apart from that, the risk factor is same as the corporate jobs which are, negligible.

Following the misconceptions, one of the major concerns of the aspirants as well as of their

parents is that salary is low. It was low initially, but after the implementation of sixth pay

commission the salary came at par with private jobs and as the implementation of seventh pay

commission is awaited, it will go higher only.

Military life is a different life altogether. People have a notion that the life is

services is monotonous. They will be left with no time for leisure. Contrary to this, Colonel K.

Nair, a war veteran summed it up well in his blog, Amritaias.com:

The daily routine of a young army officer in a peace station is rather

interesting. It is not much different in the Navy or the IAF. The day starts early at 6 AM

with 45 minutes of PT or Drill. After a hearty breakfast, he is back on parade at 8 AM for

an hour of equipment maintenance. From 9 AM to 1 PM is [sic] training and

administrative duties. Lunch and rest till 4.30 PM. Games till 6 PM dinner at 8 PM and

he normally hits the sack around 10 PM or 11 PM. Wednesdays and Saturdays are half

days. Saturdays are club nights.

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Compare this with a day in the life of an IT professional? I know what I would choose

any day, remarks Col. Nair.

The contours of the problem and the need for a holistic redress have to be

acknowledged. Remedies and solutions are required to tackle the problem. This is imperative and

must merit the attention of the Government and its bodies. Proactive and creative thinking is

somehow not encouraged or is not possible in the rigid, hierarchical and bureaucratic structures

that are found in most departments of the government in India, including the military. The craze

for civil services is still prevailing among the youth whereas defense services are facing a

shortage of officers.Civil services are a lucrative career option for the youth due to fixed

promotions, better salary, and most importantly a sense of power and respect that is attached to

them. This is where military is lagging behind. When faced with a similar predicament, other

nations tackled the problem by appointing a dedicated Armed Forces Commission drawn from

the most eminent persons outside the government to make appropriate recommendations. There

is no dearth of eminent personalities in Indian civil society whose talent and expertise can be

tapped for this purpose. The tasks ahead are to recognize the problem and to improve military as

a product sincerelynot just addressing the marketing of the product.

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WORK CITED

Dharmarajan, H. "Armed Forces: A Career Choice?" Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

"Armed Forces Losing an Officer a Day to Early Retirement. The Times of India. Web. 16 Dec.

2016.

Singh, Sushant. "Why the Indian Army Is Short of Officers and What's Being Done." The Indian

Express. 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

"Why Indian Youth Shying Away from Joining the Indian Army?" Indian Defence Forum. Web.

16 Dec. 2016.

Pandey, Nidhi and Tale, Tushar. Armed Forces as a Career Option for Todays Youth.

International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) , vol. 2, no. 12,

December 2013.

Nair, K. "THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE A CAREER IN NATION BUILDING." Amrita IAS.

03 June 2016. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.