Compulsory Military Training to Youths and Able Bodied Citizens

Compulsory Military Training to Youths and Able Bodied Citizens

Government of India is not in favour of making military training compulsory to all the youth of the country due to the following reasons:-

India is a democratic Republic and the Constitution does not provide for compulsory military training. In our democratic set up, people are free to choose their professions. Compulsion in respect of Military Training, it is felt, would go against the democratic ethos.

Military training to all the youth of the country may also lead to militarisation of an entire nation. With our socio-political and economic conditions, it is highly undesirable, lest some of the unemployed youth trained in military skills join the ranks of the undesirable elements.

Armed Forces in India have a large number of volunteers to draw upon and there is no problem in getting adequate numbers of volunteer recruits. All the youth of the country, therefore, do not compulsorily need to be given military training.

Training all the youth in the country would require establishment of a very large number of training centers, with the necessary wherewithal, all over the country and would involve huge expenditure in their maintenance and upkeep. The likely benefits of imparting military training to all the youth will not be commensurate with the expenditure involved in such an effort. This would translate into an unmanageable figure and will also be a big drain on limited resources of a developing country.

The proposals received during the last five years and action taken by the Government on each proposal is as under:-

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Ishwar Singh in Rajya Sabha yesterday.