Even before its new coalition partners raised the issue of disenchantment against the Agnipath scheme, the BJP government had indicated that the intake process is open to changes, with senior leaders acknowledging that modifications can be made to give short service soldiers better employment opportunities and even reservations for jobs.Besides the political opposition, the scheme has not been easy to implement within the armed forces, with the veteran community in particular very vocal on creating a different class of soldiers who do not enjoy the safeguards and financial security guaranteed to regular personnel.
The forces are also facing a shortage of over 1.5 lakh personnel, a bulk of them in the Army, with the gap widening as regular intake of soldiers has been halted due to the Agnipath scheme. It will not be easy to overcome this shortage anytime soon, given the constraints in training capacity and annual intake limits.
The official reason given for the shortage is lack of intake during the Covid 19 pandemic but even after all restrictions were lifted, intake came down to a trickle as Agnipath was the only entry option to fill vacancies for entry-level soldiers. As no alteration has been made in the retirement age, the shortage has increased in the past two years. One possible option to fill the gap is to increase the intake of Agniveers into the Army after completion of their four-year service tenure. At present, the plan is to retain only 25% of Agniveers as regular soldiers in the Army, with the remaining to be let off with a pre-determined financial package.
- All
- Uttar Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Tamil Nadu
- West Bengal
- Bihar
- Karnataka
- Andhra Pradesh
- Telangana
- Kerala
- Madhya Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Delhi
- Other States
However, the government has been open to increasing the intake as per the requirements of the armed forces, raising the possibility that almost all Agniveers can be retained for regular service when the first batch completes its tenure towards 2026-end.Another point of contention has been the financial security given to soldiers who have been wounded or killed in combat. There have been demands to bring this on a par for all battle casualties, regardless of the scheme under which they join the armed forces.
