By Madhav Gupta:
The most prestigiousmilitary of our country or of any country for that matter, the Army,has been facing a lot of criticism by the civil department and the youth is no more bothered about it.
The Indian Army which is supposedly the worlds’ 2nd largest standing army, and has been serving the nation for the last 65years is short of around 11,500 officers as confirmed by the Defence Minister- A.K Antony. And the bigger problem is that the youth doesn’t have much knowledge and awarenessabout the Defence forces. But why do we have a shortage now?
The answer is quite easy. Following are the reasons:-
1. Big Pay-checks in Private sector
India is a developing nation. A numbers of MNC’s have entered and are still entering India as predators for the young breed of educated, talented and English speaking people. And the youth finds itself among immense opportunities in India and abroad.
2. Lack of awareness about the Army
The main reason is the youth,especially that belonging from Metros and other big cities,now doesn’t have much clarity about what Army does!All they think is that the Army comes into action only when we face a war. But they hardly have an idea about the humanitarian causes taken up by the Army, especially in small and troubled areas of our country like running schools and canteen facilities for the locals because they don’t have a Big Bazaar or other big food chains. Medical facilities are being provided by the army to the poor and needful, free of cost. Whenever there is a big natural calamity, the army is there to rescue and bring the situation to normal. Indian Army’s humanitarian causes have set example all across the globe.
3. Reluctance by Parents
One of the most important reasons is risk of life and separation with the families faced by the army officers because of which the families don’t want their child to join the armed forces. But when their child wears that uniform, the parents are the proudest people in the society and will forever be known by their child’s name.
An army officer can be distinguished easily in a crowd of thousands and so is their profession. A career in the Indian Army as an Officer means a life worth living.
The army has been serving our nation and gave us a confidence that we are secure and can lead a prosperous and healthy life. This confidence is a very big responsibility carried by the army on behalf of the nation. We are lucky to have born in such a country where we just don’t have to think of the threats from the foreign forces. Our neighbouring country Pakistan got independence a day before us but the level of turbulence faced by the citizens of Pakistan is basically because of weak defence apparatus. And all those countries that are under-developed are basically because of weak protective setup or a misuse of military powers.Till date the Indian Army has been serving the nation with utmost honesty and dedication.
It may not be the best profession according to the youth now but they need to see and understand that a strong army leads to prosperity, a belief of freedom in whatever field they want to keep up. A soldier is out there to protect them! And we can live safe because a soldier lives by the motto “If my country is safe my family is safe.”