Agnipath Scheme and its Features

The Agnipath scheme was in news for a very long period. There were a lot of protests in many regions of India against this scheme as the scheme is about reducing the tenure of Defense recruits. This scheme is very important to form exam perspective because this scheme is consistently in news. Students need to point out every important point related to this scheme so that they will be able to solve the question coming from the scheme.

Agnipath Scheme :

• The government recently announced a new Agnipath program to recruit soldiers for three services.
  
• A new Defense Recruitment Reform approved by the Cabinet Security Committee will go into effect immediately, and soldiers recruited under the program will be called Agniveers. 
  
• Under the new program, about 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited each year, most of whom will retire in just four years.
  
• Out of the total annual recruits, only 25% will be taken to maintain permanent employment for another 15 years.
  
• This move will significantly reduce defence spending, which has long been a major concern of governments.
  

Recruitment Criteria :

• The new system applies only to officers and below (those not enlisted in the military as non-commissioned officers).
  
• The Agnipath program is open to applicants between the ages of 17.5 and 21 years.
  
• Recruitment criteria remain the same and they are recruited twice a year through rallies.
  

Benefits :

1. Training and appropriate salary: After selection, you will be employed for 3 and a half years after 6 months of training. During this period, they receive a starting salary of Rs 30,000 and additional benefits that increase to Rs 40,000 by the end of four years of service.

2. Seva Nidhi Programme: During this period, 30% of your salary will be set aside as part of the Seva Nidhi Program. The government will pay you the same amount each month plus accruing interest.  At the end of four years, each soldier receives a tax-exempt lump sum of Rs 117,100.

3. Insurance: Life insurance of 48,00,000  for 4 years is also available. The payouts in case of death, including the payouts for his non-pension tenure, will cost him over Rs 1 crore. 

4. Filtered by Career Progression: After 4 years, only 25% of the group will be employed by each service for 15 years. If re-elected, his first four years will not be eligible for a pension.

5. Lower median age: The current median military age is 32, but plans call for it to drop to 26 in 6-7 years.

6. Youthful Troops: Younger Troops allow them to be easily trained for new technology. Additionally, It further improves the quality of defence forces.

7. Grant Employable Skills: The government has also improved employment opportunities, stating that these soldiers will be able to obtain employment in a variety of fields based on the skills and experience acquired during their four years of service. 

Major Concerns:

1. The intent of the bill: Politically, it is being promoted by the ruling party as a job creation program that conflicts with its original intention to cut salaries and pensions bills.  As such, there are political objections that the program is unfair to recruits and impacts the military’s ability to meet the security threats facing the country.

2. A change of the status quo that worked: Veterans were very critical and this plan was the main motivation for this fight, a tried and true caste/religion/region-based regiment system, and units and subunits. I knew it would disrupt the bond between us.

3. Must Be Part of Overall Reform: Unfortunately, the program is a reform decision, with a holistic transformation of the military, a proven strategic review process, and a formal national security strategy.  It is separate from design and defence policy. This program should also be linked with other reforms related to human resource management based on staff optimization/reduction and restructuring/restructuring. 

4. Not attractive enough to succeed: A successful short-term engagement program must adhere to two principles. First, it must be financially and financially attractive, both during your tenure and after retirement. Second, the welfare state must not appear to be exploitative. In its current form, the Agnipath scheme falls short on both counts. A starting salary package of 30,000 rupees and a fixed annual subsidy and a sizeable death/disability package are reasonable, but the denial of benefits seems unfair. Agnipath has proven unattractive compared to the Central Military Police conditions, which allow them to serve up to the age of 58.

5. Post-retirement benefits: Maintaining a 4-year term and denying benefits (current policy allows after 5 years of service) is similar to denying benefits/privileged veteran status along with the health care system. , is still a thorny problem.  Agniveer’s post-retirement incentives remain a gray area that needs to be addressed.