Agnipath: NDA Allies' Pressure, Internal Review May Lead to Changes in Scheme
New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance's allies might lead the Bharatiya Janata Party to affect changes to the Agnipath scheme – a controversial recruitment plan under which soldiers will be recruited to the three defence services for four years.
Nationwide protests greeted the scheme when it was announced June 2022. At that time, military recruitment had been on hold for two years due to the pandemic.
Former Army chief General M.M. Naravane has said that the announcement caught the Army by surprise and was a “bolt out of the blue” for the Navy and the Air Force.
The BJP has suffered in the recent Lok Sabha polls in areas which contribute the most number of defence employees.
The Hindu had earlier reported that the Union defence ministry's Department of Military Affairs – under the Chief of Defence Staff – has sought feedback from the forces on the scheme on the back of increasing shortage in soldiers and the very low conversion to permanent ranks.
The Economic Times has reported that the scheme could see "substantial changes" after the internal survey. Among one of the changes could be an increase in the retention rate.
"At present, only 25% of Agniveers are inducted into the armed forces after their four-year term. The proposed changes suggest increasing this rate to 60-70% for regular troops and up to 75% for technical and specialist soldiers, including those in signals, air defence, and engineering."
Among other reported changes are an extension of service tenure to eight years and raising the induction age for technical services to 23 years.
Of the BJP's allies, the Janata Dal (United)'s K.C. Tyagi spoke of "anger among voters with regard to the Agnipath scheme."
While adding that the Nitish Kumar-led party's support to the NDA is unconditional, he said, "Our party wants that this scheme is discussed threadbare in the government to remove its flaws."
Chirag Paswan, who leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), has also spoken in favour of a review of the scheme.
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