Posted on 03/31/2010 3:57:55 PM PDT by myknowledge
India and the United States, both have volunteer armed forces of about the same size. But India, with more than three times the population, has a hard time attracting sufficient new recruits. The U.S. has more recruits than it needs, while India has shortages. The reasons are partly economic, and partly due to a high number of illiterates (about 39 percent of the population) in India. In the United States, the military pay is competitive with the civilian economy. In India it is not, at least for the kind of people (literate and healthy) the military is looking for. In the last two decades, the Indian economy has been booming, and the kind of people the army used to go after, are taking better paying, and less arduous, jobs in the civilian sector.
While the army has a hard time, for the more technical air force and navy, the situation is much worse. These services insist on recruits having the equivalent of the American high school education (much less common in India), with heavy emphasis on science, including familiarity with computers. The screening process takes two or three days, which consists of written and physical exams. If you make it, the initial enlistment is for ten years. The basic training is rough, and not everyone makes it.
The shortages are worse for officers, with India only able to obtain about 80 percent of needs. The reason is the same as for the enlisted troops; better civilian career opportunities. But the Indians have wisely maintained their high entrance standards, and have been increasing the defense budget enough to make officer pay more competitive. This problem will not go away, and as the civilian economy grows, the number of people willing to volunteer for military service will continue to decline unless the pay and benefits get competitive.
Well, they should offer a year of literacy training and health care. They should get plenty of sign ups that way.
Why must I solve all the world’s problems?
I saw it reported that 70% of the young people would not qualify for armed forces. Obesity,drugs and trouble with the law.If true we are in trouble.
They are going to need a big millitary in a decade or two.... Believe it.
>>I saw it reported that 70% of the young people would not qualify for armed forces.
***
And those same 70% are in customer service for Dell, HP, Paypal, Verizon, and Norton.
Don’t you just love to get a phone call from them. More then once I have asked “Please talk slower. I’m from Arkansas. LOL
If you didn’t, then I would have too.
I do consultant work for an anti-virus company here in L.A. and it has it’s own Indian and Philippine call centers...
The names of the Indian call center managers are Parikshit’ and Buttram (I am NOT kidding). One of the senior guys there is whom we call the “pimp’. This dude was so freakin smooth he could sell $400 upgrade plans over the phone with ease.
Indian Supreme Court slamming the govt:
Stop treating army men like 'beggars', SC to govt
PTI, Apr 1, 2010, 06.33pm IST
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has slammed the union government for treating army personnel like "beggars" in respect of emoluments and pension and asked the authorities to adopt a more "humane approach" towards those bravely defending the country's borders.
"If a person goes to any part of Delhi and sits for begging, he will earn Rs 1000 every day and you are offering a pittance of Rs 1000 per month for a man who fought for the country in the high altitudes and whose arm was amputated?
"Is this the way you treat those brave army officers? It is unfortunate that you are treating them like beggars," a bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and A K Patnaik said in verbal comments while passing the order.
The apex court passed the order dismissing the Centre's appeal challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court direction to pay higher pension to C S Siddu, a Short Commissioned Officer whose right arm had to be amputated due to an accident while on duty at the high altitudes on November November 21, 1970.
"The army personnel are bravely defending the country even at the cost of their lives and we feel they should be treated in a better and more humane manner by government authorities, particularly, in respect of their emoluments, pension and other benefits," the bench said in an order.
There was an element of drama in the court when Additional Solicitor General Parag Tripathi pleaded with the court not to use "strong words" in the order like "beggars," "niggardly" "miserly", following which the bench dropped them from the written order.
"We regret to say that the army officers and army men in our country are being treated in a shabby manner by the government. In this case, the respondent,(Sidhu) who was posted at a high altitude field area and met with an accident during discharge of his duties was granted a meagre pension. This is a pittance (about Rs 1000) per month plus D.A.
"If this is the manner in which the army personnel are treated, it can only be said that it is extremely unfortunate," the bench however, noted in its written order.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Stop-treating-army-men-like-beggars-SC-to-govt/articleshow/5751612.cms
1000 Rs = $20! A man who lost his arm in the line of duty gets paid $20/month of pension. Do you expect young men and women to sacrifice their lives when you are treated like this?
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