Recruitment in the Armed Forces is based on merit and is open to all citizens irrespective of class, caste, community, region or religion.  As such the record of data of recruitment in the Armed Forces on the basis of caste, community, region or religion is not maintained.

Various actions are taken to attract more applicants to join the Armed Forces.  These 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.  Further, Government has taken various steps to make Armed Forces’ jobs attractive including improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces.

Further, to compensate for the unique aspects of defence service including the extreme conditions in which defence personnel are required to operate, Military Service Pay (MSP) has been provided for upto the level of Brigadier and equivalent. Consequently, while the pay on initial induction of a civilian employee at the lowest pay level (in Level-1) is Rs.18,000/-, the pay on initial induction of a defence force personnel, who gets inducted at their lowest pay level which is Level-3, inclusive of MSP will be Rs.26,900/-.  Similarly, while the pay for a civilian Officer inducted in Level-10 would be Rs.56,100/-, the pay for a defence service officer inducted in level-10, inclusive of MSP will be Rs.71,600/-.

Compensation by way of allowances is also paid for the unique Risk and Hardship borne by defence personnel.  Further, benefits in cash and kind are also admissible to Defence Service Personnel including (i) Free rations or Ration Money Allowance in lieu of free rations (ii) tax concessions available in Canteen Stores Depot (iii) Concession vouchers for travel in Railway and by Air.

This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Dr. Subhash Bhamrein a written reply to ShriSirajuddinAjmalin LokSabha today.

NAo/Nampi/DK/Rajib

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