The Indian Army on Monday took the lead to implement the ‘Agnipath’ and issued notifications for recruitment of the ‘Agniveers’ as the government decided to go full steam ahead to implement the new scheme, which triggered widespread protests in several states.
The Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force are expected to issue similar notifications on Tuesday and Friday respectively for recruitment of the 'Agniveers'.
The notification issued by the Indian Army stated that each ‘Agniveer’ would get a composite pay package after being recruited to the force for four years through ‘Agnipath’ – Rs 30,000 in the first year, Rs 33,000 in the second year, Rs 36,000 in the third year and Rs 40,000 in the fourth year. They will also get risk and hardship, ration, dress and travel allowances and will be exempted from making any contribution in Armed Forces Personnel Provident Fund or any other Provident Fund.
The ‘Agniveers’, however, will not be entitled to Dearness Allowance and Military Service Pay. Neither will they be entitled to gratuity or pension after being discharged on completion of four years of service. They will also not be eligible for Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, Canteen Stores Department facilities, status of Ex-Servicemen and other related benefits, according to the notification issued by the Indian Army.
The candidates – aged between 17-and-a-half-years and 23 years – will have to register on the joinindianarmy.nic.in, which will be opened for registration for Agnipath in July. The army will recruit 'Agniveers' of several categories – Agniveer General Duty, Agniveer Technical, Agniveer Technical (Aviation/Ammunition Examiner), Agniveer Clerk / Store Keeper Technical, Agniveer Tradesman 8th pass and Agniveer Tradesman 10th pass. The Agniveers will be subject to Army Act 1950.
Each 'Agniveer' will get a tax-free ‘Seva Nidhi’ package of Rs 10.04 lakh while being discharged from the Indian Army at the end of four years of her or his service and the package will comprise Rs 5.2 lakh of her or his own contribution accumulated through monthly deposit of 30 per cent of composite pay to a corpus along with accrued interest and the matching amount contributed by the government. But the Seva Nidhi package for the 25 per cent of the 'Agniveers', who will be recruited for regular services in the Indian Army for 15 years after serving for four years following recruitment through Agnipath, would not include the government contribution of Rs 5.2 lakh.
The Indian Army will issue certificates to the 'Agniveers' at the end of their four-year-long stints, detailing the skills and the level of competency acquired by them during their period of engagement.
The Indian Army will hold recruitment rallies across the country in August, September and October and the first batch of 25,000 ‘Agniveers’ will join the training programme in the first and second weeks of December followed by the second batch of 15,000 in February next year.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Saturday announced 10 per cent reservation of jobs for the ex-‘Agniveers’. The other departments of the Union Government too over the past few days announced several sops to allay the apprehensions over the fate of the youths, who would be recruited to the armed forces through the new scheme, but would have to leave after four years. Though 25 per cent of the ‘Agniveers’ would be retained for regular service in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, the spectre of uncertainty over the fate of the remaining 75 per cent triggered protests – mostly by job-seeking youths – in several states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.