Explained | The Agnipath scheme and why people are protesting against it

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Earlier this week on June 14, the Cabinet cleared the Agnipath Scheme for temporary recruitment of youth in the Indian Armed Forces. Under the scheme, the enrolled youth would draw an attractive monthly package along with risk and hardship allowances as applicable in the three services.

What is the Agnipath scheme?

The scheme called Agnipath, which has been designed to enable a youth profile for the Armed Forces, will select youth for a period of four years to serve the security forces. Such youth would be known as Agniveers. They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces, different from any other existing ranks. This, according to the government, will help the Armed Forces have a “younger, fitter, diverse profile for facing future challenges”.

Under the scheme, Agniveers will be enrolled under respective Service Acts. As many as 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year and a one-time ‘Seva Nidhi’ package of Rs 11.71 lakh will be paid to the youth once their engagement period of four years comes to an end. The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax. There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. Agniveers will be provided a non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian Armed Forces.

Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces. These applications will be considered in a centralised manner based on objective criteria including performance during their four-year engagement period and up to 25 percent of each specific batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces. The individuals, selected for enrolment in the Armed Forces as regular cadre, would be required to serve for a further engagement period of a minimum of 15 years and would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior Commissioned Officers/Other Ranks in Indian Army and their equivalent in Indian Navy and Indian Air Force and that of non-combatant enrolled in the Indian Air Force, as amended from time-to-time.

How to enroll under the Agnipath scheme?

Enrolment will be undertaken through an online centralised system for all three services with specialised rallies and campus interviews from recognised technical institutes such as Industrial Training Institutes and National Skills Qualifications Framework, among others. Enrolment will be based on an ‘All India All Class’ basis and the eligible age will be in the range of 17.5 to 21 years. Agniveers will meet the medical eligibility conditions laid down for enrolment in the armed forces as applicable to respective categories/trades. The educational qualification for Agniveers will remain as in vogue for enrollment in various categories. For example: For entry into General Duty (GD) soldier, the educational qualification is Class 10.

All candidates will be eligible to apply for enrolment in the regular cadre on a voluntary basis.

What is the controversy surrounding the Agnipath scheme?

Several commoners and politicians have complained that the Centre’s new scheme is unfair and would end up depriving the recruited personnel of various monetary benefits such as a pension, etc. Further, only 25 percent of the recruits will have a future in the Armed forces after the four-year period. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has assured that Aginveers will be prioritised while recruiting Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

Several Indian Army aspirants have; however, dissed the scheme and taken to the streets in Bihar to protest against it. The ongoing agitations have disrupted traffic in Buxar, Jehanabad, and Nawada districts. They have been opposing the absence of any pension fund under the Agnipath scheme and also the short period of employment guarantee it offers.

News agency ANI quoted a protestor as saying: “We demand that the recruitment be done as it used to be done earlier. Tour of Duty (ToD) be rolled back and exams be held as earlier. Nobody will go to the Army for just four years.”

Another protester said: “Where will we go after working for only four years? We will be homeless after four years of service. So, we have jammed the roads. We work hard to get inducted into the Armed forces. How will the service be for four years, with months of training and leaves? How will we protect the nation after getting trained for just three years? The government has to take back this scheme.”