What is Agniveer Scheme 2022, Complete information on Agnipath Yojana 2022

What is Agniveer Scheme 2022, Complete information on Agnipath Yojana 2022

In this article, you get to know about Agniveer Scheme. For more information and official notification read the full article.

Khabar7News - Correspondent

What is Agniveer Scheme

The union cabinet of India approved one of the attractive schemes for Indian youth that they can join the Indian armed forces. The name of this scheme is Agneepath and the selected candidate under this scheme is known as Agniveer. Under this scheme more than 46000 posts. Qualification for this post will be 10th,12th, and ITI.

Agniveer Scheme Advantages

• A transformative reform of the recruitment policy of the Armed Forces.
• A unique opportunity for the youth to serve the country and contribute to Nation Building.
• Armed Forces profile to be youthful and dynamic.
• The attractive financial package for the Agniveers.
• Opportunity for Agniveers to train in the best institutions and enhance their skills & 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.

Benefits of Agniveer Scheme

Agniveers will be given an attractive customized monthly package along with Risk and Hardship allowances as applicable in the three services. On completion of the engagement period of four years, Agniveers will be paid one time ‘Seva Nidhi’ package which shall comprise their contribution including accrued interest thereon and matching contribution from the Government equal to the accumulated amount of their contribution including interest as indicated below:

Salary Plan

Earlier this week, the government announced that the salary will be around Rs 40,000 per month by the time the Agniveer reaches his/her fourth year and the government will add to the corpus fund that will be the severance of around Rs 11.71 lakh when they exit. As announced, the soldiers will be contributing almost 30 percent of their salaries for the corpus and an equal amount will be deposited by the government. These recruits will get help in securing loans for further education, they will be getting incentivized with higher educational credits and other bridging courses once they are relieved of their duty.

Year	Customized Package (Monthly)	In Hand (70%)	Contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund (30%)	Contribution to corpus fund by GoI
	All figures in Rs (Monthly Contribution)
1st Year	30000	21000	9000	9000
2nd Year	33000	23100	9900	9900
3rd Year	36500	25580	10950	10950
4th Year	40000	28000	12000	12000
Total contribution in Agniveer Corpus Fund after four years			Rs 5.02 Lakh	Rs 5.02 Lakh
Exit After 4 Year	Rs 11.71 Lakh as Seva Nidhi Package (Including, interest accumulated on the above amount as per the applicable interest rates would also be paid)

The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax. There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. Agniveers will be provided a non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakhs for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian Armed Forces.

During this period of service to the nation, the Agniveers will be imparted with various military skills and experience, discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage, and patriotism. Post this stint of four years, the Agniveers will be infused into the civil society where they can contribute immensely to the nation-building process. The skills gained by each Agniveer will be recognized in a certificate to form part of his unique resume.

Agniveers, on completion of the four-year tenure in the prime of their youth, will be mature and self-disciplined with the realization to become a better version of himself/herself both professionally as also personally. The avenues and opportunities that will open up for their progress in the civil world after Agniveer's tenure would certainly be a big plus for nation-building. Moreover, the Seva Nidhi of approximately Rs 11.71 lakhs would aid the Agniveer to pursue his/her future dreams without financial pressure, which is normally the case for young people from the financially deprived strata of society.

The individuals, selected for enrolment in the Armed Forces as regular cadre, would be required to serve for a further engagement period of a minimum of 15 years and would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior Commissioned Officers/Other Ranks in Indian Army and their equivalent in Indian Navy and Indian Air Force and that of Non-Combatant enrolled in the Indian Air Force, as amended from time to time.

The scheme will lead to a much more youthful and technically adept warfighting force by ensuring a fine balance between youthful and experienced personnel in the Armed Forces.

Agniveer Scheme: Terms & Conditions

Under the AGNIPATH scheme, the Agniveers will be enrolled in the Forces under respective Service Acts for a period of four years. They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces, different from any other existing ranks. Upon the completion of four years of service, based on organizational requirements and policies promulgated by the Armed Forces from time to time, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces. These applications will be considered in a centralized manner based on objective criteria including performance during their four-year engagement period and up to 25% of each specific batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces. Detailed guidelines will be issued separately.

Enrolment will be undertaken through an online centralised system for all three services with specialized rallies and campus interviews from recognized technical institutes such as Industrial Training Institutes and National Skills Qualifications Framework, among others. Enrolment will be based on an ‘All India All Class’ basis and the eligible age will be in the range from 17.5 to 21 years. Agniveers will meet the medical eligibility conditions laid down for enrolment in the armed forces as applicable to respective categories/trades. The educational qualification for Agniueers will remain as in vogue for enrollment in various categories. For example: For entry into General Duty (GD) soldier, the educational qualification is Class 10.

For Women

While the Indian Army will pick up the male recruits, according to officials the women will get to be recruited as Agniveers in the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.

Training

Out of the four-year tenure, the first six months of these Agniveers will go in rigorous training regime and the balance 3.5 will be in active service.

According to officials the training for those getting into the Army will be between 10 weeks to up to six months and for the Navy it will be for almost 16 weeks and they will spend two weeks on sea training.

For the IAF, they have to meet all the medical eligibility conditions as laid down for enrolment, which is applicable to respective categories/trades.

Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, has told the media persons that the “‘Agniveer’ programme for the Indian Navy will have 16 weeks of basic training. And, two weeks of sea training, and 16 weeks of professional training.”

According to officials as announced earlier this week, 25 percent of these recruits, if found to be the best performers and are driven, will be absorbed by the Armed Forces for a period of 15 years and they will get all the perks of the regular soldier serving in the forces. The balance of 75 percent will be sent back at the end of four years.

How many are to be recruited by each service?

So, in the first phase around 46,000 young boys and girls will be recruited through the new system. These will include soldiers, airmen, and soldiers.  The plan of the government is to increase the number of recruitments to up to 59,000 within four years.

To meet the shortage of personnel in the armed forces in the last two years, this recruitment process will help the Indian Army to induct around 40,000 soldiers in the first phase.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to induct 3,000 airmen and the Indian Navy around 3,000 sailors.

Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, for almost two years the recruitment rallies could not take place. And, through the “Agnipath” scheme by the second year the number of intakes will go up to 46,500 and the numbers going into Army and Navy will remain the same, but the number for the IAF is expected to go up to 3,500.

The third year will witness a jump in the number of recruits to around 52,400 and the intake by the Army will go up to 45,000, the Navy will remain the same and the IAF will touch 4,400.

In the fourth year of the scheme the numbers will go up to around 58,000 and the Army will take on board 50,000, the Navy 3,500 and there will be a significant increase in the IAF’s intake when 5,300 are taken in.

Skill Certificates to be issued by the Skill Development Ministry

As has been reported by Financial Express Online earlier, the recruits will receive different sets of training during their tenure in the service they are recruited to. This will be tracked by the three services which will maintain a digital database of these Agniveers.

The recruitment of women will be on an ‘all-India, all-class basis and they will have a separate rank and insignia in the Armed Forces.

How will they be assessed?

A robust assessment system is in the process of being drafted and this will be used to track the performance of the Agniveers.

The government is already in talks with the Ministry of Skill and Development and Entrepreneurship to issue a certificate highlighting the proficiency of the Agniveer is a skill-set.

As reported earlier in Financial Express Online, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while announcing the scheme on Tuesday had mentioned that the government is talking with other ministries to ensure on completion of their tenure in service, the Agniveers will get preference in their jobs search.

Those who will complete their four years as soldiers, airmen, and sailors will also get preference in Assam Rifles and Paramilitary Forces.

Under the transformational scheme, sailors, soldiers, and airmen will be recruited and the technical cadre of the medical branch will not be taken. This is open to storekeepers, tradesmen, clerks, nursing assistants, and General Duty.