Agnipath scheme is getting more and more controversial day by day. And it’s quite hard to answer what’s the reason behind this. The government is saying people don’t want to understand the scheme. And people are saying the government doesn’t make them understand well about it. Also, the government doesn’t have a proper employment plan, that’s why they are finding temporary solutions.

In this article, we will find out how the Agnipath scheme will work and whether it will work well? And also point out what the armed forces say on this?

Agniveer is not a Night plan

See, Big reforms are not a one-night or a one-year plan. It needs decades of formulation and years of procedural steps. Then it comes in the act. And many ask why now? So in a press conference, Lt General Anil Puri, the year after covid is the best time to implement Agnipath scheme. It was It’s like “Change without gain” he added.

The Armed forces were discussing the idea of Agneepath from 1989, nearly four decades. And throughout the period it experienced many changes.

Role of Age in Agnipath scheme

According to the 1989’s statement, the average age of an army man was 32 but currently, l it’s 30. And in the future, it will be around 26. Because age factors matter a lot. As we have already discussed that the age of joining as an Agniveer is from 17.5 to 21 years. With the relaxation of two years only for the 2022 batch because of the Covid pandemic.

Lt Gen Anil Puri in the conference said that in 2030 more than 50% of the population will be of age about 25. So the Agneepath also takes the future into context.

Now after the age issue there is one more highlight that is important and that is retirement.

Retirement

So Retirement is also a mean factor of concern for the government. Because Pre-mature retirement also invites pension. And every year in the Army the number of pre-mature retirement is 45000 to 60,000, in the Navy, it’s 2500-3500 and in Air Force, the count is around 5,000. There are also many numbers of officers who leave the army every year. In the Army the count is 14,000, in the Navy, the count is 3000 and in the Air Force, it’s 500 to 600. No One ever asked what they do after.

Now if we look towards the amount then. According to the current defense budget the amount allotted was about 5.25 lakh crore from pension the part allotted for the pension was 1.2 lakh crore. And according to the Government from the Agnipath scheme, the government will save around 11.5 crores.

Why Youth?

So now we have understood who are Agniveers and what Agneepath scheme is. Now the question is why the Armed forces need young people. We need young people because the world is changing in every aspect. Even in the aspect of war and defense.

Technology also plays a key role in the Armed forces, and even we have to enhance it. And the youth is very familiar with the technology. So to make the defense more impactful we need youth. Youth’s passion and serving experience will make a balance. That balance will make India’s defense more strong and hence India will become stronger.

Pays and allowance in the Agnipath scheme

I had already discussed what pay and allowance will an Agniveer receives. But let me make a recall. Agniveer will get a salary of 30,000 for the first year and that will increase to 40,000 in the 4th year. But in hand amount for the first year will be 21,000 for the first year and 28,000 for the fourth year. The rest will be added to the Agniveer corpus fund. The same amount of funds will be added by the government. In the end, after four years Agniveer will get a sum of the Corpus fund and the government’s addition with an interest of around 1.5%. And this amount is Seva Nidhi.

Year	customized package	In hand	Agniveer’s contribution in Corpus fund	Government’s contribution in Corpus fund
1	30,000	21,000	9,000	9,000
2	33,000	23,100	9,900	9,900
3	36,500	25,580	10,950	10,950
4	40,000	28,000	12,000	12,000
	Total of contributions		5.02 lakh	5.02 lakh

The Scheme also includes death compensation. There will be a non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 Lakhs. In addition, Ex Gratia of Rs44 Lakks for death attributable to service.

Traning

Today’s generation has a young and sharp mind. They can deal with a problem with a new sense of technology. In the contract of four years, the training will be of about six months and the rest will be the duty. But even after six months, anyone will face any problem. Then that person will get additional training until he/she is ready for duty.

What about 75%?

The most controversial question in Agnipath scheme is what about those who will exit after four years?

On this topic, there are many answers and each answer has its own counterpart. So, here I want to explain the Armed forces’ point of view.

When a person joins the Armed forces through Agnipath scheme then his age will be between 17.5 to 21 (23 only for the first year). So when he gets an exit his Maximum age will be about 25. Then he can have three option

• He/She can find a job. As many industries like Mahindra have already invited Agniveer and promised that they will get priority. There are many benefits are provided to Agniveer in the Police forces. They will also get reservations about the job.
• He/She can start a small business with the Seva Nidhi amount. They can also gain loans from the Bank on the behalf of Seva Nidhi. And if their installment time will be good then their credit will also increase. So they can increase their loan amount.
• If he/she wants to study further, then they can. They will get 12th passing certificates from the government of India and that will be recognizable by every university.

Look there are many replies and many counters. All are true in their own aspect.

In Last

In India now it looks like this. Protest and violence are a trend. When a major or an instant implement came out opposition occurs. It can be anything like GST, demonization, Article 370, and recently “Farm Law”. Protest will occur. And I appreciate it. This defines our democracy. In a republic there are both types of people who may like an initiative and one who may not. And one who don’t like have right to protest, and it’s their responsibility that it will be peaceful. But you know why these protests happen because of a lack of communication between the government and the public. This result in lack of understanding. And protest occurs not violence. Violence and other factors that we will discuss further.

Lt Gen Anil Puri mentioned specially that those who are involved in protests will not able to join Armed Forces in the future.

In the Next Article, we will discuss only protest and the reason for the protest.

Also Read: Agneepath Recruitment Scheme