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• The Union government has announced the ‘Agnipath Scheme’ with the aim to transform the process of recruitment of soldiers, sailors and airmen into the Defence Services.
• The scheme has created controversies and protests in several parts of the country.

AGNIPATH Scheme

• The objective of the AGNIPATH Scheme is to encourage youth to serve in the Armed Forces for 4 years.
• The youth selected under the scheme will be known as Agniveers.
• They will get an attractive monthly package with Risk and Hardship allowances.
• They will be paid a one-time Seva Nidhi package after the engagement of four years.
  • It will be exempt from Income Tax.
• Agnipath Scheme will positively impact the Human Resources Management of the Armed Forces.
• They will get a salary of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per month and an allowance as applicable.
• There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits.
• They will get a Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakh during their service in the Indian Armed Forces.
• About 25% of Agniveers will be selected in the Armed Forces as regular cadres.
• The eligibility age limit will be in the range of 17.5 to 21 years, and they will be selected based on all India-level competitions.

 

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Arguments in Support of the Scheme

• It will provide a younger military; the average age will go down from 32 to 26 years.
• It will attract technologically smart people and they will be more talented in handling new kinds of modern equipment.
• It will attract people from the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and other technical institutes.
• It will help to reduce the salary and pension budgets.

 

Arguments against the Scheme

• 4-year limitations will discourage people from joining defense forces.
• It will mentally and psychologically affect the youth as they could fail to maintain the same levels of morale and motivation that permanent soldiers have in the military.
• The shortened training period will affect the skill and capabilities of the new soldiers.
• It will impact the operational effectiveness of the defense forces.

Way Forward

• It will be too early to judge the outcome of the scheme. It should be adopted first at a small level to observe how it works, and then after proper observation and making adjustments according to the ground realities, we can adopt it on large scale.

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