Col Satish Singh Lalotra
‘What is a life time adventure for you is a daily routine for us-An army veteran.
The GOI on Tuesday, 14 the June 2022 unveiled a most audacious and path breaking scheme radical and far reaching in its entirety since independence to recruit all new soldiers in the armed forces of the country. The scheme called as ‘Agnipath’ will be led by ‘Agniveers’ an equally bombastic word that expects patriotic and motivated youth of the country to serve in the army for 04 years. The ‘Agnipath’ scheme or ‘Tour of duty’ as has been called in other countries especially the western armies has been quite in vogue and doing well too over there. The subject has been debated ‘ad infinitum’ since it gained traction in the public domain of the country with myriad views of the armed forces veterans cutting across any malice towards each other. The discussion on ‘Tour of Duty’ (TOD) has been doing rounds for the last 02 years with the novel concept yet to sink in the collective psyche of the countrymen and the armed forces fraternity in particular. Under the just unveiled scheme, approved by the PM led CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security), the process to recruit 46.000 soldiers, sailors and airmen will begin this year on an ‘All india all class basis’ within 90 days.
As per the fine print of the scheme these ‘Agniveers’ will get a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 to 40,000 for a contractual period of 04 years with 75% of them getting demobilized from the armed forces with a ‘severance package’ in the form of Seva Nidhi’ to the tune of Rs 11.71 lakhs . The ‘Severance package’ will have half of contribution from the individual with the other half being put in by the government of India. The remaining 25 percent of ‘Agniveers will be absorbed into the regular armed forces to serve another 15 years the so called ‘Colour service”. The scheme will be progressively opened up for women based on service requirements. As stated above these ‘Agniveers’ will be given a monthly pay package starting at Rs 30,000 from the first year of their service which will gradually go up to Rs 40,000 in the 4 th and final year of their terms of engagement . The ‘In hand money’ to an ‘Agniveer’ will be to the tune of Rs 21,000 with Rs 9000 as his contribution towards his corpus with an equal amount by the GOI. This amount will steadily go up to Rs 28,000 as his final pay and Rs 12,000 as his contribution as well as that by the GOI. Later at the end of the terms of engagement an ‘Agniveer’ will be provided with a ‘Skill certificate’ too which will stand him in his good stead while in the civvies.
The much touted scheme envisages the following-
* A transformative reform of recruitment policy of the armed forces.
* A unique opportunity to the youth to serve the country and continue to nation building.
* Armed forces profile to be youthful and dynamic.
* Attractive financial package for the Agniveers.
* Opportunity for Agniveers to train in the best of institutions and enhance their skills and qualifications.
* Availability of well-disciplined and skilled youth with military ethos in civil society.
* Adequate re-employment opportunities for those returning to society and who could emerge as role models for the youth.
Cadre management is a human resource activity carried out by organisations the world over. It is meant to instill a sense of objectivity in the organization commensurate with the changing times, be it socio- economic or Geo-political. As per the envisaged scheme of ‘Agnipath’ the individual will be selected from across the country with the selection process as fair as possible with Candidates between 18 to 24 years of age. Having gone through a basic military training of 26 weeks (instead of the standard 44 weeks) these ‘Agniveers’ will don a distinct rank and insignia and join their units for an ‘On the job training’. All these proclamations sound good, obviously hiding some uncomfortable truths which a nation has the right to know having entrusted its safety and honour in the hands of these prospective warriors.
Concerns
First and foremost concern which an avid countryman ought to ask the government of the day is the effect on the national security which such a scheme is bound to bring in its wake of implementation. Is our present day army set up ready for such a tectonic shift in its thinking, recruitment and training schedules to amalgamate such a diverse but young group of people as its ‘Cutting edge’?
It is a well-known fact the ‘Sword arm’ of an army is its younger lot backed by years of prudence and sagacity of its older lot. The very fact that ‘Tour of duty’ entails just 04 years of terms of engagement for majority of Agniveers’ it needs no rocket science to fathom that there will be a huge rush for recruitment, training and movement to and fro from the units irrespective of their areas of deployment. As on date most of our training centers are located in the peninsular India ,a legacy left by the British obviously due to security concerns emanating from the north and NW direction of the then undivided India. On top of it these training centers since independence have had infrastructure to deal with recruitment of Jawans based on a set piece formula of time and date. With 75% of Agniveers getting demobilized every 04 years and an equal numbers getting inducted will change the recruitment pattern of these centers who will have to upgrade their infrastructure in terms of instructors, living accommodation, training facilities and schedules etc on a massive scale. Has the government ensured that these things are in place before the ball of ‘Agnipath is set rolling? Shall take a case each of two different arms to elucidate my point of view. The parachute regimental center is located at the Silicon valley city of Bangalore for decades to no end. It’s a class ‘A’ city (metro) bursting at its seams. . The initial training of these para recruits is carried out here where about 35 to 45 % of them get rejected . Thereafter those successful recruits are taken to Para training school at Agra again a city choking to its extreme. Where is the place for further expansion of training facilities ,infrastructure, living accommodation at these two training centers to absorb such a fast pace of rotation of recruits every four years. ?
In the similar vein Artillery training centers at Nashik and Hyderabad too are choc-a -bloc with surrounding concrete jungle of burgeoning population leaving very little scope for further expansion to take on the new adventure in the form of Agnipath scheme. Both these centers have capacity intake of roughly 2000 each which when expanded to its extreme to meet the peak demand shoots up to 4000 resulting in many HR related problems. Coupled with this problem is that of the formula given by the government as its major terms of reference i.e only 25% of the recruits will be absorbed in a batch of Agniveers after their performance appraisal with rest of 75% demobilized after their terms of engagement. This formula when extrapolated to 1.3 million strong army simply throws a figure of 3.25 lakhs as retained vs 9.75 lakhs demobilized Agniveers over a period of time. It means we will shortly reach a stage wherein there will be a preponderance of raw and young soldiers over and above experienced ones in a unit . A very dangerous situation fraught with ominous consequences in an operational area requiring fortitude and foresight to tide over a cliff hanger situation which can be only set aside by experienced troops on ground. Connected with this issue is the induction of 25% of Agniveers into armed forces from a particular batch with the elusive question being—who and what will be the deciding factors for their retention?
No Formal Parameters
In a typical unit a formal assessment for a jawan begins at NCO level, and those with less than 05 years of service not at all in the reckoning coming under the ambit of recruits. With no formal parameters devised at unit/sub unit level for the later the entire reporting channel will have to be worked upon for them. Moreover will a period of 04 years be sufficient for a unit /sub unit commander to decide the suitability or otherwise of a Agniveer in the services? Like most modern armed forces of the world, India’s too are on a fast track mode with acquisition of modern weapon platforms to include T-90 Tanks, Pinaka ,smerch, Drones , etc requiring basic and advanced courses on them to wield them effectively in war. Will an Agniveer be able to handle them deftly and demonstrate his ability to get the best of them in an operational environment and acquaint himself favourably ? What about his availability in the unit when intangibles in the form of leave, temporary duties, unforeseen happenings etc further cutting out his remaining time of employability ? As if this is not enough the new recruitment policy caters for a separate insignia and bear a separate rank structure for these Agniveers.
Divisive in nature
Nothing can be more divisive in thought and action by adhering to such a step. The very ethos of uniform in its letter and spirit embodies unification, which these Agniveers by sporting a different rank structure will convey entirely opposite. The writer has been witness to such divisive thought procees while serving in the SFF wherein the Tibetan troops were called as ‘Pinjas’ and Indian army troops posted over there as IA Staff (Indian army staff) despite fighting under the same banner. It took the entire might of the unit/sub unit commanders in SFF to weld these both different groups as a cohesive fighting unit . Whatever little is made available in the print media shows the Govt is not at all comfortable with absorbing these 75% of demobilized future Agniveers after their terms of engagement in CAPF? Why make armed forces a chess board of ’employment experimentation’ which is the last bastion of democracy. ? A much neater and quicker method implementation of this formula would have been to give it a push in a selected and graded manner over a period of time in myriad geographical settings of the country. Starting from units deployed in the Siachen glacier to those in the Rajasthan sector going all the way to NE with a sprinkling in the hinterland of India would have provided a fair idea to the top brass as to the suitability of these Agniveers.
Clarity on Rehabilitation
These Agniveers should be tested on the anvil of such tasks which have parameters of morale, motivation and risk taking as their bedrock. Those advocating that the icy heights of Kargil in 1999 were occupied by these Agnipaths as also that most of the Victoria crosses won during the 2 WW with race being led to Normandy and Berlin was spearheaded by the recruits forget a Basic premise — that of a guaranteed pension and gratuity even after their passing on to the other world . That is not the case with these Indian Agniveers. Even the world famous Maslow’s theory of ‘ hierarchical needs’ says so much – A man can only graduate to his higher needs of self-esteem , or self-actualization (Naam ,namak and nishan) when his first and foremost need of food, shelter and money is taken care of. To sum up, Agnipath scheme will not reduce our ability to meet our operational challenges. But govt of the day ought to come clean on such an issue as to the rehabilitation of such a massive trained manpower after its terms of engagement and the readiness of its armed forces to take on this challenge. Last but not the least ,the arbiters of nation’s destiny will do well to remember Indian Machiavelli ,Kautilya’s words—‘The day a soldier asks his dues from his king ,the kingdom is lost’.
(The writer is a retired army officer.)
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