Agnipath scheme

It is a scheme launched by the Indian Government for the Indian

Army. This system is the only method of taking part in the Indian
army. Age limit is 17.5 to 21 years and the people who are there will
be known as Agniveer. Time period for the people staying in is 4 years
after which only 25% of the people can take part in full time army job.
The rest 75% people are sent back unemployed and then have to find
another job. People are protesting against this scheme. Is this scheme
really bad? So let us discuss about it.

So, basically this scheme is not for commissioned officers. The people
who will be participating will be non- commissioned officers. They
will be given ranks like Sepoy Lance Naik and Naik. This picture
represents the different ranks in Indian Army.

The ranks in the yellow box are the lower ranks provided to the
Agniveer’s. Now lets discuss the salary system that would be given to
them:-
Year Salary(rupees)
1st Year 30,000
2nd year 33,000
3rd Year 36,500
4th year 40,000
Retirement 11.71 Lacs according to
Seva Nidhi scheme.

Now, lets discuss the benefits and the drawbacks of this scheme:-
Benefits Drawbacks

1. Salary is of good amount. 1.Every agniveer’s 30% salary will

be deducted to fulfil the 11.71
lacs.
2. 11.71 lac rupees will be 2.They will be there only for 4
provided after retirement. years after which they are asked
to leave and find a new job.
3.It will help in maintaining age 3. Only 25% of the people will go
balance in the army and youth will further in the Indian army. Rest
increase. 75% are asked to leave.
4.Pension load will be reduced in 4. No benefits are being given like
army. India’s defence budget is social security, subsidiary house,
5.25 lac crore rupees and 1.2 lakh food etc.
crore rupees goes in pension. So
this will help in saving 11.5 crore
rupees monthly and will help in
increasing the economy.
5.The money saved will be used in 5. There will be a difficulty for the
modernizing military. people to get a job after it.
  Some people are in the support of this scheme but many are
protesting against it. According to supporters of this scheme :-
 We are getting at least a permanent job for 4 years.
 There is a good amount of salary of rupees 30,000 which we
increase by the 4th year and will end up at 11.71 lacs.
 With this huge sum of money, they can start a business.
 It is not very difficult for an ex-agniveer to get a new job with such
skills.
Now, the question arises will these skills really help you to get a new
job? For suppose if that ex-agniveer wants to join a technical job,
rather than wasting their 4 years, they could have got a degree in
college and have a settled job. People are worried about their future as
this job is only for non-commissioned officers.
The next question arises that why did the government brought this
scheme into action besides it so many drawbacks?
According to the government, they brought this into action due to
3 reasons:
 This will help in maintaining the age balance and will add young
people in the army.
 Pension loads will be reduced from militants’ salaries. India’s
defence budget is around 5.23 lac crores out of which 1.2 lac
crores is spent on these pensions. This scheme will help to save
11.5 crore rupees monthly.
 They will modernize military by adding new weapons and devices
with this amount of money.

After still this huge explanation, still some questions are left
behind like “Is it really the job of the government to provide
people with jobs?” Its basic answer is no. It is not their
responsibility. It is the responsibility of the government in the
country’s where the government has the control of the entire
economy, like communist countries. But it’s the responsibility of
the government to provide people with good employment
opportunities.
Another question arises “Why we are cutting off the pensions of
the Agniveer rather than cutting of these MP’s and MLA’s who are
sitting free?”

At last, I don’t know about your opinion regarding this scheme but
violence is never the solution of anything. Thank you.

From:-

Mayur Garg
Representing- Piyush Goyal
Committee- AIPPM
School- St. Xavier’s School, Bathinda