Agnipath Recruitment Scheme for Armed Forces Unveiled; Here’s All You Need to Know About the New Model

Agnipath Scheme of Recruitment Approved: Under this new recruitment scheme, Indian youth would be granted an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed services, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security has taken a historic decision on Tuesday and approved the transformative scheme of ‘Agnipath’. Under this new recruitment scheme, Indian youth would be granted an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed services, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Announcing the approval of the scheme, the Defence Minister said, “Under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, efforts are to create a youthful profile of the Armed forces. It would help to train them for new technologies and also improve their health levels. This scheme will increase employment opportunities with new skills in different sectors.”

All You Need to Know about the Agnipath Recruitment Scheme

Recruitment Age: 17 ½ – 21 years
Tenure: 4 years
Positions: 45,000 to 50,000 personnel every year
Training period: 6 months
Salary Range: Rs 30,000-Rs 40,000
Payout at service end: Rs 10-12 lakh (Tax-free)

#WATCH | Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the three service chiefs hold a press conference, in Delhi https://t.co/QTd2nIXnNk

— ANI (@ANI) June 14, 2022

Announcing the details of the new recruitment model, the three service chiefs held a press conference. Here’s what they said:

Lt Gen Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, Department of Military Affairs:

• Agniveer would be a part of this future-ready soldier. Agniveer would be India’s young protector. After being with us for 4 yrs, an Agniveer’s resume and biodata will be very unique. He’ll stand out in the crowd with his attitude, skills, and time he would’ve spent with us.
• Today average age is around 32 yrs, in time to come it’ll further come down to 26 yrs and this will happen in 6-7 years. In order to transform the armed forces into youthful, tech-savvy, modern, there’s a need to harness the youth’s potential and make them future-ready soldiers.
• We will provide an opportunity to the youth to serve the nation for a short and long duration, as Agniveers. We are giving youth a chance for both long and short-duration military service.

Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande

• Agnipath scheme aims to make the Army a future-ready fighting force capable of meeting multiple challenges across  full spectrum of conflict. It will increase technical threshold of the Army by recruiting ‘Agniveers’ through ITIs and other tech institutes.
• The screening and selection based on a sound, fair, transparent and a robust assessment system will ensure that the Army retains the best of the best for a longer serving duration and these personnel will form the core of our organisation.

Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar

• Agnipath scheme is a new idea of the new era. An idea that is made in India and made for India. An idea that will have positive impact on the human resources management of armed forces.
• An idea that will bring balance between the youth aspirations and future requirements of armed forces. An idea that will make the profile of armed forces more youthful, as per Kargil Committee Report.
• Right now, Navy has women officers. With Agniveer scheme, women sailors would also be inducted. It’s a major step. All preparations done and we would not face any difficulty. There already is on-board deployment of women officers. We’re a gender-neutral service.

CAS Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari

• The IAF is looking to tap into the youth’s ability to adapt to a fast-changing technology-based environment, train and expose them to the high-tech environment of the IAF and hone their skills for future employment.
• Agnipath scheme also allows IAF to assess both aptitude and attitude of young people i.e ‘Agniveers’ and prepare them for further specialized training in aviation and non-aviation skills required by IAF, should they opt to join as regular air warriors.
• IAF shall be imparting a wide range of training and exposure to ‘Agniveers’ in aviation, weapons and sophisticated ground systems.I invite the aspiring youth of India to seize this unique opportunity to serve the nation and touch the sky with glory.

The new recruitment model will also be called the Tour of Duty in which civilians can be recruited into three services of the armed forces for four years. This scheme will also benefit the Army financially. Under this first-of-its-kind model of the Indian Army, likely to be named the “Agnipath” recruitment scheme, the recruited soldiers will be named “Agniveers” and they will be recruited for a period of four years at the end of which they will get over Rs 10 lakh tax-free and certificates or diplomas for their service.

This recruitment scheme aims to recruit about 45,000-50,000 personnel below officer rank in the three services every year through a biannual exercise with a six-month gap. And, at the end of their four-year tenure, 25 per cent of these recruits will be inducted back into the services.

Under this Tour of Duty scheme, a recruit’s starting salary will be Rs 30,000, and this will likely go up to Rs 40,000 by the end of the fourth year. However, 30 per cent of the salary will be held back as savings, and an equal amount contributed by the government per month, under the Seva Nidhi scheme. The total amount, between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, will be given to the soldier at the end of four years, and will be tax-free.