Military chiefs defend Agnipath amidst criticism there should have been a pilot project first

NEW DELHI: Confronted with unabated protests against the new Agnipath scheme in the country, defence minister Rajnath Singh and the three military chiefs once again stepped forward on Friday to staunchly defend the short-term induction of soldiers and declared the recruitment process would kick-off within the next few days.
General Manoj Pande said the initial notification for the Army recruitment process will be issued within the next two days, with the training of the first Agniveers to begin in December, while Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said IAF will begin the selection process under Agnipath on June 24.

“The relaxation of age (increasing the upper age limit for candidates to 23 from 21 as a one-time waiver for this year) indicates the government cares for our youth. The department of military affairs, defence ministry and the Services are committed to commence the recruitment process at the earliest,” Rajnath Singh said.
A top official also stressed there are requisite provisions to fine-tune or tweak the Agnipath scheme. “The Cabinet note empowers the defence minister to make the necessary changes on the intake and composition of the scheme based on inputs from the ground and operational necessities,” he said.
“If there are financial implications, he can do it with the finance minister’s concurrence. Tomorrow, for instance, if war clouds are hovering, the Agniveers might be retained for some additional time beyond their four-year tenures,” he added.

There is, however, widespread criticism that the radical Agnipath scheme should have been first test-bedded with a pilot project instead of jumping headlong into it, making it the only source of entry for soldiers, airmen and sailors into the 14-lakh strong armed forces. The 75% of the Agniveers who will be demobilized from every batch with a Seva Nidhi exit package of Rs 11.71 lakh each will get no pensionary, gratuity and ex-servicemen benefits.
The scheme, when first mooted as “Tour of Duty” in 2019-2020 to slash the ballooning salary and pension bills adversely impacting military modernization, was meant to be launched as an experiment by inducting only 100 officers and 1,000 jawans for short-term tenures, as was then reported by TOI.
“Government jobs are prized in India, especially for job security, pension and other benefits. Most of the protests are taking place in traditional catchment areas for the armed forces and railways, which too has restricted its intake over the last two to three years. Therefore, the outcry over the existing one rank, one pension (OROP) being changed to `no rank, no pension’,” a senior officer said.
Singh and the military chiefs, however, said the Agnipath scheme is designed to bring down the average age of soldiers from the existing 32 to 24-26 in six to seven years as well as ensure a fitter, tech-savvy military to handle the challenges ahead, while providing “a golden opportunity” to youth to serve the nation. While the Army will induct 40,000 Agniveers this year, the IAF and Navy will induct 3,000 each.
Gen Pande said the protesting youth have perhaps not fully understood the contents and implications of the Agnipath scheme. “Once they understand, they will realise it is not only good for them, but also for the armed forces and national security…Our units and formations are ready and keen to embrace the change,” he said.

Admiral R Hari Kumar, in turn, said the Agnipath scheme was long overdue, in line with the recommendations made by the Kargil Review Committee for a more youthful profile, and in “the best interests” of the armed forces.
“The armed forces are not an employment generation scheme. One joins because of patriotism and the desire to serve the country. When the Agniveers are released from service, they will be young, 22-23, and at that age the world will be theirs,” the Navy chief said.
The possibility of launching a pilot project was also considered but was not pursued as it would have created two classes of recruits and led to litigation on issues related to pay and seniority, he added.