What is Agnipath Scheme?
What is Agneepath Scheme? Agnipath Scheme (also spelled Agneepath Scheme) (Hindi: Agnīpath Yojanā, transl. Agnipath Scheme) is a tour of duty style scheme approved by the Government of India on 14 June 2022, for recruitment of soldiers below the rank of commissioned officers into the three services of the armed forces. All recruits will be hired only for a four year period. Personnel recruited under this system are to be called Agniveers (transl. Fire-Warriors), which will be a new military rank. The introduction of the scheme has been criticised for lack of consultation and public debate. The scheme was implemented in September 2022.
This scheme will bypass many things including long tenures, pension and other benefits which were there in old system. Opposition parties in India have criticised and expressed concerns about the consequences of the new scheme. They have asked the scheme to be put on hold and that the scheme be discussed in the Parliament.
On 16 June 2022, violent protests erupted in several states in India where the army aspirants angry with the new scheme called for its rollback and damaged public property. By 17 June, 12 trains were set on fire, and the movement of 300 trains were affected. 214 trains were cancelled, 12 trains were diverted, and 90 were terminated short of their destination. At least 1 person was killed in the protests.
Recruitment in the Indian Army under Modi Govt
Year Soldiers
2015–16 71,804
2016–17 52,447
2017–18 50,026
2018–19 53,431
2019–20 80,572
2020–21 0
2021–22 0
2022–23 0
2023-24 13,000
Background
Prior to the introduction of the scheme, soldiers were recruited into the armed forces on a 15+ year tenure with lifelong pension.From 2019, no recruitment in the armed forces was done for three years. The Indian Government cited COVID-19 pandemic in India for this. Meanwhile 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers continued to retire annually, leading to a personnel shortage that had begun to affect the operational capabilities of the armed forces.
In 2020 a ‘Tour of duty‘ scheme was proposed for voluntary recruitment into the forces for civilians to enable them to join for three years of short service The proposed scheme was on a trial basis and was planned to start with a test group of 100 officers and 1000 soldiers.
The scheme has been taken to be named after “Agnipath” a Hindi poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan and a popular 1990 film of the same name based on the poem.
Overview
The Agnipath scheme was approved by the Indian Government in June 2022 to be implemented from September 2022. The announcement was done on June 14, 2022. The scheme is for both male and female aspirants of age group 17.5 to 21 years. In the midst of widespread protests against the scheme, the Central Government raised the upper limit from 21 to 23, but only for recruitment in the year 2022.] The recruitment through this scheme is to be twice a year for the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The posts available are below the officer cadre. The Agnipath Scheme is the only route to serve in the military.
The recruits named Agniveers serve for a tenure of four years that include training for six months followed by 3.5 years deployment. After retirement from the service, they will have the opportunity to apply to continue in the armed forces. Not more than 25 percent of the total strength of the retiring batch will be selected for the permanent cadrerd Personnel who retire after 4 years of service will not be eligible for pension, but will receive a lump sum amount of approximately ₹11.71 lakh at the end of tenure. The Indian government plans to recruit 45,000 to 50,000 new personnel every year through this scheme. In September 2022, 46,000 youngsters are planned to be recruited through the scheme.
On July 17, 2022, Jammu and Kashmir‘s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced a 10% reservation in Jammu and Kashmir Police service for those who retire after serving in the military under the Agnipath scheme.