Barely weeks before the first batch of Agniveers was to start heading home, the government carried out the biggest course correction yet in its contentious Agnipath scheme. The 75% of serving Agniveers who were to be released after four years will now get a two-year "second tour of duty". Every one of them who makes the grade will then get a shot at permanent absorption into the regular cadre. The change, for now, applies only to some three lakh Agniveers already in uniform.
The reprieve has come in the nick of time for the around 18,300 first-batch Agniveers who were to be discharged in phases from mid-November. The timing, too, has not gone unnoticed. The move comes in the wake of the Gen Z protests that brought tens of thousands of youngsters onto the streets this summer and ahead of crucial assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand early next year. Agniveers, inducted between the ages of 17.5 and 21, are Gen Z themselves. And the three poll-bound states are among the biggest feeders for the armed forces. UP sends the largest number of soldiers to the Army, while Punjab and Uttarakhand, with barely 2% and under 1% of the country's population, account for 8.1% and 5.4% of its jawans and JCOs.
The Congress termed the move a "U-turn", while the government insists it rests on a four-year assessment of how the Agniveers have performed. Beyond the political crossfire, however, lie the questions that matter most to Agniveers and their families, from pay and pension to seniority and marriage.
Why was Agniveer brought in the first place?
The Covid pandemic set the stage. Army recruitment was frozen in March 2020 and stayed shut for over two years, even as soldiers kept retiring. By mid-2022, the 12-lakh-strong force was short of around 1.25 lakh soldiers. Aspirants who had cleared their physical and medical tests were left in the lurch, waiting for a written exam that never came.
Agnipath, announced in June 2022, replaced the decades-old system under which jawans served 15 years or more and retired with a lifelong pension. The pending recruitment was shelved, with a one-time relaxation of the upper age limit to 23 for that year.
The government had two goals. It wanted a younger, fitter force, with the Army's average age brought down from 32 to 26. It also wanted to rein in the ballooning defence pension bill, which had shot up from ₹45,500 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1.2 lakh crore in 2022-23.
Under the scheme, recruits aged 17.5 to 21 sign up for four years, including six months of training. Up to 25% are then retained on merit for at least 15 more years. The rest go home with a tax-free Seva Nidhi of around ₹11.71 lakh, including interest, but without any pension or gratuity.
Agnipath had a bumpy ride from day one. Its rollout triggered violent protests, with trains torched in Bihar. The Delhi high court upheld it in February 2023 as being in the national interest, but the scheme turned into a major flashpoint in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. BJP ally JD(U) soon demanded a review.
What does the 'second tour of duty' offer?
Two more years in uniform and better pay. The monthly package goes up from ₹40,000 in the fourth year to ₹43,500 in the fifth and ₹47,500 in the sixth, plus allowances.
The bigger gain is in the Seva Nidhi. This is a savings fund that Agniveers get as a lump sum when they leave service. Every month, 30% of their pay goes into it and the government adds an equal amount. Over the first four years, each side puts in ₹5.02 lakh, so the fund grows to ₹10.04 lakh.
Those who take the extra two years will build a second Seva Nidhi. They will still put in 30% of their pay, which comes to ₹3.28 lakh. But this time the government will put in 70% of their pay every month. That takes the second fund to ₹10.92 lakh, more than the first one built up in four years. Over six years, the two funds together add up to `20.96 lakh. These amounts do not include interest.
Will Agniveers now get a pension?
Only those absorbed into the regular cadre will be eligible for a pension. For them, the two extension years will count towards pensionable service, so batchmates will qualify together, whether they made the cut at four years or at six. With the minimum qualifying service for a pension pegged at 15 years, both will become eligible at roughly the 19-year mark in uniform. Under the original terms, an Agniveer moving into the regular cadre was treated as a fresh recruit. Those who leave will get only the Seva Nidhi.
Will those absorbed after six years lose out on seniority?
Only to their own batchmates. The 25% selected on merit after four years will rank above them, but those absorbed after six years will slot in immediately below that group and will not become junior to any subsequent batch. A first-batch Agniveer regularised after six years will therefore still outrank a second-batch Agniveer who became a regular a year earlier. Seniority, however, will not decide careers on its own. Promotions, for the 25% and the 75% alike, will depend on annual confidential reports (ACRs) and performance on the job.
Will families of Agniveers killed on duty now get a pension?
Not under the revamp, which leaves the scheme's rawest nerve untouched. The family of an Agniveer killed on duty gets a one-time payout of `1 crore or more, but no family pension, unlike the kin of a regular soldier. Disabled Agniveers, too, get a lump sum rather than a lifelong disability pension. Last year, the mother of Agniveer Murali Naik, killed in Pakistani shelling during Operation Sindoor, moved the Bombay high court seeking the benefits a regular soldier's family gets.
Will Agniveers be allowed to marry?
The four-year engagement still comes with a bar on marriage. The government is mulling whether to relax it for the two-year extension but no decision has been taken yet. Lifting it would, however, sharpen the family pension anomaly, since an Agniveer killed in the fifth or sixth year could leave behind a widow with a lump sum but no pension.
What about youngsters hoping to enlist next year?
Their terms are yet to be spelt out, with defence officials confirming to TNIE that the revamp covers only those already in service. The four-year entry route and the 25% merit quota remain, and the CDS has made it clear that "the Agnipath scheme will not be discontinued". He also called the scheme "not set in stone", saying it will be reviewed periodically as experience builds up.