Agneepath scheme based on the recruitment of soldiers was announced by the government. The soldiers hired under the scheme would be called Agniveers. These amendments will come into force immediately and enlistment will start within 90 days.
What is the agneepath scheme about?
According to the Agneepath scheme, annually almost 50,000 people will be hired in defence, and out of these 25 percent of them will be provided permanent commission for the next 15 years and continue the service. This will help the government to make the process of recruitment for over tens of lakhs of soldiers in our country much filtered. The defence pension bill in which the defence budget itself is about 15.5 percent of the total expenditure budget will also decrease and has been a headache for the government.
This whole system does not apply to people with higher ranks like commissioned officers and is only for soldiers coming below these ranks. Hiring will be done for the position of General Duty, Technician(Aviation/Ammunition/Examiner), Clerk/Store Keeper, Technical, Tradesman 8th passed and Tradesman 10th passed.  The agneepath scheme is only for the people whose ages lie between 17.5 years old to 23 years old. The selection criteria will be the same as the old one without any change and will be there twice every year.
After all the above process is done, the selected candidates will battle with the six months long hard-core training and afterward will be stationed for 3.5 years.
Under this agneepath scheme salary during these 3.5 years, these candidates will be paid an amount of 30,000 rupees on on the first year with 10% hike every year. So on second year Agniveers will get 33,000 rupees. On third year 36,500 years and on fourth year 40,00 rupees. with various incentives, and considering these incentives, the total will increase by 10,000 rupees by the completion of these four years.
Also, during these four years, Seva Nidhi Package will be included in the agneepath scheme under which the soldiers will have to put aside 30 percent of their salary with the government also adding an equal amount. By the end of this period, these soldiers will then receive an amount of 11-12 lakh rupees additionally with the interest.
But after the end of all these four years, only 25 percent of them will be hired permanently for 15 years. If a candidate is applying for the second time and getting selected again, those four years from before won’t be considered for benefits of retirement.
For the first four years, these individuals will fall under a different ranks in the armed forces which will be distinct from all the other ranks in the forces.
PROCESS:
The process of registration for the first batch will commence from 24th June, 2022. After the online process, the online examination will happen on 24th July, 2022. The enrollment of these Candidates will take place by the end of this year. The training will then start in the month of December 2022 itself. The navy services recruitment will start from next month. All this process will be happening online. These candidates will be administered in two phases. For the first batch comprising 25,000 Agniveers, the orientation will be taking place in the first weeks of December while for the next batch, the orientation session will happen in the month of February next year.
The process will be very impartial and the candidates from all over the country will be allowed to sit for the seat despite caste, region, and religious background.
As a one-time waiver, the government has increased the maximum age by two years from 21 to 23.
Presenting the scheme, defence minister Rajnath Singh Govind gave his statement and said, ‘’efforts are being made that the profile of the armed forces should be as youthful as the wider Indian population.’’