Navy reworks personnel policy

The Navy wants a few good men and has reworked its policy to induct them as short commission officers. In an overhaul of its personnel polic...

The Navy wants a few good men and has reworked its policy to induct them as short commission officers. In an overhaul of its personnel policy, that was ratified at the Navy’s senior commander’s conference today, the Navy is also looking at qualified civilians to be commissioned.

Chief of Naval Staff Madhvendra Singh reportedly initiated the new policy with twin objectives. One, to make up for the nearly 10 per cent officer shortage (about 950 officers). Two, to recruit civilians with special skills for technology-intensive jobs. In this direction, it is desperately looking for people with commercial pilot licences. ‘‘We need them to fly our Dorniers and other aircraft and we are willing to recruit them directly,’’ said official sources.

For the technology-intensive Navy, the smallest of the three services in terms of personnel, the officer-shortage hurts. With new technologies being inducted, the Navy has also worked out a new personnel policy, taking into account its requirements till 2010. It is looking at detailed profiles of its officers and sailors and pen pictures of each person will be available at the click of a button. ‘‘It will be an exercise to help us plan for the next generation of officers and sailors as well as prepare them for the challenges ahead,’’ sources said.

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The only time that the Navy had briefly experimented with short service commission officers was in the aftermath of the 1962 border conflict with China. It soon gave them permanent commissions and discontinued with the experiment.

The Navy, with 140 ships, is looking to add another 60 ships, including three aircraft carriers and submarines.