Indian youth can now join Army, Navy & Air Force for 4 years at a heavy pay: Govt launches 'Agneepath scheme'
With a ₹40,000 pm salary and ₹11.71 lakh end of tenure bonus.
Aiming to boost recruitment and involvement of youth in the security forces, India's defence ministry is now set to hire 46,000 youth every year for a span of 4-years where the recruits would be trained by the armed forces in the skills required. Recruits hired under the scheme would be called Agniveers.
Of these, about 25% would be retained for an additional tenure of 15 years for permanent commission. The others would be allowed to leave and given a Seva Nidhi – a corpus of one time amount of Rs. 11.71 lakh plus interest. This amount would be tax free and can be used by the individual to further their dreams.
New recruits will receive a monthly package that includes benefits such as risk and hardship allowances. They will receive a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000. The Agniveers will also receive a non-contributory insurance cover of ₹48 lakh during the period.
Enrolment will be based on ‘All India All Class’ basis and the eligible age will be in range from 17.5 to 21 years.
The educational qualification for Agniveers will remain as in vogue for enrollment in various categories. Ex. for entry into General Duty (GD) soldier, the educational qualification is Class 10.
The three services chiefs, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar revealed the details of a much-debated short-term recruitment policy called 'Agnipath' at a press conference with defence minster Rajnath Singh in presence.
Addressing the press conference, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the scheme will give a better opportunity to the youth to serve the nation. The government also expects to save a substantial amount of money through the scheme which will be used for military modernisation.
The scheme will cut down the ballooning pension bill of the armed forces as 50% of defence budget is being used on salary and pension bills. Under the scheme, the youth will not have to join the armed forces for the long term.