Why army should consider rightsizing Agniveer and enhancing its service tenure

The new system of four years recruitment sans pension called Agniveer is hailed as a game changer next only to Chief of Defence Staff and Theatrisation and is included in ‘booklet’ issued on completion of nine years of BJP government on 26 May whereas other two are not mentioned. Besides countrywide violence that greeted it, courts were flooded with plaints challenging it. But finally on 10 April, the Supreme Court upheld it. But the Delhi High Court had questioned the government on differences in pay scales for Agniveer and regular cadre for army when job profile is the same. Further, on re-enlistment the four-year service would lapse and Agniveer deemed the lowest rank even below Rifleman. So these two different classes of soldier will be deployed on LAC and LoC without parity in salary. Further, the defence ministry had refused to share information about Agniveer under Right to Information Act declaring it classified as ‘secret’ in July 2022. This is the first time a defence reform has done the rounds of Chief Information Commissioner and courts. Still four million youth applied for 40,000 jobs in the army with the first batch of Agniveers joining units in August and second batch in November after completing six months instead of the previous nine months of training. At this rate. 50 per cent of the army in five years will consist of Agniveers. It is claimed that the un-reenlisted will be tech savvy youth ploughed back into society. Many assurances have been provided for higher education, recognised graduate/undergraduate certificates, lateral employment with central paramilitaries and industry. Past record on re-employment of soldiers is dismal. Still the hope is that Agniveer could be an exception though several veterans have pointed out its strategic and tactical anomalies, notably two categories of soldiers serving in the armed forces. Some veterans have said since it holds potential it should be given a chance. The key votaries of Agniveers are officers of Department of Military Affairs, of Headquarters, Integrated Defence Staff who initially highlighted its assets across the media in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Hari Kumar wished it had been introduced much earlier. The greatest worry among veterans was that it would end the centuries-old and deeply nurtured regimental system and accompanying ethos and traditions that motivates soldiers to fight. Dismantling carefully stitched norms in the nationalist zest to dismantle colonial legacy is dangerous for the health of the Army. But it was reassuring that the government fielded NSA Ajit Doval and not a politician to inform the agitated military community that the regimental system will remain intact. So unit commanders will have a major task of moulding Agniveers in four years into regimental order. The truncated training cycle relies on state of art training aids and simulators, few of which have reached the regimental training centres. Basic military training of 21 weeks is supplemented by 10 weeks of advanced training and six weeks of on-job training. The appraisal system for re-enlistment is key to retention of the best among the retrenched lot. Platoon, Company and Battalion commanders or their equivalents are in the chain of command of a transparent evaluation system to be done twice a year. Maximum weightage of 51 per cent is reserved for operational aptitude, 36 per cent for physical robustness and marksmanship skills while 25 per cent is for practical and written tests. Army Headquarters has established a fully automated Agniveer cell with a single database showing upskilling and assessment. Briefing select groups of veterans, the army reported that rallies were held in every district of the country in 2022 and 19,000 Agniveers will join their units on 23 November in two batches. The popularity of the scheme is reflected in 11,30,284 registration for 2023-24. The written examinations will be held in 176 centres across the country. At the end of four years, each Agniveer will be equipped with special skills, with their post-retirement vocations being underwritten by MHA/MoD/Railways/defence industry. The finance ministry has assured them of funds for any enterprise. Elaborate MoUs have been signed with Ministries of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The job roles and skill sets of Agniveers, while being trained have been mapped and appropriate certificates will be issued when they exit after four years. Similarly MHA has reserved 10 per cent quota in central paramilitaries including Assam Rifles till the age of 30 years. Defence Secretary Giridhar Armane has devised a composite recruitment plan of defence industries for Agniveers. All this sounds too good to be true if one was to go by past experience of re-employment of retiring soldiers. The current manpower shortage is estimated around 180,000 in the army based on 60,000 soldiers exiting annually for three years and no intake. Further, in April, Headquarter Integrated Defence Staff had ordered across the board a 10 per cent cut in strength of armed forces. If this was not sufficient Army Headquarters is working on rightsizing its manpower – correcting tooth to tail ratio. Its target is reducing 1 lakh personnel in 2023 which is the Year of Transformation. Already 64 recommendations in downsizing of Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee have been implemented but the number retrenched is not known. The army is going to employ drones, robotic mules and Artificial Intelligence to replace manpower. The big imponderable is zero recruitment from Nepal-domiciled Gorkhas for more than three years to the Gorkha Brigade as Nepal government is assessing the downside of Agniveer on a poor and developing country. The impasse is likely to be discussed during the forthcoming visit of Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to New Delhi on 31 May. The army’s bold measures in rightsizing have been enabled due to containment of insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and North East. But rebalancing of forces – from LoC to LAC – has also triggered off other measures like reduction in size of Rashtriya Rifles battalions from six to four companies. In the zest to rightsize, the principal motivation is to reduce salary and pension bills, the latter having exceeded modernisation funds due to a complex one rank one pension (OROP). In the past, COAS General Ved Malik cut manpower by 50,000 numbers in the unrealised hope of receiving Rs 500 crore for modernisation. Factoring cuts implemented and in the pipeline around 350,000 personnel have/will be axed from the army. Given the turbulence in Pakistan, stable but unpredictable situation along the Chinese border and brewing unrest in the North East, caution must inform rightsizing. That Agniveer scheme is a gamechanger will only be known after 8 to 10 years or earlier if there is military escalation or war. The army should focus on rightsizing Agniveer – enhancing its terms of service to seven years and 50 per cent retention from the present four years and 25 per cent retention. The writer is a retired army veteran. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .