Recruitment in Indian Armed Forces
Every year thousands of candidates dream of joining the Indian Armed Forces – Army, Air Force, and Navy. Recruitment of Commissioned Officers in the Armed Forces is mainly through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) under Permanent Commission. For Technical Branches, Women special entry scheme, and NCC special entry scheme and service, recruitment is made directly through the respective Recruiting Directorates for the Army under Short Service Commission. Anyone can apply for a job in the Indian army, irrespective of his caste, religion, or class. The only criteria for recruitment are age and educational, physical, and medical standards as prescribed by the Indian army. However, there have been some changes in the recruitment system and this change is termed Tour of Duty (TOD). Here, in this post, we give you a brief insight into the Agnipath Scheme of Indian Army.
What is the Agnipath Scheme of Indian Army [Tour of Duty (TOD)]?
The three military services, namely the Army, Air Force, and Navy, have undergone a revolutionary change in the recruitment system. Agneepath Yojana or Agnipath Recruitment Scheme is a revolutionary initiative by the Government of India, wherein youths of 17 and a half years to 21 years will serve the country by joining the Armed Forces for 4 years through a transparent process. On completion of the service period, they will receive a tax-free service fund package of Rs. 11.71 lakh to make them financially secured.
Tour of Duty (ToD) is a recruitment model for short-term recruitment of jawans into the three Services of the armed forces for a period of four years. It has been rolled out and the official announcement was made on 14 June 2022. The scheme is called as Agnipath scheme and the jawans recruited under this scheme will be termed Agniveers. Recruitment in all three services, namely, Army, Navy, and Air Force will be through the ToD route only. The four-year tenure will include six months of training and three and half years of service.
Candidates recruited under ToD would get salaries and benefits almost similar to regular personnel. The Government is also planning post-ToD career opportunities for jawans and also to award them a degree or certification as those relieved from service would be 21-22 years of age only. Application of ToD will significantly reduce pay and pensions and release funds for modernization, especially for the Army, which has negatively skewed revenue to the capital ratio in the budgetary allocation.
After the tenure of four years, the jawans have to leave their job. Then after, they have to undergo another round of recruitment for permanent commission. There will be no automatic up-gradation to the permanent commission.
Key Features of the Agnipath Scheme of Indian Army
- Opportunity to serve the nation as Agniveers through enrolment in the Armed Forces
- PAN India merit-based recruitment
- Four years tenure
- Attractive monthly salary and handsome “SevaNidhi” package post-retirement
- Based on merit and organizational requirement, up to 25% of Agniveers are selected through a central, transparent system.
Salary Structure of Agniveers
Agniveers will get a customized monthly package and on completion of four years of service, all Agniveers will get a one-time SevaNidhi package which consists of their contribution during the tenure of service and interest accrued on it. The Government will also contribute equally to the SevaNidhi fund. The pay structure under the Agnipath scheme is as follows:
| Year | Monthly Package | In-Hand (70%) | Contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund (30%) | Contribution to Corpus Fund by Govt. of India |
| 1st Year | 30,000 | 21,000 | 9,000 | 9,000 |
| 2nd Year | 33,000 | 23,100 | 9,900 | 9,900 |
| 3rd Year | 36,500 | 25,580 | 10,950 | 10,950 |
| 4th Year | 40,000 | 28,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Total contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund after four years | 5.02 Lakh | 5.02 Lakh | ||
| Exit after 4 years | Rs. 11.71 lakh as SevaNidhi Package | |||
Why Army Tour of Duty (ToD)?
At present, the average age of personnel in a battalion in the Army is 35-36 years. However post-implementation of ToD, the average age will come down to 25-26 years in 4-5 years.
On average, around 60,000 personnel from Other Ranks (OR) retire from the Army every year and the stop in recruitment has already started showing its impact. They also retire much early around an average age of 35-37 years and the pension continues for a long time. The overall pension burden of ORs and JCOs is much higher than that of officers due to the large numbers and ToD will help reduce that burden to a great extent.
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