In a far-reaching move, the government today unveiled an attractive recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the armed forces.

The scheme, cleared by the Union Cabinet, is called Agnipath and the youth selected under it will be known as ”Agniveers”. The scheme allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the armed forces for a period of four years.

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Announcing the scheme in the presence of the three services chiefs, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailed Agnipath as a “transformative initiative” that will bring about a huge change and open up opportunities for the nation’s youth. He said the scheme will strengthen India’s security while providing a youthful profile to the armed forces.

The Agnipath scheme has been designed to provide a youthful profile of the armed forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society.

It will enhance the youthful profile of the armed forces and provide a fresh lease of ‘Josh’ and ‘Jazba’ whilst at the same time bringing about a transformational shift towards more tech-savvy armed forces – which is indeed the need of the hour.

It is envisaged that the average age profile of Indian armed forces will come down by about 4-5 years by the implementation of this scheme. The nation stands to immensely benefit by the infusion of highly-inspired youth with a deeper understanding of self-discipline, diligence and focus who would be adequately skilled and will be able to contribute in other sectors.

An official note said the dividends of short military service to the nation, society and the youth of the nation are immense. This includes the inculcation of patriotism, teamwork, enhancement of physical fitness, ingrained loyalty to the country and availability of trained personnel to boost national security in times of external threats, internal threats and natural disasters.

This is a major defence policy reform introduced by the government to usher in a new era in the human resource policy of the three services. The policy, which comes into immediate effect, will hereafter govern the enrolment for the three services.

”Agniveers” will be given an attractive customised monthly package along with Risk and Hardship allowances as applicable in the three services. On completion of the engagement period of four years, they will be paid a one-time ‘SevaNidhi’ package which shall comprise their contribution including accrued interest thereon and matching contribution from the government equal to the accumulated amount of their contribution including interest.

The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax. There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. ”Agniveers” will be provided with a non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian armed forces.

During this period of service to the nation, the ”Agniveers” will be imparted with various military skills and experience, discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage and patriotism.

The avenues and opportunities that will open up for their progress in the civil world after the ”Agniveer” tenure would certainly be a big plus for nation-building. Moreover, the ‘Seva Nidhi’ of approximately Rs 11.71 lakh would aid the ”Agniveer” to pursue his/her future dreams without the financial pressure, which is normally the case for young people from the financially deprived strata of society.

The individuals, selected for enrolment in the armed forces as regular cadre, would be required to serve for a further engagement period of a minimum of 15 years and would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior Commissioned Officers/Other Ranks in Indian Army and their equivalent in the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force and that of Non-Combatant enrolled in the IAF, as amended from time-to-time.

The enrolment will be undertaken through an online centralised system for all three services with specialised rallies and campus interviews from recognised technical institutes. The eligible age will be in the range of 17.5 to 21 years.