Agnipath Scheme

Published on 07 Feb 2025

Agnipath is a short-term recruitment model to bring more youth to the Armed forces. Youth between the ages of 17.5 to 23 will be enrolled for 4 years. After this period 25% of the Agniveers will be enrolled in the regular cadre. This revolutionary move by the government has been a subject of discussion in recent times.

Arguments in favour of Agnipath 

• Impact on nation

• Improve quality of armed force: The addition of energetic, diverse, resilient youths indicates evolution within the force which suits well the changing dynamics. 

• Younger demographic profile: Centre has stated that the goal of the Agnipath scheme is to evolve a young combat force that is physically and mentally capable of meeting the new challenges.

• Example: The Centre told the High Court that among Indian soldiers, 31% are in the 30 -40 age group while 15% are in the 40 - 50 groups

• Social transformation: Agniveer recruits who receive training will be more disciplined which aids in transforming this discipline and patriotism to the society.

• Reduce manpower cost: This enables the diversion of funds to more critical procurement and defence indigenization drives.

• Example: India’s revenue expenditure on defence is around 2.7 lakh crore with 1.38 lakh crore for pensions (for the Financial Year 2023-24). This reduces capital spending.

• Impact on Agniveer

• Better values: Agniveers will be better disciplined, motivated and physically fit and thus turn into better assets.

• Better job prospect in future: Government has already brought reservation for agriveers in Central Armed Police Force and certain posts in Railways.

• Example: The Railway Board has decided to give 15% reservation for retired agniveers.

• Example: Government decided to grant 10% reservation for agniveer in CAPF.

• Financial package: The retired Agniveers are offered a  decent financial benefit and insurance coverage to ensure their financial security.

• Example: After the 4 years, one-time Seva Nidhi package of 11.71 lakhs will be paid to the Agniveers.

• Example: 48 lakh insurance cover for the four years.

• Better social integration: These agniveers will develop social empathy and have better opportunities to integrate with society.

• Other positives

• International experience: Such a hybrid system has already been tried and tested in many major nations and has turned out to be a success

• Example: France has a contract-based recruitment either getting recruited for 1 year or a period of 3 to 5 years.

• Female participation: Women are also recruited as agniveers, thus enable more gender parity in the force.

• Example: As per PIB, Women constitute just 3.97% of Indian army, 6% of Navy and 13.69% of Airforce.

Concerns regarding Agnipath

• Short time frame: The training and serving period is too short for the inductees to integrate into the system and build cohesion with the force.

• Absence of continued employment: Only 25% of the Agniveers will be given regular employment. This threatens the future of the remaining candidates.

• Might not attract best candidates: The most talented candidates might not opt due to the temporary nature of the scheme.

• Untested: There has been no independent study or pilot project being conducted to test the viability of the scheme.

• Potentially militarize the society: Agniveers have already received military training and the possibility of unemployment in future could induce them to radical outfits.

• Affect regional balance: As the recruitment is made at all India level, there is a chance that recruitment will be dominated by northern states.

• Division within force: There is a chance that the permanent members of the force discriminate against the Agniveers, which affects the internal cohesion.

Way forward

• More regular recruits: Extending the provision of regular employment to around 50% of the recruits.

• Innovative training: Reduced training period needs to be offset by focussed and innovative methods of training.

• Build solidarity: Due care to ensure that the scheme does not affect the regimental ethos of the Indian army.

• More merit-based selection: Educational qualification can be raised which makes recruitment more merit based. Also joining after completing a degree would ensure a more secure career after the four years.

• Better incentives; Bring more provisions to incentivize the scheme, like health coverage to family, skilling programmes after retirement etc.

The Agniveer project has been a revolutionary measure to remodel the armed force. Though the scheme has many benefits, there also exist major concerns which cannot be overlooked. Some of these suggested measures must be incorporated to make the scheme more beneficial to the nation and society.

Tags:
Security

Keywords:
Agnipath Internal security National security architecture Agniveer

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 3

Topics:
Internal Security