Addressing a media briefing at the headquarters of Eastern Command at Fort William in Kolkata, Chief of Staff Lt Gen Kamal Kumar Repswal said that the average age of personnel of Indian army is 32 years at present and with the recruitment under the Agnipath scheme the age will come down to 26 years.
Youths recruited in the armed forces under the short-term Agnipath scheme can be called back if the situation demands, particularly in case of a full-fledged war, Lt General K.K. Repswal, COS, Eastern Command said on Wednesday.
“It will be trained pool available to you and if the situation so demands they can be called back,” Mr Repswal told to the media.Those recruited as Agniveers soldiers will get Rs 30,000 per month in the first year. This will include Rs 21,000 that they receive in hand and 30 percent of their remuneration or Rs 9,000 will be contributed to the Agniveer Corpus Fund. The government will contribute the same amount to the corpus fund.
The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax. There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. Agniveers will be provided non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakhs 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. Post this stint of four years, the Agniveers will be infused into the civil society where they can contribute immensely towards the nation building process. The skills gained by each Agniveer will be recognised in a certificate to form part of his unique resume. Agniveers, on completion of the four year tenure in the prime of their youth, will be mature and self-disciplined with the realization to become better version of himself/herself both professionally as also personally. The avenues and opportunities that will open up for their progress in the civil world after Agniveer tenure would certainly be a big plus towards nation building. Moreover, the Seva Nidhi of approximately Rs 11.71 lakhs 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.
Lt General Respwal also described the scheme as a paradigm shift in the recruitment of the Indian Army and said that educated youth with right skills will get chance to join the Army without any dilution of standards.
The educational qualification for Agniveers will be Class X , matriculation. He added that that one of the objectives of the new scheme was to improve the technical threshold of the Indian Army and in some of the technical branches of Army recruits with ITI ( Industrial Training Institute) training will be taken in.
Asked about whether women can be part of the new scheme, Lt General Respwal said that once the scheme stabilises “girls will get a chance”. After four years, only 25 per cent of these soldiers will be retained and they will go on to serve for a full 15 years in non-officer ranks. The remaining will exit the services with a package between Rs 11 lakh – Rs 12 lakh, but won’t be eligible for pension benefits…Lt Gen Kamal Kumar Repswal added.
The scheme will lead to much more youthful and technically adept war fighting force by ensuring a fine balance between youthful and experienced personnel in the Armed Forces.
(With inputs from Indian Army)
(Report- Pratyusha Mukherjee)
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