No roll-back of Agnipath scheme, as forces announce schedule of inducting 1st batch of short-service soldiers

Vishal Thapar Jun 20, 2022

Amidst ongoing protests against the radical new recruitment scheme for soldiers, the armed forces on June 19 insisted that there would be no rollback in the Agnipath scheme which involves demobilizing 75 per cent of the recruits after a four-year tenure in military service. This demobilized cadre will not be eligible for pension and other welfare benefits given to regular cadre soldiers who serve at least 15 years.

A schedule for the first round of inductions under the new scheme in November-December this year was announced.

Addressing a press conference jointly with the chiefs of personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, Lt General Anil Puri, additional secretary in the Department of Military Affairs also warned that anybody taking part in ongoing violent protests against Agnipath would be disqualified from military service.

Between June 24 and July 1, the armed forces will begin the process of recruiting 46,000 ‘Agniveers’ on short service.

The Navy will be the first to induct Agniveers, including women in below officer ranks for the first time. t to its training establishment INS Chilka in Odisha on November 21. “By November 21, the first Agniveers will start reporting at INS Chilka (the Naval ratings training school in Odisha),” said Vice-Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, chief of personnel of the Indian Navy. The Navy will begin with recruiting about 3,000 personnel under the “transformational” programme.

After commencing the online examination process on July 24 for Phase-I, the IAF will enrol its first batch by December 2022, according to Air Officer Personnel Air Marshal SK Jha.

The Army’s Adjutant General, Lt General Ponappa said 83 recruitment rallies will be conducted across the country between August and November. The first batch of 25,000 will be enlisted by the first week of December. The second batch of 15,000 will be inducted in the first half of February 2023. All states will be covered under the recruitment process.

Agnipath intake will be scaled up from 46,000 in the first year to about 125,000 in about four years. “We start small, and will take 3-4 years to augment training to 1.25 lakh,” Lt General Puri said, suggesting that this will give the forces time to transition gradually before hitting full strength with the new programme

Air Marshal Jha concurred. “It’s a very engaged process…In the first year, we will have 2 per cent (Agniveers). In four years, the number will be 10 per cent (for the IAF),” he said.

Meanwhile, amidst continuing protests in eight states, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with the military brass for the second consecutive day on Sunday. The focus of these meetings was swift implementation of the Agnipath scheme.

Lt General Puri also read out the riot act to arsonists campaigning for a repeal of the Agnipath scheme. “Discipline is the foundation of the armed forces. There’s no space for indiscipline,” he said. Enlistment would be subject to police verification of a declaration in the enrolment form that the applicant is not associated with any act of arson, he said.

“The mandatory and time-tested police verification will weed out youngsters named in FIRs and caught on videos and photographs, along with proper Aadhaar verification. “Nobody can join without police verification,” Lt-Gen Puri said.

He blamed “inimical elements and coaching centres” preparing youth for military recruitment for inciting protests against the scheme. “On June 14, the Government announced commencement of recruitment process for 10.5 lakh Government job.

He also maintained that various incentives for 75 per cent military recruits to be demobilised after four-year tenures were not being announced under duress or with the intention to quell protests. These (concessions) were planned in advance,” he said. These include 10 per cent reservation in central armed police forces (CAPFs), Assam Rifles, Coast Guard and 16 defence PSUs.

Lt General Puri said it would take time for other forms of employment guarantees and quotas to be committed.

Lt-Gen Puri insisted the Agnipath scheme was meant to make the 14-lakh strong armed forces “younger” and “more tech savvy” for futuristic wars, which was an “aspiration” of the military since 1989. He cited the Kargil Review Committee and the Arun Singh Committee reports as systemic recommendations for such a step. “

“Age is a worrisome factor. The average age in the military is 32 years. We want to bring it down to 26. That is the only objective (of the Agnipath scheme), to make the armed forces younger,” he said.

“It is the only progressive step to make the armed forces young. We want an ideal mix of ‘josh’ (youth) and ‘hosh’ (experience),” he said.

Lt. General Puri said the pause in military recruitment for the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic had provided “a golden opportunity” to usher in the Agnipath scheme. “Khuda (God) and nature gave us an opportunity,” he said.

He also sought to emphasise that Agnipath was a well-thought-out move. “It’s a longstanding need. The Chiefs of the armed forces have been working on this for the last two years. Foreign models have also been studied,” he said.