No plans to shake up Agnipath model, say top govt officials

The recruitment model, a political hot button, was introduced two years ago with the stated objective of keeping the armed forces young and battle-ready

The government has no plans to shake up the controversial Agnipath recruitment model that cuts tenure of personnel below officer rank and offers them fewer service benefits as making any changes to the scheme will go against the grain of what it seeks to achieve, and endanger India’s security interests, top officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

Agnipath was a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system that was scrapped when the National Democratic Alliance government announced the new scheme in June 2022. (ANI)

The recruitment model, a political hot button, was introduced two years ago with the stated objective of keeping the armed forces young and battle-ready.

“The scheme is at the core of our strategy to counter China,” said one of the officials cited above, who asked not to be named.

“The army needs young men to fight in those rugged mountains along the contested border. The average age of our infantry soldiers is 29 but we need them to be closer to 21.”

Agnipath was a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system that was scrapped when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government announced the new scheme in June 2022. Only young men and women aged between 17 and a half and 21 are eligible under the scheme that seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in regular service for another 15 years.

Those recruited under the scheme are called Agniveers.

“I am consciously saying infantrymen because you can’t even take tanks or other combat vehicles to some of those heights. It has to be men carrying heavy loads on their backs, men capable of physical fighting at that altitude,” the official said.

The 2020 Galwan Valley skirmish amply illustrated the kind of fighting that can break out while tackling and pushing back the enemy to defend the country’s farthest frontiers, he said. Rival soldiers then fought each other with rocks, batons and clubs wrapped in barbed wire.

As many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action in the seven-hour deadly conflict near Patrolling Point 14 in the remote valley on June 15, 2020, when outnumbered Indian troops fought off numerically superior rivals and inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

According to India’s assessment, PLA suffered around 40 casualties though Beijing later officially claimed that only four Chinese soldiers were killed.

While the Agnipath scheme will help cut the pension bill, its raison d’être is to keep the army ready to counter the Chinese forces, said a second official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“There are only two ways to bring down the average age of soldiers --- by short-term induction or conscription. In a place like India, and with our huge population, we do not need to have conscription like Israel does. So short-term induction through Agnipath is the way to ensure that the army has young men at the peak of their physical fitness,” he added.

The military standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh is in its fifth year, with no indication of a resolution to the outstanding problems along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) although India is hoping that ongoing negotiations will help restore the status quo ante of April 2020.

The comments from the top echelons of the government come at a time when the armed forces are making a case for raising the age limit for Agnipath inductees to 23 and suggesting that at least 50% be retained in service after four years.

“We are very clear that the scheme is necessary. This is a matter of national security,” said the first official.

In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brushed aside criticism of the Agnipath model, saying it will boost combat effectiveness and increase the strength of the country.

Speaking in Dras from a makeshift stage on a helipad named after a 22-year-old Kargil war hero killed in action, he said, “Discussions on reducing the age profile of the armed forces had been going on for decades, but there was no political will to make this happen. The average age of Indian soldiers was way more than the global average and that was worrisome.”

The PM’s comments came at a function organised by the army to mark the 25th anniversary of victory in the Kargil war with Pakistan.

The scheme, which the Opposition Congress has repeatedly called for scrapping, has come under fire from aspirants across the country, especially the northern states, and is believed to have cost the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a chunk of votes across the region in the summer’s national elections.

Soldiers recruited under the legacy system serve for about 20 years before they retire in their late 30s with pension and other benefits including health care and canteen facilities, which Agniveers released from service after four years are not entitled to.

The scheme is likely to be a major election issue in the upcoming assembly polls in Haryana.