Agnipath scheme in India

India has introduced the ‘Agnipath Scheme’ for recruitment of contractual soldiers in Armed Forces. After completing a term of four years, 75% of recruits, known as Agniveers, will be discharged from service. 

Let's analyse the impact of Agnipath scheme in this article.

1. One of the key points in Agnipath scheme is the ‘All India All Class Recruitment’. It'll have an everlasting impact on the character which has defined Indian army. To comprehend this, we must understand the ethnic, caste and religious imbalance in the Indian military:

For example, Sikhs have been over represented in army. In the 1965 Indo-Pak War, 45% among senior officers (brigadier and above) were Sikhs but 1984 Operation Blue Star changed the ethos of Indian army. There were more than 3000 Sikh desserters in about one dozen Indian units. 

The Commandant of the Sikh Regimental Centre in Ramgarh, Brig. S.C. Puri, and his two deputies, Col. Jagdev Singh and Col. H.S. Cheema, were attacked, leading to Brig. Puri's deaths. As a result of this mutiny, the induction of Sikhs in Indian army has been curtailed. As of now The two homogeneous Sikh regiments - The Sikh Light Infantry and The Sikh Regiment - contains around 47 Sikh highly trained battalions that form part of the striking formations. Sikh soldiers have been awarded 4 Param Vir Chakras, 40 Maha Vir Chakras and 209 Vir Chakras. Overall, Sikhs constitute 8% of total strength in army. It is still a significant number since Sikhs are 1.4% of the total population.

On the other hand, Muslims who form 13% of India's population are just 2% in army. There are no Muslim regiments. Their exact figure is 29,093. 

Out of the 2.87 lakh jawans inducted by army from 2010 to 2013, a disproportionate 44,471 came from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttaranchal. The three states provide 15% of soldiers despite their total number account for 5% of India's population. On the other hand, states of Bihar, Bengal and Gujarat provided just 14% of the recruitment albiet their total number is 30% of India's population. After the Agnipath Scheme, this imbalance will further expand. The annual intake into Army is about 65 thousand soldiers per year. It will increase to about 1-1.5 lakhs per year as per this model. Resultantly, the Indian Army will be Northern States heavy since the vacancies from North East, Gujrat, and Goa get undersubscribed and while Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab get oversubscribed.

2. Another important issue is training. For example, there are two Artillery Centres in India with a maximum capacity of 4000 soldiers in each. The new scheme will double the number of trainees. Gunners normally go through six months of basic military training and six months as a Gunner. Agniveers would be deployed in field after six months of training. In such a time constraint environment, the training centres would yield a highly incompetent lot. 

Also, why would an Agniveer give his life when he has to retire after 4 years with no pension? 

3. These Agniveers will be thrown in a society where over 45 crore Indians have stopped looking for jobs. Muslims are facing an impending genocide. Three years into Modi’s first term, a research report found that 97% of all cow-related violence in India came after he was elected.

We already know that the RSS, which is the largest Neo Nazi group have a strong belief that Muslims and other minorities are an ‘Internal threat’ to India. RSS has an estimated 1.5 – 2 million regular participants in its nearly 57,000 shakhas across 36,293 locations nationwide along with an armed dedicated militia of 600,000 Now it's militia will have well trained Agniveer soldiers to wreck havoc against the minorities. 

Mahendra Singh has already made his party's intentions clear. He's asking Agniveers to defend India against Adharmis. 

When Modi first took office as PM in 2014, 41 members of his govt’s 66-person cabinet had an RSS background. Today, 38 out of 53 ministers — nearly 75% — hail from RSS. 

Dr. C. G. Pande, who is father of COAS General Manoj Pande, has close links with RSS leadership in Nagpur.

4. When Indian Army's Lt Gen P R Shankar was a brigade commander in the East, he was given a proposal to train the tribals boys so that they can get recruited in the Army. He formulated a plan enthusiastically. When he went on a visit to Assam Rifles battalion, Subedar Major of they unit told him: “Sahab, do you realise that all the boys whom you train and who do not get recruited will be picked up by militant groups? You might be training future militants.” He quietly buried the program.

But the Sangh Parivar has nefarious plans for Agniveers. 

4. Those in support of Agnipath Scheme have one strong point. India has the largest volunteer army in the world, but paying the pension bill has been a huge burden on the defence budget. Out of the total defense budget of Rs 5.25 Lakh score this year, Rs 1.19 lakh crore has been allocated to ex-serviceman's pension along with ₹1,63,453 crore for salaries — that is 54% of the allocation for the Defence Ministry. 

With India yearning to roll all the 17 commands of armed forces into four integrated theatre commands,it requires a huge budget.

The Indian Air Force is facing a shortage of 12 squadrons of fighter jets. They already down to 30 squadrons of fighter jets. The Indian Navy has 130 ships when they are eyeing a 200-ship navy. Indian Army is already short of 1,00,000 soldiers.

Will the Agnipath Scheme solve the predicaments of Indian Armed Forces or is it a recipe for disaster?

We'll see that in the next few years.