The Army is facing a shortfall of nearly 10,000 officers while the Navy is facing a shortage of about 1,800.
Also, 644 officers have taken premature retirement from the Army since 2012. In the Navy, the figure stood at 343 while in the Indian Air Force, it was 441.
Giving the details, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Friday that some of the major reasons for shortage in armed forces include increase in authorised strength due to new accretions in force level from time to time and availability of attractive alternate career avenues.
He also cited stringent selection criteria and difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk.
Excluding the medical and dental branch, there are 9,642 vacant posts of officers in the Army, while the figure for the Navy is 1,779.
In another reply, Parrikar said there are 45,000 personnel under training for the Army, 10,523 for Navy and 11,979 for the Air Force.
The government has spent a total of Rs 2,409.3 crore on training since 2012.
He also said that the available strength of pilots in IAF is sufficient to meet operational requirements.
20 fighter aircraft lost in 3 years!
As many as 20 fighter aircraft, including 3 frontline Sukhois, of the Indian Air Force have crashed in the last three years.
As per the figures given by him, 2014-15 saw the maximum crashes which included one Sukhoi, four MiGs and two Jaguars.
In 2013-14, there were six crashes involving five MiGs and one Jaguar.
In 2012-13, one Sukhoi crashed besides two MiGs and one Jaguar.
"The main reasons for the crashes were technical defect and human error," Parrikar said.
He added that the loss to the government, in terms of value of aircraft and service property, in respect of 12 accidents assessed so far is estimated at Rs 386 crore and loss to civilian property was over Rs 4.43 lakh.
