How delay in armed forces recruitment has put lives of youths on hold

The training ground in Haryana’s Talu village was Pawan Panghal’s second home. This is where he literally grew up. This is where he ran and worked out, got bitten by mosquitoes and the bug to join the Indian Army. Pawan would hit the ground most mornings at 3 am, hours before anyone else would turn up. So, by the time others came, Pawan would be ready to wrap up for the day. On April 27, he followed the same routine and came to practice at 3 am. But hours later when others started to walk into the training ground, they did not find Pawan running or leaving. They found him hanging from a tree.

Just months before he died by suicide, Pawan had won the first prize in an inter-village 21-km marathon.

With the Army recruitment process put on hold in view of the Covid restrictions, Pawan, an arts graduate and NCC cadet, could not come to terms with the fact that years of hard work had come to mean nothing as he had crossed the upper age limit for a general duty officer in the Indian Army.

In a note he left behind, Pawan apologised to his parents for not being able to fulfil their dreams of him becoming a ‘jawan’.

Even as reports emerge that the recruitment drive will resume soon, Pawan’s pain is shared by countless men and boys who have either crossed the age limit or are on the verge of turning overage for the defence forces. Candidates must be between 17.5 and 21 years of age to get recruited as general duty soldiers in the army.

Even before the break of dawn and around dusk, hundreds of boys and young men could be seen running along the roadside or inside training grounds, jostling for space to continue their practice across Haryana, especially districts such as Rohtak, Jind, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Hisar. The state, now more famous as India’s mine for Olympic medals, boasts of another tradition – almost every family has at least one member who has served the Indian Army. And these young men want to carry forward the same tradition.

Last chance denied

Jitendra Kumar was all of 16 when he began to dream of donning the olive uniform. Just a year short of the age required to qualify as a general duty soldier in 2015, Jitendra knew there was no time to lose. Son of a tailor from Rohtak’s Garhi Bohar village, he began running to ensure he was physically fit to make the cut.

Having faced four successive rejections in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, Jitendra was practising harder for the 2020 physical fitness test — his last chance, a chance he rues not getting.

“Since 2015, I have been regularly coming to the practice ground and sweating it out for two hours each morning and evening in the hope to wear the Army uniform,” says Jitendra.

Son of a tailor, Jitendra says despite the financial crunch, his father toiled day and night to provide him education and a special diet so that he could get a job in the Indian Army.

“In 2020, I knew I had the last chance and I practised harder to crack the exam but the exam wasn’t conducted. All was lost in 2021 after I crossed the 21 years age limit for the post of an Indian Army sepoy. Now, I can’t even fill the form for recruitment. I was the fastest runner in my group but now I have lost the race,” Jitendra tells The Federal.

Question of livelihood

Jobs in the Army for the youths of the region is as much about the pride of defending the country’s borders and honour as it is about finding a livelihood.

“I was desperate to make the cut as I have two sisters to marry off, old parents to look after and debts that were taken during the preparation phase to be cleared,” Jitendra says.

His coach Sanjeev Nandal says those seeking entry through open recruitments are desperate because of their economic background.

“The physical fitness requirements to be in the Army are so challenging that children of well-off families do not even try to enter the race,” says the National Institute of Sports-certified coach from Patiala.

Children of lower-income groups, who have no financial support, but have both the passion and compulsion to earn a monthly salary, opt for these services.

“Jitendra meets all physical fitness requirements. He runs fast, can do chin-ups and long and high jumps as per Army requirements but did not get enough chances,” says Sanjeev.

Thousands of army aspirants across the country have been demanding that recruitment be resumed at the earliest and the age eligibility be relaxed by at least two years to accommodate those who have become overage because of the hold on recruitment.

“When political rallies are allowed, elections take place, planes fly but Army recruitments are put on hold, it raises questions,” says Sanjeev.

It’s not just the army recruitment, though. Indian Air Force (IAF) aspirants who have cleared the exams are also in a lurch because the institution has put on hold the appointments due to “administrative reasons and Covid situation”.

The delay in appointments is agonising for those who have either become overage or are on the verge of crossing the age limit while waiting to join the airforce.

Sachin Jagra, a Rohtak-based aspirant who has cleared the written exam, shared his agony with The Federal.

“During this time, I have turned overage. Now, I am not sure whether the IAF would let me join or club me in the overage category,” says a worried Sachin.

Sachin says he took the written exam in September 2020 and followed all formalities till medical examination in March 2021.

“There has been no communication from the IAF after the medical examinations about when they would call me to join the duty in the Y-category job. According to norms, a candidate should not be more than 21 years of age at the time of joining. Between last year and this month, I turned overage. If procedures had been followed, I would have been in a job. But here I am waiting and worrying about my fate,” says Sachin, the son of a carpenter. He said that after his IAF exam, he did not seek admission in graduation hoping that he would join the forces but a year has been wasted on that front too.

Coaching industry hit

Dinesh Sangwan, an ex-Navy petty officer, who has been running a defence academy for the past years in Rohtak, tells The Federal that he has never witnessed such helplessness in job aspirants. “They are under tremendous stress as their parents want them to get a job and share the family’s financial burden but they have no answers to give despite running for hours every day and for years. The ban on recruitment drives has not only impacted the aspiring youth from low-income group families but also the coaching industry.”

His coaching institute, he says, used to have 500-700 aspirants but now the strength has come down to only 100. “Since there are no job openings, there are no more jobseekers either,” says Dinesh.

The age requirement for base level jobs in Army, Air Force and Navy is 17.5 years to 21 years. For clerical jobs, the age relaxation is 23 years. Post that age, there is no entry for such posts where even a senior secondary pass can apply.

Dinesh says that while their recurring expenses are still the same, incomes have come down by about 70 per cent and they see a bleak future in the coaching industry.

“In 2019, we were a roaring success. Everything came to a standstill during the lockdown, but even after the lockdown aspirants did not turn up as the government stopped recruitments. The aspirants as well as coaching centres are anxiously waiting for a resumption of the process,” he adds.

According to AMS Defence Academy director Manish Kumar, the Army is the second-largest recruiter in India after the Indian Railways. There are two types of problems faced by defence sector aspirants. While some are waiting for recruitment drives to resume, there are others who have passed the written examination and completed other formalities but still don’t know if they will ever be able to join.

“The only option left with these aspirants is to try for state police constable jobs,” he adds.

Many are demanding the government to clear the air when the process of hiring would resume and whether those who have crossed the age barrier in the meantime be given any relaxation.

“The government needs to clarify whether the aspirants who lost their crucial time during the pandemic halt, would be given relaxation or not,” says Colonel (retired) Yogander Singh, who has penned Hal Wa Shamshir on the military history of Haryana.

Some source-based media reports have suggested that the Indian Army is likely to restart its recruitment process and a new recruitment policy called “tour of duty” to induct soldiers for short-term service is being finalised.

While the recruitment schedule is still being worked out, the enlistment rallies are expected to be conducted across the country from August to December.

Asked about when the drive is likely to reopen Indian Army public relations officer Col Sudhir Chamoli says, “A decision in this regard is being taken to address the issue. The details of the decision would be made public within two or three days.”

The “tour of duty” model envisages the recruitment of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) for four years. The four-year period is likely to include six months of training.

Soldiers recruited through normal processes serve for about 20 years before they retire in their late 30s with a pension but those inducted under the “tour of duty” programme are likely to be given a severance package of a couple of lakhs at the end of their four-year tenure. Some are likely to get an extension, depending on the need for personnel.

The army is currently short of around 1,25,000 soldiers in the PBOR cadre. The gap is said to be growing at the rate of more than 5,000 men every month. The PBOR category has an authorised strength of 1.2 million soldiers.

On the question of shortage, Col Chamoli adds, “Everything is being taken into consideration and details would be shared shortly.”

Although reassuring, Col Chamoli’s words still leave many questions unanswered that thousands like Jitendra and Sachin are waiting to know– a wait they feel has stretched them way beyond their limits.