0 Comment(s) *
* The moderation of comments is automated and not cleared manually by indianexpress.com.
Many modern militaries have short service recruits, but in the Indian context, the impact of changes such as hiring without the promise of lifelong benefits, the shortened training, and the opening out of regiments to AIAC can only be assessed in the coming years.The changes in the recruitment policy of non-officer personnel to the armed forces are a radical shift for an institution whose employment traditions have remained static for decades. Under the Ministry of Defence’s new “Agnipath” scheme, the government hopes to create a younger profile for the three services – the average age of the soldiery is estimated to fall from 32 to 26 years. The Agniveer, as these recruits will be called, will be hired on contract at the minimum age of 17.5 years, and will serve for four years, including a six-month training period. At the end of this four-year period, they will be let go of, with a lump sum package, and the assurance of a bank loan to set them up in an alternative career, with only 25 per cent of every batch rehired to serve for a longer period of 15 years. To be sure, this will lead to a much leaner military, and will mean an enormous saving in pensions and other lifelong benefits, on which a huge chunk of the defence budget is being spent. This was, arguably, one of the biggest drivers for the new policy. The recruitment will be All India All Class (AIAC) — that is, it will not be restricted by ethnicity or caste. The regiments, introduced by the British colonisers as an organisational measure, are being thrown open to all new recruits, irrespective of their state, mother tongue, or caste. The government hopes to hire 46,000 “agniveer” this year, though with the age limits, the recruitment may not include those who have been waiting for the hiring freeze since 2020 to end. More than a lakh vacancies have built up in the Indian Army alone over the last two years, but under the new policy, not all may be filled.
With new forms of warfare, including the use of cyber-tech and artificial intelligence, and new weaponry that may cut down the number of boots on the ground, there is an emphasis on leaner but better equipped militaries. But clearly, Agnipath presents large challenges as well. With a clear and present threat on its northern border and a hostile neighbour to its west, India’s military minds believe that the two-front danger is an increasingly real one. The main question about the new policy, then, is this: Does it have the potential to create a better trained, more committed fighting force for India?
Many modern militaries have short service recruits, but in the Indian context, the impact of changes such as hiring without the promise of lifelong benefits, the shortened training, and the opening out of regiments to AIAC can only be assessed in the coming years. The Indian Army’s experiments so far with diversity in closed regiments have yielded mixed results. More immediately, when recruitment begins under the new policy in September, the response will show to what extent the absence of a pension acts as a spoiler. To what extent will the economy absorb or welcome the ex-Agniveer will depend upon their skill-set and the training they receive. Especially when meaningful employment opportunities in significant or adequate numbers still elude an ever-increasing number of graduates. No reform can be fool-proof and without teething troubles. But as Agnipath concerns national defence and security, the government will need to have a plan to anticipate and address the problems that lie beyond the bold step forward.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
