Agnipath Scheme: Features, Benefits and Concerns

The Agnipath scheme recruits personnel below officer rank into the armed forces for a fixed term, with a proportion retained for longer service. It seeks a younger force and lower long-term personnel costs while raising questions about training, retention, welfare and post-service employment.

Context:

• India unilaterally announced Agnipath scheme without consulting Nepal and this has led to the shrinking of Gorkha regiments in the army.

About:

• Agneepath scheme is a central government scheme launched in 2022.
• Under the scheme, Indian youth can join the Indian Army for four years and will be able to serve the country.
• This is a pan-India scheme so any Indian youth can apply for this job and join the Indian Army.

The broad objectives of the Scheme are:

• To enhance youthful profile of the Armed Forces so that they are at their fighting best at all times with increased risk taking ability.
• To attract young talent from the society to effectively exploit, adopt and use emerging modern technologies with enhanced technical thresholds of intake while leveraging Technical Institutions of the country.
• To provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to serve the Nation in uniform albeit for a short period of time.
• To imbibe The Armed Forces ethos, cotzraye, camaraderie, commitment and teamwork in the youth.
• To provide abilities and qualities such as discipline, dynamism, motivation and work-skills so that the youth remains an asset.

Eligibility:

• Candidates between the age of5 years to 21 yearswill be eligible for enrolling in the Agnipath scheme.

Key features of the scheme:

• It’s a Pan India married-based recruitment system. That means anyone from anywhere in India can apply for this job.
• It’s a four-years tenure job.
• Opportunity to serve in the armed forces as Agniveers.
• Attractive monthly emoluments and handsome Seva Nidhi package.
• 100% opportunity to apply for permanent enrollment.
• Enrollment model based on Agneepath scheme.
• Based on organizational requirements, 25% of Agniveers selected based on a Central, transparent, rigorous system, after 4 years.
• Under this scheme, the youth will get an annual package of 4.76 lakh in the first year.
• 4th year of their serving time the annual package will be increased to 6.9 to lakh.
• After the 4 years of service, the service fund of rupees 11.7 lakh will be given to the youth.
• This money will be totally tax-free. Apart from this other risk and hardship allowance will also be available.
• In total, this is a good package for youth to serve their four years in the army.

Benefits of the scheme:

• The scheme would be a win win situation for the Armed Forces, Nation, individuals and the society at large.

Nation:

• National Integration based in unity in diversity with equal opportunity to youth including women from all regions.
• Nation Building through empowered, disciplined & skilled youth with military ethos in civil society.

Armed Forces:

• Improved battle preparedness through transformative evolution with energetic, fitter, diverse, more trainable and resilient youth suited to the changing dynamics.
• Selection of the Best with rigorous and transparent selection process.
• Youthful Profile by optimal balance of youth & experience.
• Endeavour to Harness benefits of SKILL INDIA by induction from Tech Institutes.

Individuals:

• Opportunity for Youth to fulfil dream of joining the Armed Forces and serve the Nation.
• Imbibe military discipline, motivation, skill and physical fitness.
• Smooth integration into society with skill sets, certification and diplomas/ higher education/credits.
• Good financial package making him more stable than his civilian counterparts.
• Confident & better citizens by military training, team building, ethos & camaraderie forged over the years.
• Resume so unique that an Agniveer will stand out in the crowd.

Syllabus: PrelimsNational Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners to form a government, two allies of the BJP said on Thursday that the new government should review the Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitments to the armed forces.

THE AGNIPATH SCHEME

The Agnipath scheme was announced on June 14, 2022, and is in force with the initial batch of Agniveers, already inducted in armed forces units after completion of their recruit training. IS THIS SUCCESSFUL? There are certain apprehensions related to Physical fitness, Organisational solidarity, etc but as of now the initial feedback on Agniveers from the units in terms of motivation levels, intelligence, physical standards is by and large positive. AGNIPATH SCHEME It is a major defence policy reform pertaining to Human Resource policy of the three Services.

• Idea of a short-term recruitment model or ‘Tour of Duty’ (ToD) was first mooted around two years back for the selection of officers and jawans, for a limited number of vacancies.
• Youth (from 17.5 years to 23 age group) selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers who will be enrolled for a period of four years. They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces, different from any other existing ranks.
• Upon the completion of four years of service, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces. (Up to 25% of each specific batch will be enrolled in regular cadre based on objective criteria including performance during their four-year engagement period.)

PAY PACKAGE OF AGNIVEERS

30% of monthly pay will go in the Seva Nidhi. This amount will be reimbursed (with interest) at the end of 4 years period. (Accumulation of 10.04 lakhs, but disbursement of 11.71 lakhs)

CONCERNS

• Building cohesion: Time period for Agnipath is too short to build cohesion as it is built over a long period of living, training and experiencing rigours of field/operations/high altitude/counter-insurgency tenures together.
• Might not attract best candidates: As they are likely to apply for more permanent avenues like police or paramilitary forces first. This might result in young aspirants opting for the army as second or third choice.
• Unfair to the potential recruit: As the absence of a continued employment guarantee at the expiry of four years when he’s still in his 20s and without the skillsets or credentials required to thrive in the civilian/corporate world, could be demoralizing.
• Less training time: It reportedly takes two to three years to train a member of the army, but as a part of the Agnipath scheme, soldiers will only be trained for six months.
• Potentially militarize the society: With their ambitions of serving in the military for a full 15 years, frustrated and unemployed, the demobilised Agniveers could fall prey to the lure of crime syndicates and radical political outfits.

GLOBAL PRACTICES IN THIS CONTEXT

• Russian military is a hybrid format combining a traditional cadre-and-reserve conscript system (includes one year of training and one year of service) and a contract-professional system.
• In Israel period of active-duty conscript is 32 months for men and 24 months for women, followed by a decades-long period of compulsory reserve duty.
• For French soldiers there are two types of enlistment: 1 year contract or 3-5 years contract (both renewable)

Context:

• Recently the Chief of Army Staff reiterated that the final framework in Agnipath scheme came about after an iterative process, after consultations, and it took into account whatever issues we had to put across.

About the scheme:

• It is a central government scheme which is launched in 2022.
• Under this, Indian youth can join the Indian Army for four years and will be able to serve the nation.
• This is a pan-India scheme which means any Indian youth can apply for this job and join the Indian Army.
• The age limit to enrol in the scheme is from5 years to 21 years.
• Under this scheme, the youth will get an annual package of about 4.76 lakh in the first year.
• By 4th year of their serving time the annual package will be increased to 6.9 to lakh.
• After the 4 years of service, the service fund of rupees 11.7 lakh will be given to the Agniveer.
• This money will be totally tax-free. Besides this other risk and hardship allowance will also be available.
• In total, this is a good package for youth to serve their four years in the army.
• Based on organisational requirement and policies promulgated by the respective Armed Forces, Agniveers after completing their engagement period, will be given an opportunityto apply for enrolment in the permanent cadre.
• Of these up to about 25% of Agniveers will be selected to be enrolled in the Armed Forces as a regular cadre.
• The scheme envisages providing opportunity to the youth to serve in the military for short duration of time.
• The scheme will lead to a much more youthful and technically adept war fighting forceby ensuring a fine balance between youthful and experienced personnel in the Armed Forces.

WHAT IS AGNIPATH SCHEME ?

• It s a scheme of Indian Armed forces in which selected candidates will be enrolled as AGNIVEERS for 4 years in non-officer ranks.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHEME:

• To attract young talent from the society to effectively exploit, adopt and use emerging modern technologies.
• To provide armed forces ethos, courage, camaraderie and teamwork in youth.
• To reduce the military expenditure in pensions and other benefits which are non-capital based.

BENEFITS OF THE SCHEME:

For Armed forces-

• Youthful profile by optimal balance of youth and experience.
• Improved battle preparedness with energetic, diverse, trained and resilient youth.
• It will create good reserves of combat ready soldiers for future.

For Nation –

• National Integration based on unity in diversity with equal opportunities to youth and women from all regions.
• No commitment of pension and other retirement benefits to recruits will provide government an extra leverage to focus on other social development schemes.

For Individual –

• Opportunity for youth to fulfill the dream of joining armed forces.
• Good financial package make individual stable.
• Confident and better citizen by military training, ethos and camaraderie forged over the years.

CONCERNS WITH THE SCHEME:

• Many military experts are of the opinion that shorter duration service of 4 years could compromise on training, morale and commitment in comparison to the permanent soldiers.
• Agniveers may have to face hardships in getting employment after 4 years of service.
• Many critics also argued that the scheme may lead to possible militarisation of society and rise in crime rates if the outgoing agniveers did not get suitable employment after 4 years.
• Agnipath scheme lacks pension and other retirement facilities for recruits.

Syllabus : Prelims + Mains; GS2 – Governance

Why This Topic Matters for UPSC

• Prelims: Revise definitions, institutions, locations, reports and factual features connected with Agnipath Scheme: Features, Benefits and Concerns.
• Mains: Link the topic with Defence, Government Schemes, Human Resources and organise the answer under background, significance, challenges and way forward.
• Interview: Explain the issue in balanced language and distinguish verified facts from opinion.

Key Takeaway

The Agnipath scheme recruits personnel below officer rank into the armed forces for a fixed term, with a proportion retained for longer service. It seeks a younger force and lower long-term personnel costs while raising questions about training, retention, welfare and post-service employment.