Agniveer Conundrum?

Our attitude

The best and most serious part of our national narrative, environment and present culture is that you need to light a fire once and then no one can ever extinguish it. We have also proved an age-old saying wrong that ‘there can be no smoke without fire’. We can create smoke without fire in reality for 1.5 billion Indians and the world at large- not only as special effects as on Hollywood sets- but in real life. “SEIRL-Special effects in real life”. Social media is another toy newly acquired- free- for the masses and their masters to use as high-octane fuel- therefore even a hundred fire tenders cannot douse the fire and it is a scene right out of the Hollywood movie-towering inferno. We have hundreds of news channels and one major fire to show for the entire week - which can create and it creates a snowball effect.


The setting can be Jantar Mantar, Parliament Street or the outskirts of the city Singhu, Tikri borders of Delhi or even Red Fort. The government can start any scheme with the best of intentions but someone will remain unhappy. Many are unhappy as others are not happy! The general public feels ‘wo saab Jaanti hai’ – far from it. If the Public knew everything politicians will not be able to take them for a ride every four to five years.

On every issue subject experts, pop up overnight and get a nice slot on one or the other TV Channels' prime-time debate. Many are repeat performers doing a national yeoman service (can’t call them REPEAT offenders) but many are good at offending you or your senses. Hats off to TV anchors who put up with this show every day. I am sure at some point an anchor may feel like asking ‘Bhai kehna kya chahte ho’ but just to keep their ethics and their job they remain overly patient and polite. Actually, ‘Public hai jo yeh saab maangti hai’ and the media gladly play along.
The moot question is the Agniveer scheme.

There have been hundreds of articles on this topic- for and against and people even experts are confused. A negative sells more than a positive so it follows the 80:20 principle. Therefore, there are 80 against and 20 for as a rule of thumb. In addition, it suits some political parties to show this scheme in bad light to instigate public against the ruling dispensation. You can line up retired bureaucrats- who never held a rifle in their life- some jilted generals and judges to rally behind this negative stance.

Right from a man on the street to a space scientist has an opinion on every issue including agniveer. Why not? This is a democracy. Opinion of the people by the people and for the people.

Let me put across an argument for the motion.

The earlier system of recruitment and training in the Army.

To keep it simple, let us look at Army which is the largest force in numbers. Recruitment was done by BRO or Branch Recruitment Office where applicants were selected basis of certain criteria. Broadly there was a screening where simple height, weight and chest measurements were done. After that physical fitness including running, pullups, and balancing exercises conducted. The shortlisted candidates were put through a written test. Mostly for Bulk (infantry and other fighting arms), the test was not very stringent.

After a person was selected, he was sent for training to centers of respective arms and the training period was according to the requirement of that trade. Even a driver was put through a long training period which was not really required.

There are several reports of right or wrong doing the rounds that armed forces were not consulted and people are buying this point of view too. It reflects that it was thrust on the defence forces by the political leadership.

Lt Gen Raj Shukla a senior retired army officer clarified this as he told Gaurav Sawant of India Today channel that as Army commander ARTRAC- army training command- they had discussed this scheme in detail before the implementation. No other army in the world trained their soldiers for more than 23 weeks and Agniveer is trained for 6 months which is 24 weeks he added. Do we need to waste three years in training? You can always compress the time frame to a reasonable world standard. One has to focus on quality and rigor of training and not duration.

"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." ~ Stephen Leacock
Catch22 of Work experience

For a person just out of school or college hunting for the first job is the biggest challenge. Every employer asks you for experience certificate without which many employers are not even prepared to talk to you. Therefore, a job seeker is stuck in a very weird situation- without a job you cannot get work experience and without work experience you cannot get a job.

What does Agniveer entail?

The biggest advantage of this scheme is ‘work experience’ a sterling work experience and exposure to military ethos which cannot be measured in Rupees. This is a way to ‘earn while you learn’.

For instance, in the current budget 2024 an internship scheme has been announced. You as an intern get Rs 5000/- per month and also get experience on the job. If the company likes your work, you could get a job in the same company or put this on your resume and apply elsewhere. The full details and implementation will be clear as this scheme rolls out. This would target graduates seeking employement.

Agneevir is a much better bet in all respects. No government can manufacture jobs- let all political parties understand this and stop creating hurdles everywhere and thwart even good schemes. If you have any better ideas then present them in the parliament. We are all ears.

In the first year, Agniveers receive a monthly package of INR 30,000, with an in-hand salary of INR 21,000. They contribute INR 9,000 to the Agniveer, Corpus Fund, which is matched by the Government. In effect 39,000. Risk and Hardship allowances as applicable in the three services and thirty days annual leave, LTC,canteen facility and medical etc. in addition. Agniveers will be given priority in bank loan schemes if they wish to become entrepreneurs. If Agniveers wish to study further, a Class 12 equivalent certificate and a Bridging Course of choice for further studies will be given. Don’t forget most are only class 12th pass- not too great at academics.

Agniveer will be provided non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period.

As the years progress, the salary increases, with the fourth-year package amounting to INR 40,000 per month. Twenty five percent are retained and rest go back to their respective homes- now fully confident to take on the world- yes, they can then do a graduation course of their liking thereafter. He also gets a tax-free lump sum of INR 12 lakhs. Cost to the government (CTG) is much like CTC cost to the company. Free boarding, lodging, (rations), uniform and other things costs money. It may not be possible to quantify this but will be a substantial
al support in terms of saving to the person. Training in the army is very expensive! It is free for Agniveer.

For the sake of comparison, let us say if a person finishes his four-year graduation after school, (paying for his graduation) what does he do after that? Let us not forget 95 lakh graduates pass out every year- and most are unemployable. He fends for a job as a fresher and mostly struggles for next three to four years, making ends meet. An average graduate gets no more than ten to fifteen thousand INR/- per month -no perks. After 8 years (4 years graduation + 4 years experience) he is not at all at an employability curve/quotient equivalent to an Agniveer with 4 years sterling experience and a 4 year degree which he does after his Agniveer stint. After his four years he gets into a job and while on the job he studies in parallel. Again, he learns while he earns in a civilian job. He is a trained, disciplined, hardened horse- with 12 lacks as bonus giving a head start of 4 years @ INR 40000/- per month-last salary drawn.

All of them get a work experience of 42 months. Today work experience of any type turns a greenhorn into an effective human resource. As compared to a plain graduate spending 4 years whiling away time on their parent’s money remains unemployable thereafter Agniveer is much better off. Here he gets exposure to leadership, teamwork and a feeling of belonging to an elite organisation.

Today companies are struggling to get ‘good disciplined’ manpower. I have spoken to hundreds of CEOs and HR heads.

I have interviewed more than 8000 graduates and groomed 2000 MBA managers and I have seen that a two-month summer internship transforms their personality. 42 months is a huge experience and a gamechanger.

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” – Lee Iacocca