What is Agniveer Scheme For Indian Army, Airforce, Navy

What Is Agniveer For Indian Army, Indian Airforce and Indian Navy

What is Agniveer Scheme 2022 For Indian Army, Airforce, Navy: The government of India has unveiled its radical new changed recruitment scheme for Indian Armed Forces called ‘Agnipath‘ where a new recruitee will be called ‘Agniveer‘.

The recruitment of troops was suspended for the last two years due to the Coronavirus Covid19 pandemic. Therefore, the demand for the opening of recruitment in the armed forces was being raised throughout the country as many eligible youth especially rural background youth have aspirations to join the Indian Armed Forces.

What Is Agniveer Recruitment’s Scheme ?

In the new Agniveer Recruitment Scheme, the candidates will be selected for four (4) years only in three services of the Armed Forces viz. Army,Navy and Airforce and they will be called ‘Agniveer‘.

All of the recruited Agniveer will be de-mobile after the four-year period, and 25% of them will be taken back to serve a full term of another 15 years. These four years will not be counted for pension benefits at the time of reiement.

It is proposed to recruit around 46000 youngsters in this new Agnipath recruitment scheme from the age of 17.5 (Seventeen and a Half) to 21 (Twenty One) years annually (For the current year 2022 the maximum age is relaxed up to 23 years) with a monthly salary of ₹30000-40000/- plus allowances. for the first year the consolidated package will be ₹30000/- per month, for the second year ₹33000/- per month, ₹36500/- per month for the third year and ₹40000/- per month for the fourth year. Insurance and Medical covers will be provided as like the regular cadre of soldiers.

The present proposal in the Agnipath scheme is to retain 25% of demobilised troops but the final say in this regard is with the government.

The youth who will be de-mobilised in the scheme will be given 6 (Six) months of training to adapt to real-world situations outside of the armed force. 75% of Agniveers will be demobilised with an exit of the ‘Seva Nidhi’ package of ₹11.75 Lakh, partially funded by their monthly contributions, as well as skill certificates and a bank loan for help in their second careers. A diploma and a degree are being planned for recruits, besides skill training when they are released from the armed forces.

A diploma and a degree is being planned for recruits, besides skill training when they are released from armed forces.

AIM OF THE SCHEME

The Agnipath recruitment will be on All India All Class enrollment. The present regimental cadre system will be stopped.

The scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society.

For the Armed Forces, it will enhance the youthful profile of the Armed Forces and provide a fresh lease of ‘Josh’ and ‘Jazba’ whilst at the same time bringing about a transformational shift towards a more tech-savvy Armed Forces.

The aim of the Agnipath scheme is also to reduce the salary component in the revenue expenditure and the pension bill, which is nearly half of the annual defence budge of Rs.5.2 lakh crore, and is incresing and thus reduing the fund for military modernisation.

OPPOSITION TO THIS SCHEME

There is big opposition to this Agnipath scheme also there as many retired armed officers have raised their voices in this regard. Their main opposition is that it will take 7 to 8 years to become a fully trained combat-ready soldier, airman or sailor. It will lead to poorly motivated and trained military personnel, who will become risk-averse because the bulk of them will have to hunt for second careers after four years.

It will also detach an Agniveer from his ‘Battalion’ or the ‘Paltan’ whereas in the current scheme a soldier is emotionally and mentally attached to his paltan. Short-term or contractual employment may not bring the fighting spirit to the soldier.