New Delhi: The operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces will enhance with the rollout of the ‘Agnipath’ scheme. This is because the risk-taking capability of the personnel to be recruited under it would be higher because of their younger age profile, officials said Wednesday. The government unveiled the ‘Agnipath’ scheme Tuesday for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The recruitment will be done largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process.
Under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, youngsters between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years will be inducted into the three services. After the completion of the four-year tenure, the scheme provides for retaining 25 per cent of the recruits for regular service.
“The operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces will be enhanced by ‘Agnipath’ scheme. By having a younger profile, which is more fighting fit with less encumbrances, it is expected that the risk-taking capability of these personnel would be higher,” a senior official said.
Lieutenant General Anil Puri, Additional Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, said Tuesday that the new recruitment scheme is set to bring down the average age of a soldier from the current 32 years to 24-26 years in six to seven years.
The officials said the present pattern of selection in the Armed Forces is not being changed with the introduction of the scheme. They said the only change that is happening is in the terms and conditions of the service.
“As all of you are aware, the three services have well-established selection centres spread over India. It has enabled them to recruit people from even the remotest part of the nation,” an official pointed out.
“Since these very selection centres would continue to undertake the responsibility of recruiting personnel, we expect that the all-India representation would not be affected by the introduction of the ‘Agnipath’ scheme,” the official added.
The officials said the Indian Army will retain the regimental system, as the new scheme envisages selecting the best of the ‘Agniveers’.
“We shall be retaining the regimental system since the scheme envisages selecting the best of the ‘Agniveers’ and only those who proved their mettle, the cohesiveness of the unit would be ensured by these personnel,” the official said. “Further, these aspects would be focussed upon and accentuated by the training received once the ‘Agniveer’ reaches the unit,” he asserted.
The officials said with the infusion of technology and revamping of the training programme, the Armed Forces would ensure that the personnel inducted under the scheme have the same skill sets that are required to meet the operational challenges.
“Since the training standards are clearly defined, and monitored by the highest authorities in the Armed Forces, it would be ensured that the ‘Agniveers’ meet the highest professional standards,” said the official cited above.
The personnel to be inducted under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme would be known as ‘Agniveers’. The Armed Forces will recruit 46,000 ‘Agniveers’ this year under the new scheme.