Radical recruitment changes, now soldiers to be inducted for 4 years
NewDelhi, June 14 The new recruitment policy in the armed forces announced on Tuesday by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh makes a series of radical changes, including induction of more women and change in composition of certain British-era regiments which have soldiers only from specific castes. Addressing a press conference, Rajnath called the scheme transformative and dismissed suggestions that it was brought in to cut down the ballooning pension bill. He said, “We are ready to spend any money on the armed forces.” Recruitment of troops in the Army that had been suspended for two years will restart in 90 days. However, several veterans have questioned the scheme for it is being tried without having been experimented at a smaller scale. Termed the Agnipath scheme, it will entail induction of troops into the Army, IAF and Navy for four years as jawans, airmen and sailors, respectively. Some 46,000 youth in the age group of 17.5 years to 21 years will be recruited this year. “The Agniveers (name for those recruited under the scheme) will form a distinct rank in the armed forces, different from any other existing rank,” the Ministry of Defence said. Those leaving the service after four years would get job opportunities in several ministries, public sector undertakings, said Rajnath, adding that some states had also agreed to give them jobs. After four years of service, only 25% of Agniveers can opt for full tenure. Lt Gen Anil Puri, Additional Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs, said, “At present, the average age of troops is 32 years which will be brought down to 26 years. The selection process will be transparent and also open to women progressively.” Recruits will get a monthly salary starting at Rs 30,000 in the first year. It will go up to Rs 40,000 in the fourth year. Risk and hardship allowance will be separate and at a par with regular soldiers based on the place of posting. A contributory severance package called the ‘Seva Nidhi’ means each demobilised trooper would receive around Rs 11.76 lakh. All earnings would be exempt from income tax and there shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. An insurance cover of Rs 1 crore will be provided in case of death in the line of duty. In other words, this means the British-era recruitment system based on specific caste regiments will go away. For now, a Sikh regiment, a Rajput regiment, a Maratha regiment or a Jat regiment draw troops from these communities, respectively. In the past, youth have been recruited from the same gene-pool and from within specific geographical locations. In the older regiments, the system has been working for more than 150 years. On being asked how he saw this, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said, “Around 75% of units are all India, all class, only a limited units have specific class composition. We expect these regiments to evolve from class-based to all-India, all class structure.” Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said the youth leaving the service after four years would be job-ready. Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said, “We need to change with time. Agniveers will be posted on frontline warships and submarines.”
