Agneepath Scheme for Military Recruitment

The  Government of India took a historic decision regarding an attractive recruitment scheme entitled Agneepath for Indian youth to serve in the Armed forces.  The youth who step in is categorised as Agniveers.  In the sequel to the announcement of this Agnipath Scheme, a wider opportunity has been opened for the youths to serve their nation for a period of 4 years. India has the largest youth population in the world; around 66 per cent of the total population more than 808 million is below the age of 35. Nearly 40 per cent of the Indian population is aged 13 to 35 years. Intake of `Agniveers` to go up to 1.25 lakhs in future.

Agnipath scheme, a recruitment process for individuals below the rank of officer, with the goal of deploying fitter, younger troops on the front lines, many of whom will be on  6-year contracts. It`s a game-changing project that will give the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force a young image. Agneepath Scheme is a recruitment process launched by the central government, after the covid impact of  2 years. Under this scheme, several thousands of youths will be selected candidates and they will be enrolled as Agniveers for a specific period in Indian Armed Forces. The Armed Forces, which is one of the biggest recruiters will be recruiting 46,000 Agniveers through the Agnipath/Agneepath scheme in 2022-23. On completion of the four-year period after amendment, it is extended to 6 years, the 25% 0f them will continue in the army and the rest 75% will have work in the society or with various public sectors and private sectors. 

The youth selected under the Agneepath scheme will be categorised as Agniveers. Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces after a period of 4 years, now it is 6 years. The youths falling in the age group of 17.5 years to 23 years, who favour patriotism, teamwork, enhancement of physical fitness, ingrained loyalty to the country and availability of trained personnel to boost national security in times of external threats, internal threats and natural disasters can apply through Agneepath Yojna to become Agniveers.

objectives of  Agnipath/Agneepath Scheme: 

 The objectives of the Agnipath/Agneepath Scheme are to:

• Enhance the youthful profile of the armed forces with increased risk-taking ability. 
• Imbibe  Armed Forces ethos, courage, commitment, and teamwork in the youth. 
• Provide abilities and qualities like discipline, motivation, dynamism, and work skills to make youth an asset. 
• Extend an opportunity to the youth to serve the nation in uniform for a short period. 
• Attract youth talent among the society to effectively exploit, adapt, and use emerging modern technologies. 

Agneepath Scheme is a step under which the recruitment of 46,000+ Agniveers takes an entry into the Indian Army, Indian Navy and India Air Force on a timely basis. The entry through Agneepath Scheme would be done for a period of 8 years. During these periods, the recruits would be trained by the armed forces in the skills required. The Agnipath recruitment scheme is a transformative initiative that will provide a youthful profile for both men and women in the armed forces. The concerned department has already notified the online examinations so that the first recruitment will kick start. Intake of `Agniveers` will go up to 1.25 lakhs in future, as per sources of  Dept of Military Affairs.

• Indian Navy will release the complete calendar on 25th June 2022, detailed notification will be released on 09th July 2022 and online registration to begin on 15th July 2022. 
•  Indian Army will kick start the registration in July 2022, the first batch of Agniveers to be shortlisted for Indian Army troops in December 2022 and training to start from 30th December 2022 onwards.
• Indian Air Force & Indian Army released detailed Agneepath Recruitment Notifications on 20th June 2022 on their respective official websites. 

Aginveers will go to the society as a disciplined, dynamic, motivated, and skilled workforce for employment in other sectors to pursue their career in the job of their choice. 

10% vacancies in CAPF: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to reserve 10 per cent vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers  Coast Guard, defence civilian posts and 16 defence PSUs, which include Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, as well as four shipyards and 41 ordnance factories with upper age relaxation. 

Incentives- The ministries of home affairs and defence have jointly announced concessions and incentives for further employment of  Agniveers in the PSUs like housing and petroleum ministries. They are working on hiring `Agniveers` after their 6 -year service in the armed forces.

Agnipath Yojana Qualifications:

Soldier Tradesman

Agneepath Scheme Age Limit Details

The candidates who are under the age group of 17.5 years to 23 years (revised) are eligible for Agneveer positions. Such candidates have an advantage of the Agneepath Scheme for the Agniveers in the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy. 

Salary Agneepath Yojna Agniveer 

The salary for Agniveers in the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy in the 1st year will be Rs. 4.76 lakh per annum which increases to Rs. 6.92 lakh per annum in the final year. Monthly package, in-hand salary, contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund and corpus fund from below tabular data. The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax.

Agneepath Scheme Salary - All figures in Rs (Monthly Contribution)

• Total contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund after four years- Rs 5.02 Lakh
• Exit After 4 years- Rs 11.71 Lakh as Seva Nidhi Package (Including, interest accumulated on the above amount as per the applicable interest rates would also be paid)

Agneepath Scheme Protests:

Upon the announcement of the scheme, thousands of youngsters started staging protests in Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand and Haryana and they have demanded an immediate rollback of the scheme. Protests against the Centre`s Agnipath recruitment scheme continued in several parts of the country. The protesters have expressed a radical scheme to recruit the bulk of soldiers for only 5 to 6 years will hit the professionalism, regimental ethos and fighting spirit of the Army. The protests, which started in Bihar, have now spread to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarath, and other parts of the country. Whereas most of the opposition parties have exerted pressure on the government to roll back the scheme, albeit the government is firm to the implementation process, accordingly further process is on. In fact, many of the opposition parties have expressed that children of the BJP can become doctors/engineers, whereas children of the poor can only become agniveers, as per the scheme.

Some Highlights of the Agneepath Scheme Protests going around the country are as follows;  Bharat Bandh today on 20th June 2022, due to operational reasons, 31 trains terminated at various railway stations in Delhi & Ghaziabad, Schools in many parts have shut,35 WhatsApp have been banned. The miscreants have damaged the property of the country and its loss is estimated to be over  Rs 300 crores. How will the central government make good the loss? If the unable additional levy on the common men is unavoidable.

Measures to control the  youth protests:

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced a 10 per cent reservation in vacancies for recruitment in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles for Agniveers. 
2.  Three years age relaxation to Agniveers beyond the prescribed upper age limit for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles. 
3. For the first batch of Agniveers, the age relaxation will be of five years.
4. NIOS to facilitate 12th pass certificate for 10th pass Agniveers
5. Ministry of Education has decided to launch a special, three-year skill-based bachelor`s degree programme for serving defence personnel that will recognise the skill training received by them during their tenure in defence establishments. 
6.  The above skilled-based program is to enhance the future career prospects of Agniveers and to equip them for various job roles in the civilian sector.
7. IGNOU has designed the program under which 50 per cent of the credits required for a graduate degree will come from the skill training -- both technical and non-technical -- received by the Agniveer, and the rest 50 per cent will come from a basket of courses that cover a wide variety of subjects like languages, Economics, History, Political Science, Public Administration, Sociology, Mathematics, Education, Commerce, Tourism, Vocational Studies, Agriculture and Jyotish, as also Ability Enhancement Courses on Environmental Studies and Communication Skills in English.
8. This programme is aligned with UGC norms and with the National Credit Framework / National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) as mandated under the National Education Policy 2020.
9. It also has a provision for multiple exit points Undergraduate Certificate on successful completion of the first-year courses, Undergraduate Diploma on successful completion of the first and second-year courses, and Degree on completion of all the courses in the three-year time frame.
10. Skill India and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) will work collaboratively with various wings of the armed forces to train the students in additional skills to make them better suited for civilian jobs. Agniveers will get Skill India certification while in service, which will enable them to pursue many diverse opportunities in entrepreneurship and job roles that are being created in our economy after the completion of their tenure.
11. All organisations of Skill India such as the Directorate General of Training (DGT), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), various Sector Skill Councils, entrepreneurship institutes NIESBUD and IIE, as well as skills regulator NCVET, will be connected with this exercise to ensure that Agniveers get the required skill certifications related to their job roles while in service. Some skills learnt on the job may have direct equivalence with the NSQF syllabus
12. Banks and financial institutions can support Agniveers with suitable credit facilities for skill up-gradation, education for setting up businesses and taking up self-employment.  
13. Public Sector Insurance Companies (PSICs) and Financial Institutions (FIs). In the meeting, it was decided that PSBs, PSICs and FIs would explore employment opportunities for Agniveers in suitable capacities based on their educational qualifications and skills through suitable benefits/relaxations, etc.
14. Banks would explore possibilities of supporting Agniveers through The existing government schemes such as Mudra, Stand Up India etc. would be leveraged for extending such support to Agniveers.
15. Several state governments have announced that Agniveers, after serving the armed forces for 4 years, will be given preference in filling vacancies in state police forces. The state police forces will richly benefit from the training and discipline inculcated to Agniveers by the armed forces and their capabilities in tackling insurgency, Naxalism and natural disasters will be hugely augmented.
16. Several corporate houses and industry bodies have admitted that the well-trained, disciplined and technologically savvy youth who finish their service to the armed forces will be valuable assets to their organisations.

Edunews opine that the central government has taken a hasty decision regarding the Agneepath scheme. The illogical and unscientific scheme will always mar the system, so also a society. On the one hand, the opposition parties have been intensifying the agitation against the scheme all over the world. On the other BJP ruled centre is making all-out efforts to justify the scheme through press conferences conducted by the designated authorities. BJP government came to power on one of the promises that it will empower the youth. Unemployment is becoming incurable which obviously breeds innumerable ills in the society, which will hit the progress of the country.