Chandigarh, August 1: While intake of officers into the armed forces from Punjab has witnessed an encouraging trend over the past few years, there has been a consistent decline in the number of officers from the state getting selected into the Air Force at the graduate level.
In 2013-14, as many as 35 graduate candidates from Punjab joined the IAF for pre-commission training, which has come down to just three in 2017-18, according to data compiled by the state government in June.
The number of such candidates joining IAF academies was 27 in 2014-15; 26 in 2015-16; and 16 in 2016-17.
These figures are based on the claims received for the grant of Rs 1 lakh that the Punjab Government gives to every person from the state who joins a service training academy. This does not include intake into the tri-service National Defence Academy at the 10+2 level, where some cadets later opt for the Air Force. The Air Force, having an authorised strength of 12,581 officers, including women, faces a shortage of 206 officers. At 1.6 per cent, this shortage is the lowest compared to 12 per cent for the Navy and 15 in the Army.
Even as there are several factors that determine selection in the armed forces, experts seem unable to pinpoint the reasons for the sudden decline in graduate selections in the IAF from Punjab.
According to a serving IAF officer, the medical parameters for the Air Force, especially the flying branch, are more exacting and stringent than the Army, which results in higher number of rejections.
Education and grooming is also a major factor as the IAF requires at least 60 per cent marks at the graduate level for most branches, including flying, engineering and administration. “A consistent decline in intake can also be indicative of the quality of candidates,” he said.
“Apparently, students are branching out into other streams that they consider more lucrative, given the large number of institutions offering a multitude of professional courses that have cropped up in the region,” says Dr Rakesh Dutta, a professor of defence studies.
“This is a tremendous drop, and an alarming trend that needs to be studied,” he says. The increasing number of bright youngsters from Punjab opting to go abroad for higher studies or jobs adds another dimension to the issue.
“For Punjabis, family tradition and the prestige associated with the uniform was the prime motivator, rather than money, for joining the services,” says Wing Commander DP Sabharwal (retd), a trainer and a career counsellor. “The present generation of young officers complains not only of an unhealthy equation with their civilian counterparts, but also a decline in status, perks and social life,” he adds.
The intake also depends upon the annual vacancies available. Though the overall intake into the services, according to official sources, has witnessed a decline over the past three years (1,961 in 2015 to 1,858 in 2016 and 1,773 in 2017), this is not proportionate to the sharp decline in the graduate selection in the IAF from Punjab.
Source Tribune India
