Factors Leading to Premature Retirement among the Officers Serving in the Indian Army

Abstract

The Indian Army (IA) along with the Indian Navy (IN) & the Indian Air Force (IAF) is the instrument of national power totally committed to safeguard the territorial integrity of the nation. It is having a rich & great saga of valour & fortitude and has relentlessly proven its worth both in peace & war. Officer’s cadre is primarily responsible to ensure the operational preparedness of the organisation which involves imparting the highest standard of training to the soldiers & to ensure the highest standard of equipment maintenance. IA is currently battling the twin problem of attracting officers at the functional level and high attrition rate at experienced (middle) level. Hence this research paper aims to study the factors which influence the officers to opt for premature retirement, thereby contributing to the high attrition rate. Questionnaire has been prepared after going through various policies in vogue related to the officer’s management and tried to deduce the factors which are largely responsible for the attrition of the experienced officers. Principal information for research was obtained both from the officers who have already taken pre-mature retirement and also from the officers who are having more than 18 years of service to make the research more realistic. The endeavour was made to obtain response from a wide section of the officers representing the cross-functional stream of combat arms & services having diverse educational background. Responses have been obtained through the survey conducted via e-questionnaire. Responses received have been analysed using descriptive understanding & Quantitative Analysis. Analysis was done using statistical software (SPSS). Factor analysis was undertaken to reduce the variables into factors.