Neeraj Thakur
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a two-year extension for 75% of Agniveers who are not selected for regular service after their initial four years, creating a pathway for all Agniveers to join the armed forces as regular soldiers, subject to their willingness and fulfillment of selection criteria.
The chief of defence staff, General NS Raja Subramani, announced the decision at a media briefing with the Union minister and Cabinet spokesperson, Ashwini Vaishnaw. The defence minister, Rajnath Singh, has described the arrangement as a second tour of duty. The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the Agnipath scheme will continue.
What changes
Under the original rules, introduced on June 14, 2022, Agniveers served four years. Only 25 per cent, picked on merit, were absorbed into the regular cadre for a further 15 years. The other 75 per cent left with a tax-free final settlement from the Seva Nidhi corpus and no pension.
Under the revised policy, that 75 per cent can now stay for two more years, in what officials describe as a second tier of engagement. The services will still draw up merit lists, and the top 25 per cent will be absorbed for the full 15 years as before. Subramani said all willing Agniveers would be offered regular enrolment after the extension, but that the quality of the workforce would be maintained through selection.
Pay and benefits
According to reported figures, Agniveers earn ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 a month in the first four years, with take-home pay of ₹21,000 to ₹28,000. During the extension, they will get ₹43,500 a month in the fifth year and ₹47,500 in the sixth. The earlier final settlement ranged from ₹10.04 lakh to ₹11.71 lakh; the enhanced one will start at ₹10.92 lakh.
The ministry also promised “seniority benefits” for the second engagement. Under the scheme, 30 per cent of an Agniveer’s monthly pay goes into the Seva Nidhi corpus, which the government matches.
Why the timing matters
The first batch of about 46,000 Agniveers will finish training in the coming weeks and months. Roughly 40,000 are in the Army and about 3,000 each in the Navy and the Air Force. The Navy’s batch completes its four-year cycle this month, the Air Force’s in December and the Army’s in January. About 300,000 Agniveers are now in training across the three services.
Without the change, the services were set to retain only 25 per cent of each batch. That would have left about 35,000 trained young people without a job in uniform, a prospect Business Standard had reported earlier. The change means the forces can now keep nearly all of them for six years.
Subramani said four years of performance evaluations had produced very positive feedback on Agniveers, which encouraged the review.
Open questions
It is not yet clear how long the regular engagement after six years will run, or on what terms. Agniveers will still receive no pension. The Army had reportedly urged the government to retain more Agniveers, and earlier reports put its troop shortfall at about 1.8 lakh. A former Army chief had said any change should be driven by operational needs rather than fixed percentages.
Aspirants in Rajasthan’s Sikar district told the news agency IANS that the extension had lifted their morale and expectations.
