Ground Report | New Delhi: Highest number of army in India; Himachal Pradesh has the highest per capita recruitment with 420 recruits/1 Million Population between the years 2017 to 2019, while the figure is the lowest for Goa with 4 recruits/1 Million Population.
Gujarat sent roughly 16 men for every 10 lakh of Gujaratis. By comparison, the army recruited 28 men for every 10 lakh of people in Uttar Pradesh, a whopping 271 men for every 10 lakh in Uttarakhand, and 174 men for every 10 lakh in Punjab. Himachal Pradesh topped the table with 402 men for every 10 lakh.
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Recruitment in 2018-19 and 2019-20
Haryana, Bihar, and Rajasthan, which are among the top contributors to the military, have been rocked by protests. A look at Army recruitment, using data the Defense Army shared with parliament in February and March this year, reveals high recruitment in some of the areas now hit by violence.
In 2018-19 total Recruitment was 53,431
In 2019-20 total Recruitment was 80,572
S.No | State | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bihar | 2199 | 4,559 | 6758 |
2 | Haryana | 3210 | 5,097 | 8307 |
3 | Delhi | 167 | 337 | 504 |
4 | Telangana | 693 | 1445 | 2,138 |
5 | Jammu and Kashmir | 3672 | 3796 | 7468 |
6 | Madhya Pradesh | 1570 | 3103 | 4673 |
7 | Rajasthan | 4172 | 6887 | 11059 |
8 | Jharkhand | 663 | 985 | 1648 |
9 | Uttar Pradesh | 6322 | 8425 | 14747 |
10 | Uttarakhand | 3222 | 4366 | 7588 |
11 | West Bengal | 1471 | 3166 | 4637 |
12 | Assam | 631 | 1152 | 1783 |
Highest number of army in India
The infographic shows the number of people recruited by the Army from 2017 to 2019 per 10 Lakh population. The infographic is based on the response given by the Ministry of Defence.
The recruitment of Gujaratis in the army is very less. Between 2015 and 2018, Gujarat, including Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, and Diu, sent just 3,199 soldiers to the army. In comparison, there were 22,712 vacancies in Uttar Pradesh, 10,134 in Uttarakhand, and 14,657 in Punjab. Gujarat, however, was far ahead of Meghalaya, which sent 302 men to the army in the same period, and Tripura, which had 1,370 recruits.
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand continue to send relatively more men to the army, it is because the Rajputs dominate their population. They represent almost 33 percent of the population of Himachal Pradesh and 35 percent of that of Uttarakhand. Columnist Aakar Patel cites the propensity of the British to recruit people from martial careers as one of the reasons for Gujarat's lack of enthusiasm for joining the military. (Highest number of army in India)
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The largest component of the army, the Punjab Regiment, the Dogra Regiment, the Sikh Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry, the Jammu and Kashmir Regiment, the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, and the Ladakh Scouts bring their men out of this region. Soldiers from these states also make up a considerable portion of other weapons and services.
The army currently has 11,51,726 soldiers against an authorized strength of 12,29,559, facing a shortfall of 77,833 men in the ranks. As far as officers other than medical stream officers are concerned, the current holding is 42,959 against the authorized 50,806.
Since July 18, 2015, the recruitment process has been shifted from an 'open rally system' to online registration by candidates, in which applications are invited from the candidates and then called in batches for further screening. Contenders can apply online to register themselves for participating in the Recruitment Rally and hence, the venue of the rally does not have any significant impact on the numbers recruited from a particular location as all the eligible candidates are available on the website of the Directorate of Recruitment. You can apply online at www.joinindianarmy.nic.in).
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