On June 14, the government announced the Agnipath scheme, which fundamentally transforms the process of recruitment of soldiers, sailors and airmen into the three services. Agniveers, the recruits, will be employed for four years, after which 25% of them will be selected for enrolment in the regular cadre, while the rest will be given a certain amount of money and be shown avenues to get back to civilian life. The scheme has generated a lot of debate, and protests against it have been violent in several parts of the country. To discuss and understand the nuances of the issue, Dinakar Peri spoke to Lieutenant General D.S. Hooda,(Retd.), former Northern Army Commander, and Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (Retd.), former additional director general of Centre for Air Power Studies. Edited excerpts:
Can you provide an overview of Agnipath and put things in context, given the concerns?
Lt Gen D.S. Hooda: Let me try and take a very dispassionate view and look at both sides. Just like any scheme, there are advantages and concerns. Let me briefly cover both. The advantages, as have been brought out by the government and the military leadership… they’ve been talking about a younger military, the average age going down from 32 to 26. The rapid turnover of Agniveers in the system, they are hoping, will attract people who are more technologically savvy and are therefore more capable of handling new kinds of modern equipment. That is why they’re also hoping to exploit some people from the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and other technical institutes. What has not been stated by the military and the government, but which is obviously a big factor for the adoption of this scheme, is the fact that at some stage, maybe not immediately, Agnipath is going to help reduce the salary and pension budgets. That could go into capital expenditure and for the modernisation of the three forces. Also, by picking 25% of the whole lot of Agniveers, you will possibly get people who can then be trained as non-commissioned officers (NCOs), etc. And with our shortage of officers, it is essential that we have better NCOs in the military.
