'No plans to alter scheme since...': Defence officials on Agnipath recruitment model

Currently, two batches of 40,000 Agniveers are under posting in the Army.

The Centre has no plans to alter the controversial Agnipath recruitment model, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

Top officials told HT that making any changes to the scheme will go against the grain of what it seeks to achieve and hurt India’s security interests. The Agnipath scheme recruits male and female candidates across Army, Navy and Air Force. Known as Agniveers, these candidates are recruited either directly through educational institutions or through recruitment rallies. They are supposed to serve for a short period of four years and are not eligible for pension.

However, according to many, the terms can potentially affect the future of serving personnel; affect the professionalism, ethos and fighting spirit of the forces; and could lead to militarisation of civil society.

“The scheme is at the core of our strategy to counter China,” one of the officials cited above told HT on conditions of anonymity. “The army needs young men to fight in those rugged mountains along the contested border. The average age of our infantry soldiers is 29 but we need them to be closer to 21.”

Currently, two batches of 40,000 Agniveers are under posting in the Army. In the Navy, three batches of 7,385 Agniveers have completed training. In the IAF, 4,955 Agniveer Vayu trainees have completed training. The scheme was introduced by the Narendra Modi government in its previous term. It involves recruiting youth in the 17.5-21 age bracket as soldiers for four years. Its aim is to modernise the military forces, create a youthful profile and reduce long-term financial burdens associated with pensions and other benefits.

“I am consciously saying infantrymen because you can’t even take tanks or other combat vehicles to some of those heights. It has to be men carrying heavy loads on their backs, men capable of physical fighting at that altitude,” the official said.

India had said that 20 of its soldiers had died in the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 which was fought in hand-to-hand combat in sub-zero temperatures in the near pitch-black night of June 15 and June 16, 2020. According to India’s assessment, the PLA suffered around 40 casualties. However, Beijing later officially claimed that only four Chinese soldiers were killed.

According to the officials, the main purpose of the Agnipath scheme is to keep the army ready to counter the Chinese forces, said a second official.

“There are only two ways to bring down the average age of soldiers --- by short-term induction or conscription. In a place like India, and with our huge population, we do not need to have conscription like Israel does. So short-term induction through Agnipath is the way to ensure that the army has young men at the peak of their physical fitness,” the official told HT.

In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended the Agnipath scheme amid fresh calls for scrapping the military recruitment plan. “The Agnipath scheme will increase the strength of the country and the capable youth will also come forward to serve the motherland. Announcements have also been made to give priority to Agniveers in the private sector and paramilitary forces,” he said after visiting the war memorial at Dras to pay tribute to Kargil war heroes.