New Delhi: Is the National Democratic Alliance government trying to claim that the insurance payment made to Ajay Kumar – an Agniveer killed in a land mine explosion on January 18 in Jammu and Kashmir – was part of the ‘one crore’ given to his family by the authorities?
As part of his attack on the government’s Agniveer scheme – which introduced two classes of soldiers with different sets of entitlements in the event of death – Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had spoken about the treatment meted out to Kumar’s family. Gandhi’s claim drew a sharp and immediate response from defence minister Rajnath Singh, and the claims and couner-claims have continued with Gandhi taking to social media yesterday and the Army responding to his claims.
The Wire took a deep dive into the issue to sift fact from fiction. Here is what we found.
In his speech on July 1, during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi called the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces a “use and throw” scheme that differentiates heavily between a permanent soldier and those temporarily recruited as Agniveers.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh intervened to say that Gandhi’s allegations were false and that the government provides Rs 1 crore compensation to families of Agniveer soldiers who die in the line of duty.
As the treasury benches demanded Gandhi ‘apologise’ for supposedly ‘misleading’ parliament, the leader of the opposition said this was Singh’s opinion and that, “Agniveers know what they have to face.”
On July 3, Gandhi posted a video on X in which he said that the defence minister had lied to parliament about this compensation. The video then showed a clip of Ajay Kumar’s father telling Gandhi earlier that while the Punjab government has given the family some money, the “Central government gave [them] nothing.” The video also shows Kumar’s father reacting to Rajnath Singh’s compensation claim in the Lok Sabha. He says, “We received neither any message, nor any money.”
Hours later, the Indian Army’s spokesperson posted on X, saying that they wished to clarify that “Of the total amount due, family of Agniveer Ajay has already been paid Rs 98.39 lakhs.”
It added, “Ex – Gratia and other benefits amounting to approximately 67 lakhs, as applicable according to the provisions of the Agniveer Scheme, will be paid on Final Account Settlement shortly post due Police verification. The total amount will be Rs 1.65 Cr approximately.”
The Indian Army’s post does not provide any break-up of this money nor mention the word “insurance.” However, many commentators have pointed out that the money paid to Kumar’s family is the insurance he was entitled to and not official compensation – and therefore it is not exactly correct for the minister or the Army to claim that the money was paid by the government itself.
Army veteran Colonel Amit Kumar posted on X noting that while Rajnath Singh had “categorically stated [that Rs] 1 crore is given by the government to the Agniveer,” the insurance money alone is Rs 48 lakh.
This money, Col. Kumar noted, cannot be labelled “award or reward” – words associated with government-given compensation.
Col. Kumar then appeared to echo what Gandhi had said in the Lok Sabha, “Now compare the salary of Sepoy and the Agniveer with the same task. You will get the answer. Equal work but not equally paid. Especially when Risk is same.”
Photo: X/@ColAmitkumar
With a chart (above), Col. Kumar sought to establish that key differences continue to mark permanent soldiers and Agniveers who die in the line of duty. Even though both groups get death insurance benefit and a one-time ex-gratia upon death – of around Rs 1 crore – the vital difference is in the fact that a permanent soldier’s family is liable to get lifelong pension, medical facilities and other benefits that families of Agniveers soldiers will not. There are other payments – like gratuities – that an Agniveer soldier will not get either, according to Col. Kumar.
Another commentator, @ChandrusWeb, wrote on X that Rs 50 lakhs is paid by the SBI as claim towards group insurance and that it is an amount payable to all SBI government salary account holders. The other Rs 48 lakhs is from army group insurance, the commentator said.
Conclusion
From the details put out by the army, it is evident that the family has received an insurance amount of Rs 48 lakh from the government while the public sector bank, in which the Agniveer had an account, has paid another Rs 50 lakh as per its current policy for all soldiers who hold a salary account with the bank.
Another Rs 39,000 has been paid by the army but the ex-gratia payment of Rs 44 lakh and Rs 8 lakh due from the Army welfare fund have not been paid so far. In addition, another Rs 13 lakh as the deceased Agniveer’s balance of pay till completion of his contact and the contributory Seva Nidhi fund of Rs 2.3 lakh are to be paid by the army.
Official claims that a crore of rupees was paid by the government to the Agniveer’s family are misleading. Even though the family has received approximately one crore, it is almost entirely from the dead (temporary) soldier’s insurance cover. Unlike for permanent soldiers killed in action, the Agniveer’s family is not entitled to any of the other benefits due (see list below). Even though he was doing the same work.
The army and the government have tried to mislead the public by including Rs 50 lac of free personal accidental insurance cover provided by the bank as per its own policy for the salary account holder, which can change anytime, as an assured benefit from the government. Essentially, the dead Agniveer’s family has received nothing from the government except Rs 39,000 – the rest is government insurance and bank insurance.
Benefits to Next of Kin of Soldiers Killed in Action Which Are Not Available for Agniveers
- Liberalised Family Pension: Last pay drawn
- Death link Insurance: Rs 60,000
- Medical Facilities to dependents under Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme
- Marriage Grant of Rs 1,00,000/- is given for marriage of daughters, widow re-marriage and orphan son’s marriage
- Vocational Training Grant of Rs 20,000/- (One time) for Widows
- Educational Concession (Based on length of service and emoluments last drawn by the deceased individual)
- Government accommodation retention for two years and up to three and a half years
- Reservation in jobs: 4.5% reservation in central public sector enterprises and nationalised banks
- Resettlement schemes run by Directorate General Resettlement like allotment of petrol pumps
- Railway Travel Concession up to 75%
- Priority/reservation in professional /higher educational institutes
- Allotment of oil product agencies under the 8% defence quota
- Education concession from MoD: Full reimbursement of tuition fees, transportation charges and hostel charges less mess charges
- Armed Forces Personnel Provident Fund: As per contribution accumulated along with compound interest
- Death cum retirement gratuity
- Army Group Insurance: Rs 40 lakh
- Leave encashment as due
- Assistance from Army Welfare Corpus/ Penury grant
- Reservation/Priority Defence Housing Schemes: Reservation (upto 3%) / Priority in Army Welfare Housing Organisation and Air Force Naval Housing Board
Regular Soldier Benefits Which Are Also Available to Next of Kin of Agniveers Killed in Action
- Ex-Gratia (Central): Rs 25 lacs to Rs 45 lakh
- Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund: Rs 8 lakh
- Benefits from State Govts
- AWWA Grant of Rs.15,000
- One Time Grant to all surviving NOKs: Rs 30,000
Benefits Only For NOK of Agniveers Killed in Action
- Government insurance: Rs 48 lakh
- Balance pay of Agniveer till end of contract
- Seva Nidhi’ with 30% contributed by the Agniveer and an equal matching contribution from the government, and interest
Sources:
1. https://desw.gov.in/en/benefits-widows-battle-casualties
2. https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/15072022_141146_102120411.pdf
