Gujarat is witnessing a gradual rise in the number of residents joining the armed forces.
According to figures given in the Rajya Sabha on March 15 by the Ministry of Defence, Gujarat ranks 16th in the number of citizens signing up for the military. As per the records, there are 22,417 Gujaratis in the army, 1,258 in the Air Force and 625 in the Navy. This is in comparison to Uttar Pradesh, which has 1.67 lakh people in the army, giving it the first rank.
In Gujarat, 4,583 youths were recruited in the army between 2018 and 2020. During this period, 22,860 people from Uttar Pradesh, 18,107 people from Punjab and 16,054 people from Rajasthan joined the army. A total of 1.86 lakh youth were recruited for the military between 2018 and 2020. Gujarat accounts for 2% of the total recruitment. The government had given this information in the Lok Sabha on August 4.
The number of ex-servicemen in the state stands at 31,878. Ahmedabad district has the highest number of 6,288 veterans, followed by 4,785 in Vadodara district, 1,927 in Aravalli, 1,913 in Jamnagar, 1,852 in Sabarkantha, 1,242 in Gandhinagar, 1,197 in Mehsana and 1,157 in Rajkot. Most veterans work as security guards in banks.
More than 25 Gujaratis have been martyred at the border in the defence of the country. It is worth noting that aNavsari resident CA Peethawala, who rose from Second Lieutenant to Major General and was honoured with the Ashoka Chakra.
