Union Govt Unveils 'Agnipath' Army Recruitment Model; Will Induct Women As Well

On June 14, Tuesday, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with the Three armed force service chiefs—Army chief General Manoj Pande, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar—announced a short-term defence requirement policy called Agnipath at a press conference. Under the scheme, Indian youth will be granted an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed services irrespective of their sexes.

Candidacy under the Agnipath Scheme will be open to men and women both based on service requirements and the applicants between the ages of 17.5 to 21 years will be eligible to apply under the scheme.

Admiral R Hari Kumar was quoted saying that women will also be inducted through the scheme while General Manoj Pande noted that the candidates, who will be known as 'Agniveers' will be "fully assimilated and integrated into the services".

Agnipath Army Recruitment Scheme

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while announcing the scheme said, "The Cabinet Committee on Security has taken a historic decision today to approve the transformative scheme of 'Agnipath'. Under this, Indian youth would be granted an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed services."

Singh further added that the scheme is an effort to create "a youthful profile of the Armed forces" and noted that it will help them train for new technologies, improve their health levels and also increase employment opportunities with new skills in a multitude of sectors.

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While announcing the scheme, it was declared that around 45,000 people will be inducted for a tenure of four years and that the recruitment shall begin within the next 90 days and that the first batch will be ready by July 2023. No changes were made however for the medical and physical fitness requirements and the educational requirements.

According to the brief, the 'Agniveers' will be paid nearly Rs 5 lakhs per annum in the first year which will later be hiked to Rs 6.92 lakhs in the fourth year of service. The Minister also announced The Risk, Hardship and other allowances which will be awarded as per existing norms to the cadets. On completing the four-year tenure, a sum of Rs 11 lakhs including contribution and interest will be given they added.

Rajnath Singh said that the Agniveers can also apply voluntarily to be inducted into regular cadre after their term completion and based on their merits and organisational requirements, up to 25% of cadets will be retained in the force.

A Non-contributory insurance cover worth Rs 1 crore has been kept aside for each Agniveer with full pay for the unserved period for their sacrifice in the line of duty.

The brief also noted that in case of any candidate gets disabled during their tenure, they will be fully paid for the unserved tenure, can avail Seva Nidhi package with full interest and the Agnipath scheme has provision for awarding Rs 44 lakhs based on the severity of the disability.

Feature Image Is Representational