Article Posted on : - Dec 28, 2017

An internet imagery.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian armed forces are facing a shortage of nearly 60,000 personnel with the Army topping the list with over 27,000 vacant posts, the government has said.

According to the details provided by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha, the total shortage of officers in the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force is 9,259 while the number for below officer rank is 50,363.

Replying to a question on Wednesday, she said the total strength of the Army as on July 1 is 12.37 lakh personnel against the authorised strength of 12.64 lakh and the total shortage is 27,864.

The current strength of the Navy is 67,228 personnel and the number of vacant positions is 16,255.

She said the Indian Air Force is facing a shortage of 15,503 personnel against the authorised strength of 1.55 lakh.

The vacancies excluding personnel in dental and medical streams come to 59,622.

"The recruitment in the armed forces is a continuous process. The government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages," she said.

Replying to a separate question, Sitharaman said MiG fighter jets of the IAF were involved in 10 accidents since 2014-15.

"10 squadrons of IAF equipped with MiG 21 and MiG 27 aircraft are scheduled to retire by 2024 on completion of their total technical life," she said.

To another question, she said procurement of two more regiments of Akash missile system has been approved for the Army.