Nod for second Army officers training academy

The academy,which will be the first officers training institution set up for the Army in 24 years,will be used exclusively to train Short Service Commission (SSC) officers. With a shortage of over 11,000 officers,the Army is looking at inducting more SSC officers to fill vacancies especially at the junior and middle ranks.

The Army wants to gradually increase the intake of SSC officers to reduce gaps. In the future,the Army plans to have a ratio of two SSC officers for every permanent commission officer. At present,the Chennai-based OTA trains over 500 officers annually.

The new academy will have a 600-acre campus in Gaya which was earlier the location of the Army Service Corps (North) Centre. The ASC centre has now been moved to Bangalore to make way for the new academy. Additional training facilities and accommodation will now come up on the campus.

With the new academy,the Army will have three officers training institutions,including the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun that trains close to 1,000 officers.