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AGNIPATH SCHEME: MOVING AHEAD

The Government announced a defence forces recruitment scheme on 14 June 2022 wherein a new recruitment model has been promulgated for entry into the defence forces. The scheme has been rolled out and named as Agnipath and the new recruits have been categorised as Agniveers. The Agniveers will be recruited for serving in the armed forces for a period of four years and then one fourth will be retained in service and balance will pursue career of their choice in other avenues in civil. The scheme has been analysed quite comprehensively for its positives as well as the challenges that needs to be addressed by concerned authorities. The recruitment process by all three services has already commenced for youth including women.

The broad objectives of the Agnipath scheme as enumerated by the government are: - youthful profile of the armed forces, increased risk-taking ability, imbibing the armed forces ethos, courage, commitment, and teamwork in the youth, creating a work force of disciplined, motivated, dynamic, and skilled youth for country, attracting youth talent to keep pace with modern warfare to deal with emerging modern technologies. However one significant factor that has been compelling in making this decision is budgetary constraint and cutting down costs in terms of pay and pension of defence forces by the government.

PROS AND CONS
The scheme has come under fine scrutiny in the environment and the pros and cons of this scheme needs to be analysed further for intended improvement by the organisation.

IMPACT ON OPERATIONS BASED ON SHORT TENURE SOLDIERS
Apparently this issue does have merit and will be tested in time to come. But the positive side is that these youth will be more educationally qualified, mentally and physically agile and adaptive. In modern warfare scenario the operations are going to be intensively weapon, artificial intelligence and techno centric with reduced scope for physical contact battles. This makes induction of Agniveers definitely relevant for future warfare. As seen in past even new recruits have proved their mettle and worth in battles especially counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations.

TRAINING
There is a risk of many Agniveers who would just understand their roles and tasks before they are asked to seek other avenues. In his four-year tenure, the recruitment training, authorized leaves, and temporary duties may further reduce his availability for the organisational tasks. Training of Agniveers will have to be really innovative and comprehensive to be absorbed in six months and later on-the-job training would be a continuous process. A possibility of increasing the training period of six months to nine months as separate component and then giving another four clear years for unit service and three months for exit and resettlement in civil life may be an option to obviate these shortcomings.

IMPACT ON REGIMENTATION AND UNIT BONDING
Regimentation and Unit bonding have traditionally been considered as essential battle winning factors and impact on these can only be ascertained once the scheme is in progress. The Navy, Air Force and some Army corps possess largely technical manpower and that gets rotated every two to three years and hence the issue may not be so relevant. In case of permanent affiliation units of Infantry, Armoured, Artillery and Engineers this may hold greater relevance and here comes the quality of time and association rather than quantity of time that army will have to work on to counter this possible adverse impact. An effort by system and units to take care of Agniveers resettlement may enable a stronger bonding.

JOB INSECURITY - NON RETAINED AGNIVEERS
Presumably on completion of the four-year period, Agniveers will go to the society as a disciplined, dynamic, motivated, and skilled workforce for employment in other sectors to pursue their career in the job of their choice. Various government departments have announced reservation in jobs for Agniveers. But the question mark still hangs as despite tall claims on assisting the ESM in their resettlement post retirement, the ground results are not very encouraging. Agniveers resettlement definitely poses a big threat as if unemployed, there is a risk of them falling prey to the lure of crime syndicates, radical political outfits, and worse the foreign intelligence agencies. Trained in handling weapons and explosives and having the basic knowledge of military establishments functioning, such a person can be a real asset or a security threat too. This aspect of their constructive engagement needs to be traded well.

Is any other country doing the same? The Agnipath scheme has been worked out keeping Indian scenario in mind and correlating this with the fact that other countries have similar schemes may not be really relevant. Some countries like China, US, Israel or France have arrangements in place similar to Agnipath scheme but none of them have similar geo - political scenario or defence compulsions like India. The Agnipath scheme is intended to extended technological edge of Indian armed forces which will be more destructive than the numerical strength of the enemies. The schemes makes armed forces more agile, flexible and lethal and better equipped with sophisticated weapons, artificial intelligence and latest surveillance and destruction systems (enhanced capital available for modernisation of armed forces as revenue expenditure reduces). There are some issues of concern with regards to resettlement of Agniveers and their training and operational efficiency that will have to be carefully and innovatively addressed by the government and armed forces.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

COL RAJESH BHUKAR   The author has been Head Security Rajasthan Operations of Cairn Energy and DGM HR in Jindal Saw Ltd
rbhukar1
@gmail.com

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