Last Updated on June 20, 2022 by srikanta

In India, people have special feelings for their country, and more than that they respect their soldiers. Almost every youth in India is ready to serve his/her country as a soldier. Therefore a huge proportion of the youth tries hard to get into this profession. Although there is very heavy demand for this job still very few get selected only as the vacancies are very low. But on 14th June 2022 Indian government introduced the Agnipath scheme through which huge recruitment will be done in Indian army and navy.

Normally it seems like a scheme to increase employment, so every youth should become happy with it. But this is not the scenario right now. Youth are protesting against it, they have become violent and are asking the government to take down this scheme. Now the question is why they are protesting? So it’s a bit confusing and to know every detail of this scheme, read this blog carefully.  Along with that question, this blog will answer other questions also such as What is mission Agnipath? Who can apply for this? What are the benefits of this mission? How can one apply? It is a good or bad scheme? Just read till the end and you will get all your doubts cleared.

WHAT IS AGNIPATH SCHEME?

As you already know this is a military scheme.  It was introduced in 2020 and it was proposed by late former Army General Bipin Rawat. Under this scheme, Indian youth can serve in the Army, Navy, or Airforce for 4 years. This 4-year is called as engagement period. All the new joiners in this scheme will get a different rank on their respective bases. They will be called Agniveers. There will be 50000 recruitment every year under this scheme.

You can also read about complete history of world war here.

WHO CAN APPLY FOR AGNIPATH SCHEME?

The recruitment for this scheme is going to start in September-October 2022. Any boys students between 17.5 to 21 years of age can apply for this scheme. But due to the current scenario of protests, the government has increased the age limit from 21 to 23. This age relaxation is just for this year only.

SALARY STRUCTURE

The salary for the Agniveers will increase from year to year. In the 1st year, they will get 30000, in the 2nd year it will be 33000, in the 3rd year it will be 36,500 and in the final year, they will get 40000 per month. But this is not the salary they will get in hand. 30% of this salary will go into the Agniveer fund or Seva Nidhi Fund and the same amount will be credited to their account by the government. So after the completion of 4 years, Agniveers will get 11 lakh 71 thousand rupees along with the interest. Against this money, the Agniveers could also avail a loan up to 18 lakhs rupees. A life insurance cover of 48 lakh will be issued till the Agniveer serve the force.

Many things seems right about the scheme then why this protest is going on to withdraw this scheme?

WHY THE PROTEST?

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

There are two main reasons behind this protest against the Agnipath scheme.

JOB SECURITY

From the very beginning, Indian have always wanted a government job because it gives a sense of security. Now is this job under mission Agnipath is secured like other government jobs?

The answer is NO. According to this scheme, 75% agneiveers of every batch will be discarded after 4 years and only 25% will be given the chance for a permanent job. This 25% will be allowed to serve for the next 15 years or full term. Now, will the rest of 75% agneiveers be getting pensions?

The answer is again NO. The permanently recruited agniveers will only get the pension from the government but not the discarded ones. This is because the government wants to reduce the pension burden.

WASTAGE OF TRAINING

For a student, the age of 17 to 21 is the most important period. During this time a student completes his graduation. This is the period for the skill development of a student. They utilize this time to enhance their skill set which helps them in their future growth.

But when a student joins as Agniveers and gets discarded after 4 years of service, he has nowhere to go. He doesn’t have the skill set to help him find another job. Also the technical training he will be getting is going to be a total waste as this would rarely help him in any other sector. This will also affect the strength of the armed force as the Agniveers will retire at their peak period of training.

These are the two main reasons behind the protest.
There are so many flaws in this scheme, then why the government has introduced it?

WHAT ARE THE REASON BEHIND THE INTRODUCTION OF AGNIPATH SCHEME?

The main reason for this scheme is to make the armed force stronger by recruiting young and capable soldiers. With this scheme, the average age of the armed force will reduce to around 26 years from 32 years. The younger the armed force becomes the more powerful the will be the Frontline.

Also, the government is looking towards decreasing the pension burden by not giving pensions to everyone who is recruited. This is because around 3 lakh crore rupees of the total Defence budget goes towards the pension every year and this can be used towards the modernization of armed force.

Another reason why the government is implementing this scheme is to make the Indian youth more disciplined. According to the government, the training and experience these Agniveers will be getting is going to transform them into a far better individual than others. This will increase the job opportunities for the youth in different sectors.

The government also promise that the Agniveers will be given special preferences in every sector, be it education loan, business loan or anything else. There will be 10% reservations for these Agniveers in Assam Rifles and CAPF. They can also apply in other state forces recruitment. Many companies are also looking forward to recruit these trained and disciplined Agniveers.

So this was all about the Agnipath scheme. We hope every doubt of you would have been cleared after reading this. Now another question that left unanswered is whether this scheme is good or bad? So let’s discuss that.

AGNIPATH SCHEME IS GOOD OR BAD?

Let’s discuss this question from 2 different angles. One is individual interest and the other is National interest.

INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS

There are few questions like should there be more age relaxation? Why there is no pension scheme? How much job security this scheme is going to provide?

NATIONAL INTERESTS

There are some important questions in this sections also such as Can this scheme change the whole face of indian army? Can the saved pension amount help in modernising indian armed forces? If the strength of indian army is going to enhance?

We can’t say whether this scheme is good or bad as it is a personal decision. So you only have to answer these questions after aquiring proper knowledge on this scheme. And after answering all these questions you can decide on your own, whether this scheme is good or bad.

CONCLUSION

This was a total guide on Agnipath scheme. Hope you have find this informative. If you have any further doubt then you can comment your question below and we will try to answer that as quickly as possible. Also you can comment your suggestions on how this scheme can be used effectively?

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