{"id":37882,"date":"2024-06-10T04:03:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37882"},"modified":"2025-10-14T11:49:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T06:19:25","slug":"agnipath-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/agnipath-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Agnipath Scheme: Objectives, Opposition, and Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is Agnipath scheme?<\/li>\n<li>Why was Agnipath introduced?<\/li>\n<li>Why has Agnipath seen such strong opposition?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<p>Agnipath scheme, announced in June 2022, has faced opposition from political parties and Armed Forces veterans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The opposition&#8217;s campaign in states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan, where the Armed Forces are a major employer, prominently featured opposition to this military recruitment scheme. The BJP&#8217;s performance in these states suggests that this opposition resonated with voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the BJP now falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha, key alliance partners like Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party have also called for a review of the scheme.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Agnipath scheme?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Agnipath scheme is a central government scheme launched in 2022 for recruitment to the armed forces.<\/li>\n<li>It is a recruitment process for individuals below the rank of officer, with the goal of deploying fitter, younger troops on the front lines, many of whom will be on four-year contracts.\n<ul>\n<li>The armed forces would also have the option to retain some of the best &#8216;Agniveers.&#8217;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eligibility\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Candidates between the age of 17.5 years to 21 years will be eligible for enrolling in the Agnipath scheme.<\/li>\n<li>Girls under the given age limit are open for the agnipath entry, while there is no such reservation for women under this scheme.<\/li>\n<li>The recruitment standards will remain the same, and recruitment will be done twice a year through rallies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pay &amp; Benefits of Agniveers<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>If they die on duty, their family receives a lump sum of Rs 1 crore (including the Seva Nidhi package), and full pay for the period which the soldier could not serve.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In case of disability, an Agniveer can receive upto Rs 44 lakh as compensation, depending on the percentage of disability suffered which is attributed to, or aggravated by military service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agnipath is different from regular military service<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Unlike soldiers in regular service, Agniveers do not draw pensions post-retirement.<\/li>\n<li>Only 25% of Agniveers who are absorbed into the forces after four years will receive pension benefits, excluding their initial four years of service.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This scheme aims to reduce the Armed Forces\u2019 permanent force levels and significantly cut the defence pension bill, a longstanding concern for governments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agniveers recruited so far<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In the Army, two batches of 40,000 Agniveers have completed training and are under posting.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The third batch of 20,000 began training in November 2023.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In the Navy, three batches of 7,385 Agniveers have completed training. In the IAF, 4,955 Agniveers have completed training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why was Agnipath introduced?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Agnipath scheme, beyond reducing the Armed Forces\u2019 wage and pension bill, aims to ensure a <strong>youthful profile for the forces<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the scheme as a game changer, intended to make the Armed Forces youthful, high-tech, and ultra-modern.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The average age in the Armed Forces, currently 32 years, will be reduced to 26 years with Agnipath&#8217;s implementation.<\/li>\n<li>The government also argues that Agniveers, after completing their service, will positively contribute to civil society with their skills, discipline, and education.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This is expected to enhance workforce quality, productivity, and overall GDP growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why has Agnipath seen such strong opposition?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Critics argue that the Agnipath scheme creates a lesser cadre of soldiers who perform the same tasks as fully commissioned soldiers but with lower pay, fewer benefits, and limited prospects.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, an opposition leader wrote to President, highlighting the discrimination in benefits for the families of fallen Agniveers compared to regular soldiers, calling for urgent attention to this issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This disparity has caused significant dissatisfaction among those who view military recruitment as a means to economic stability and upward mobility.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Q.1. Who are Agniveers?<\/h2>\n<p>Agniveers are soldiers, airmen, and sailors recruited into the Indian Armed Forces for a four-year period under the Agnipath Scheme. The term &#8220;Agniveer&#8221; translates to &#8220;Fire-Warriors&#8221; and is a new military rank.<\/p>\n<h2>Q.2. What is Seva Nidhi package?<\/h2>\n<p>The Seva Nidhi package is a one-time severance package paid to Agniveers, or young people who serve in the Indian Armed Forces under the Agnipath scheme, after they complete four years of service.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-agnipath-scheme-opposition-9379715\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Explained: What is the Agnipath scheme and the opposition to it?<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mondaq.com\/india\/government-contracts-procurement--ppp\/1226798\/doctrine-of-promissory-estoppel-and-its-application-against-government--an-explainer-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mondaq<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/vikaspedia.in\/education\/career-guidance\/career-options\/agneepath-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vikaspedia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Agnipath scheme is a central government scheme launched in 2022 for recruitment to the armed forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}