New Delhi:
Amid protests and opposition from various quarters, including some veterans and retired military forces, over the government’s recently launched Agnipath recruitment plan, opinions are divided. While the Center has called it a “radical recruiting plan” for the armed forces, primarily aimed at lowering payroll and retirement bills and freeing up money for urgent weapon purchases, critics have rejected the plan, saying that the duration of the service is too short. There have been massive protests in Bihar against the scheme.
Under the scheme, approximately 45,000 people between the ages of 17.5 and 21 will be inducted into the services for a four-year term of office. Recruitments will begin within the next 90 days and the first batch will be ready in July 2023.
Speaking to DailyExpertNews, Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, who currently serves as the deputy chief of the Air Force, said that although there were initial detentions, the issues have been resolved. “I can assure you that the skills process or the training process for the Agniveers would be phased and progressive,” he said.
Concerning the concern that in the case of the Indian Air Force, where highly skilled craftsmen such as fitters and technicians – those who handle state-of-the-art systems – are trained, we can afford them after just four years, Air Marshal Singh said they will provide these recruits with shorter training, which will basically be a capsule for essential military training and then certain trade or industry-specific preparatory training.
“We send them out into the field to use them together with a mix of experienced ordinary people. Therefore, that detailed training for aircraft with more complex systems, where they do deeper operational or maintenance activities, would only be done for those people who would like regulars after four years of engagement as Agniveers. So I don’t think there’s a big problem with this,” he said.
On the possibility of recruiting technical institutes, as the Air Force is a highly specialized technical wing, he said they are already in talks with them. “Not only will we adapt our training curriculum, but those institutes will also optimize their curriculum so that these potential Agniveers already come with pre-acquired skills that we want. This will be done all over India so that we can get people from all over,” he said.
He stressed that the quality of new recruits will not suffer just because of the four years of service.
The scheme essentially entails that those who join the armed forces at the rank of Javanese or equivalent in the air force and navy will serve for a period of four years. After that, they will leave the armed forces. They get a one-time fee of about 11 lakh rupees and after that they can freely join the civilian sector. The bottom line is that if this worked, the government would save a lot of money, which could perhaps be used for capital expenditures. In other words, the purchase of new weapons, because the Indian budget for the procurement of new weapons has been languishing for several years, but the plan itself has been criticized a lot.
Air Marshal Singh said women will be inducted “in a phased form in different branches” gradually.
On why young people would choose the four-year service instead of joining the Central Armed Police or the paramilitaries, where they can have a full career with a pension, he said that a salary or pension is not the only criterion for young people to to join Agnipath.
“I think enough research has been done that there are a lot of people who would find this limited four-year commitment more appealing because with the services they will go back with skills. And that’s unique. Along with traits of leadership, camaraderie and teamwork, they get when they go back along with certain certificates that we give them they will be ready for the job So I think it would meet the best of both requirements,” he said.