New Army training academy to open in Gaya next month

The new OTA will be in addition to the existing academy at Chennai and will also help Army increase its officer cadre base, Army officials told reporters here.

The new OTA will start with the training of 135 officers and in the next two years, begin training its full strength of over 700 Short Service Commission (SSC) officers in the next two years, they said.

The Army is facing a shortage of 12,349 officers against its sanctioned strength of around 46,500 officers and is also looking to increase the number of officers to meet the new security requirements on both fronts.

The nod for the new OTA at Gaya was given two years ago by the Central Government and work had started at its existing Army Services Corps training centre to convert it into the training institution.

The ASC centre is now moving to Bangalore.

Recently, Defence Minister A K Antony had said the shortfall was partly attributed to accretions from time to time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in recruitment and training.

A number of steps have been taken by the Government to attract youth to join the armed forces, which include increase in tenure of SSC officers from 10 to 14 years, increasing promotional avenues for officers by restructuring of officer cadre.

As part of its efforts to provide more promotional avenues for the Permanent Commission officers, the armed forces have also decided to increase the intake of SSC officers.