Overhauling soldier recruitment

The central government’s announcement of the ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme for armed forces marks a radical shift in recruitment of soldiers in India. The short tenure of only four years of 75% of new recruits has triggered mixed reactions with a section of veterans of armed forces and defence strategists sounding concern over employment of new recruits, to be known as ‘Agniveers’ after their short stint in armed forces, which cannot be ignored. The Union Cabinet has described it as “an attractive recruitment scheme for Indian youth to servein the Armed Forces and fixed the eligible age between 17 and half years to 21 years.

The advantagesof this transformative reform of recruitment policy of the Armed Forces listed are: armed forces profile will be youthful and dynamic, attractive financial package for the Agniveers, opportunity for Agniveers to train in the best institutions and enhance their skills and qualifications, availability of well-disciplined and skilled youth with military ethos in civil society and adequate re-employment opportunities for those returning to society and who could emergeas role models for the youth. The Agniveers will be enrolled in the Forces under respective service Acts for a period of four years. They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces,different from any other existing ranks.

Upon the completion of four years of service, basedon organisational requirement and policies promulgated by the Armed Forces from time-to-time, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in theArmed Forces. These applications will be considered in a centralised manner based onobjective criteria including performance during their four-year engagement period and up to25% of each specific batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in regular cadre of the ArmedForces. The government has clarified that the individuals, selected for enrolment in the Armed Forces as regular cadre, would berequired to serve for a further engagement period of minimum 15 years and would begoverned by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior CommissionedOfficers/Other Ranks in Indian Army and their equivalent in Indian Navy and Indian AirForce and that of Non-Combatant enrolled in the Indian Air Force.

Three-fourth of Agniveers will exist the service after completion of four-year tenure, with a severance package of Rs. 11. 71 lakhs but there will be no pension for them.

The government says that new recruitment scheme will drastically cut defence budget of nearly Rs 5. 2 akh crore to almost half on account of reduction in salary and pension burden. Higher revenue outlay in military defence budget on account on account of rising salary and pension bills, than the capital outlay has been limiting modernisation of the armed forces with adequate and effective weaponry and technologies to meet with emerging challenges.

Service veterans and defence analysts who have raised the red flag over the new recruitment policy argue that expenditure for defence budget in all respect- recruitment, training, salary, pension as well as modernisation cannot be compromised. They have expressed concern that short tenure of four years might tinker with the capabilities of armed forces. Short training period of six months compared to two to three years of training imparted currently in grooming the soldiers for inhospitable terrains along the country’s border is also an area of concern over impact of new recruitment policy on battle worthiness of such short-tenure soldiers.

Another argument advanced by them is that rehabilitation of Agniveers after their exist will remain a primary concern as they apprehend that unscrupulous element may target the trained youth for unlawful and outlawed activities if they are unable to find any gainful employment after existing the services. The counter argument against such apprehensions by the government and veterans backing the new policy is that training in services will inculcate strict discipline, strong sense of patriotism and nation building due to which they will never be susceptible to any anti-social or anti-India forces and element. Announcement by the Ministry of Home Affairs that Agniveerswill be given priority in recruitment in central paramilitary forces and Assam Rifleshas brought hopesof utilisation of training and experiences of serving armed forces besides creating opportunities of post-retirement rehabilitation.

Lack of employment avenues to cater to rising unemployment in the country leaves room for apprehensions of gainful employment and the government spelling out policies for rehabilitation of Agniveers will be added attraction for youth towards the new recruitment policy. Human resources policy of a professional military force plays a crucial role in meeting emerging security threats and reforms in recruitment and retention need to be dynamic process to keep pace with changing realities and to ensure that armed forces do not fall behind the curve. Government giving patient hearing to service veterans will ensure that the radical shift in recruitment is also flawless and robust.

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