The number of posts lying vacant in the Armed Forces are as under:
| Service | Vacant Posts | |
| Officers | JCOs/ORs/Airmen/Sailors | |
| Indian Army | 7476 (including AMC/ADC/MNS) | 97177 |
| Indian Air Force | 621 | 4850 |
| Indian Navy | 1265 | 11166 |
The Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages. These, inter-alia, include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career in the Armed Forces.
To encourage the youth to join the Armed Forces, motivational lectures are regularly organized in schools/colleges/other educational institutes and National Cadet Corps (NCC) camps.
Further, the Government has taken various steps to make the service in the Armed Forces more attractive including improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces and to fill up vacancies
As per the Government policy on the subject, all citizens irrespective of their caste, creed, region or religion are eligible for enrolment in the Indian Army. After Independence, it has been the policy of the Government not to raise any new regiment for a particular class/ community/ religion or region.The deficiency is spread across all Arms and Services of the Indian Army.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Shri Rakesh Sinha in Rajya Sabha today.