He stated that the number of vacant positions in the Indian Air Force (Airmen and Non-Combatants) as of November 1, 2022, was 5,819. The number in the Army was until July 1, and included junior commissioned officers and other ranks.
“A total of 40000 vacancies have been advertised for JCOs/OR in the Indian Army. A total of 3,000 vacancies have been advertised for Agniveers in the Indian Navy in the year 2022. A total of 3,000 vacancies have been advertised for Agniveer-vayu in the Indian Air Force in the year 2022,” Bhatt said.He said all the recruitments at the level of jawans are being done under the Agnipath scheme.
Noting that on average, 60,000 vacancies occur in all three services every year, out of which approximately 50,000 vacancies are for the Army, the minister said due to the suspension of recruitment rallies in the last two years because of the COVID-19 situation, there was a shortfall of 1,08,685 jawans in the Indian Army at present.With the improvement in the COVID-19 situation and the start of the recruitment, these vacancies are expected to come down in coming years, he added.
In response to a separate question, he stated that approximately 45,906 acres of defence land under the management of various services and organisations within the defence ministry are currently vacant.
In response to another question, Bhatt stated that the government has undertaken the modernisation of defence airfield infrastructure in two phases. He stated that the budgetary allocation made for modernising airfields under phase-I was Rs 1,215.35 crore and phase-II is Rs 1,187.17 crore. The Modernisation of Air Field Infrastructure (MAFI) (phase-I) was for 30 Indian Air Force airfields and the project has already been completed.The MAFI (phase-II) for the modernisation of another 37 airfields is under progress, he said.
