Review of the Agnipath Scheme

General Studies Paper-2

Context: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition said the new government should review the “Agnipath” scheme for short term recruitments to the armed forces.

Agnipath Scheme

• It was introduced in 2022, and is also called the Tour of Duty scheme.
• It is a short-term recruitment scheme for the Indian Army.
• Under the policy, soldiers — called ‘Agniveers’ — are recruited for four years, at the end of which only 25 percent of recruits from a batch are retained for regular service for 15 years.
• Age Limit : Candidates between the age of 17.5 years to 21 years are eligible for enrolling in the Agnipath scheme.
• The scheme provides an avenue to Indian youth, desirous of serving the country to get recruited in the Armed Forces for a short duration.
  • The scheme enhances the youth profile of the Armed Forces.

Significance of the Scheme

• Reducing the Average Age in Military: There has been a focus within the military to bring down the average age of soldiers, especially within the Army, since the 1980s.
  • The scheme aims to recruit Indian youth to serve in the Armed Forces.
• Short Term Services in Other Countries: In modern armed forces of various countries, the service ranges from 2 to 8 years with options for active and reservist.
  • The Israeli army has service of 30 months and 20 months respectively for men and women.
  • Similarly the United States and United Kingdom also have short duration contracts.
  • The ‘Agnipath’ scheme will be comparable to the time frame in many world class armed forces.
• Technologically Advanced Future: Future wars will be fought with artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber space and space based ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance).
  • Agnipath in India will ensure a youthful and tech-savvy profile of the armed forces.
• Budgetary Constraints: One of the greatest challenges facing the Indian armed forces today is overall budgetary constraint.
  • Huge salary and pension bills have placed enormous stress on the availability of funds for military modernization.
• Employment: This scheme will increase employment opportunities and because of the skills and experience acquired during the four-year service such soldiers will get employment in various fields.
  • This will also lead to availability of a higher-skilled workforce to the economy which will be helpful in productivity gain and overall GDP growth.

Concerns

• Short Duration: Four years is too short a time for a conscript to acquire the skills essential for operating sophisticated systems in the technology-intensive Navy and Air Force.
• May Lead to Cohesiveness: For the Army, which has a regimental system, it is feared that it will impair the unit’s cohesiveness as the soldier on a short-term contract would not have the same dedication and devotion to the nation or duty.
• Lack of Employment Guarantee: It is argued that it would be unfair to the recruit since he would be devoid of an employment guarantee at the expiry of four years.
• Training Duration: The main weakness of the scheme is that a mere six-month training for a soldier, especially to prepare him for an increasingly high technology environment, would be thoroughly inadequate.

Conclusion

• The Agnipath scheme, designed to modernize and streamline the Indian Armed Forces, has faced significant criticism and challenges.
• With political promises to abolish the scheme and ongoing feedback from military personnel, the future of the Agnipath scheme remains uncertain.
• As the government and military leadership consider adjustments, the primary goal will be to balance operational effectiveness with the welfare and satisfaction of soldiers.