(Representational Image) (Representational Image) Major General Jagatbir Singh, Director General, Directorate General Resettlement (DGR), Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, on Saturday said that in the last two years 50,000 ex-servicemen had been provided with new jobs through DGR, achieving 83 per cent placement compared to the 60,000 defence personnel who retire every year. DGR is a tri-services arm of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Speaking at the HR Conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Ahmedabad, Major General Singh said, “Every year we have been placing 40,000-45,000 people in security agencies. This is on a contract for one year,” while the rest of the placements happen in the private sector, state and central governments. He added, “On Friday, itself we placed 4,100 people in Odisha, which includes 3,500 in Mahanadi Coal Field Limited (a miniratna subsidiary of Coal India Limited), but this is an exception.” He said that the people had been recruited in Odisha for the posts of security guards, JCOs (Junior Commissioner Officers) and ORs (Other ranks) personnel. “In Delhi we have 798 Mother Dairy booths operated entirely by ex-servicemen. These are state government initiatives,” the official said adding that he was looking towards Gujarat’s thriving private sector to provide jobs to ex-servicemen. He added that there was a backlog as well with 3.1 million pensioners. When asked if there were a database with the the details of ex-servicemen requiring jobs across the country, Major General Singh said that no such database existed, calling it the biggest challenge. He said, “Right now the database is maintained in the three wings of the armed forces.” He said that the DGR had been unable to collate data on jobs given to ex-servicemen so far through job-fairs organised in collaboration with CII since 2014. Speaking at the conclave titled ‘HR in the Digital Age’, Major General Singh explained that the average age of people exiting the armed forces is 42 years. “Eleven percent leave between the age of 35 to 40. About 50 percent leave before they are 45,” he said adding that the challenge faced by the personnel exiting at the age of 42 was a small pension and the added responsibility of children who were young, or attending either school or college. “Bulk of the people who are ex-servicemen (70 per cent) belong to the northern states of J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarkhand, Himachal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,” Major General Singh said. “However, the bulk of the jobs or industry are located in western, southern or eastern India,” he added. The DGR is also involved in helping retiring officers go through a 24-week management course at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. “About 60-odd officers go through this course every year. Apart from IIM-A, we also have officers being trained in places like XLRI Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Indore. As far as our JCOs and ORs are concerned, they are being trained in several central and state government institutes apart from those institutes recognised by the National Skill Development Corporation,” he added. For all the latest Cities News, download Indian Express App

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