NEW DELHI: The Navy will pass out its largest-ever batch of trainees on Friday. The batch, it is learnt, will also be the last to get the revamped Agnipath safety net, at least for now.
Over 3,300 trainees, comprising the ninth batch of naval Agniveers and Coast Guard Naviks, will march past at INS Chilka in Odisha after 16 weeks of ab-initio training, the Navy said on Monday. Navy chief Adm Krishna Swaminathan will review the parade, which comes just eight days before the force’s first Agniveers begin completing their four-year tenure.
Under the Cabinet-cleared overhaul announced by CDS Gen N S Raja Subramani last Wednesday, the remaining 75%, earlier due to leave service after four years, will get a two-year extension with higher pay and an enhanced Seva Nidhi package. They will subsequently be eligible for absorption into the regular cadre, subject to willingness, fitness and a clean disciplinary record.
“For now, the revised provisions are being applied to batches already inducted or in training. For future batches, discussions are still going on and the details are being worked out,” an official said. This leaves the Navy’s next batch, which begins training early next year, on the original four-year terms for the time being.
The Navy, which has around 21,000 Agniveers on its rolls, is also learnt to have been among the strongest votaries of higher retention. After Chilka, sailors undergo months of specialised training to handle complex weapons, sensors and machinery aboard warships. Letting most of them go after four years meant losing technically trained personnel just as they were coming into their own.
The contentious scheme, launched in 2022 to lower the age profile of the armed forces and rein in their ballooning pension bill, has faced sustained criticism over the fate of recruits once they shed their uniforms.
The overhaul has handed the Opposition fresh ammunition, with the Congress dubbing it a “U-turn” and accusing the government of acting with an eye on assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, both major recruiting grounds for the armed forces.
It also comes against the backdrop of Gen Z-led protests over joblessness and examination paper leaks, sharpening concerns over the employment prospects of young recruits who could return to civilian life in their early 20s after a four-year military stint.
The government insists the core model remains intact. “The Agnipath scheme in its current form, that is, the first four years, will continue,” Gen Subramani said, adding that the scheme was “not set in stone” and had periodic reviews built in so it could be tweaked as needed.
