Arming people, temporarily — “Agniveer”

For the last some time, there were news reports doing rounds, pointing Government might bring in drastic policy changes concerning defense forces keeping in view the rising pension bills apart from ensuring considerable budgeting, paving a way for a good chunk of the defense budget to be utilized for the defense advancements to keep up with the defense race in the region—with a keen eye on China. While that is the prime motive of the Government, it has finally brought in a recruitment scheme called ‘Agniveer’ under which the Indian Army is not only eyeing to cut down on its expenditure on huge pension bills, but also enhance the youthful profile of the organization, however, the same is quite flawed; weak.

The scheme—which is now in the phase of implementation with the recruitment notification set to come out in mid-July this year—is quite huge for a country that has the second-largest army in the world; potent of creating imbalance. Undoubtedly, the reforms are always needed in every sector for periodic fine-tuning, but here, the Government, keeping in view the requirements of the National Security Strategy, has overstepped and instead of going ahead with direct implementation of the scheme, trying it out under a proper pilot project first would have been far better.

The basics in the implementation of the scheme have not been followed as the enormity of the scheme demanded, even as those who are recruited do not go in with a sense of any job security, or stability, no matter that the Government has promised a package at par with regular soldiers. There also would be a great contrast in the training of youth recruited under ‘Agniveer’ and those who come out of the National Defence Academy (NDA), the factors which are ultimately going to manifest in their performance. At the same time, what is worth to be noted here is that, at the end of the term, which is 4 years including the training period, 75 percent of the recruits will be shown the exit door and the rest, will get an extension—pointing at the lack of permanency in the job; another flaw of the scheme.

Lastly, military jobs are not considered preferred career choices around the globe, but if it is happening in India, then that’s because of rampant unemployment and even if the youth are attracted to the ‘Agniveer’ scheme, they won’t have much to cherish about it. Arming people, temporarily, will also lead to worrying and undue militarization of the society, because, when the youth are out, they will carry with them certain traits which could prove dangerous in a heterogeneous society. The scheme which has been implemented quite hastily has also got behavioral implications for the recruits as well as the tightly-knit Indian society: Someone who’ll enter the defense ecosystem will not come out the same; and if he falls in 75% of recruits, then he will carry the baggage of failure too—which is going to be quite a dangerous combination for any society to deal with. And there can be an enormous compromise on military intelligence.