“I sincerely feel the defence services and scientists, considering what they can get outside, are not getting adequate compensation,” Antony said at the sidelines of a defence function on Wednesday. Referring to the Sixth Pay Commission, Antony said a ‘new deal’ would be unveiled for the services this year.

The Defence Minister’s statement gains significance after it come to light that Indian officers were earning just half of what their counterparts in Pakistan get—that, even with discounting the numerous perks given to military officers in the neighboring country (See box). This huge disparity, plus the wide gap in service salaries and corporate salaries, has been cited as major reasons for the declining number of ‘quality’ youth lining up to join the army.

While the Indian Military Academy’s (IMA) strength sunk to a new low this year with just 86 cadets joining a batch meant to train 250 young officers, the Army insists that the trend has remained so for the past few years and is only likely to dip in the future. “The last time a full batch was inducted into the IMA was in 1993. Since then, all batches have been going under strength. In the past two years, there were shortfalls of 40-60 cadets per batch,” a senior army officer said.

With the Sixth Pay Commission around the corner, the Army has pinned its hopes on better pay packages that will attract talent to the organisation. “Of late, deficiencies in the ranks of Majors have become a major cause of concern with the continuous demand for junior leaders in the counter insurgency environment. Counter insurgency units have deficiencies of almost 40 per cent,” a senior officer said.