Newsletters
Agnipath Passes Agnipariksha
Young army recruits undergoing training.
The main aim of the Agnipath scheme is to prevent the pensions budget of the military from ballooning further.
Pensions make up almost a quarter of the country's defence budget.
The burgeoning defence pension budget is the main reason behind the meagre modernisation spending.
The result is that the budget allocation for capital expenditure falls short of resource projection by the armed forces year after year.
But what was surprising, was the number of senior, retired military officers who publicly inveighed against this new policy, the vehemence of their fulminations and the poor quality of their arguments.
One retired Army officer said that the scheme would be unjust to new recruits and length of service ought to be increased.
The soldiers who exit after four years would get a certificate for their skills and credits, which could be used for further education.
Along with the Rs 11.7 lakh tax-free 'Seva Nidhi' and the experience of serving in the armed forces, this would put these soldiers ahead of many of their peers across the country.
Over a period of time, the spending on pensions would go down, and the military will have more to spend on modernisation.
The youthful profile of the military that the Agnipath scheme offers would make the integration of new technology easier.
If salaries and pension burden for past and present personnel becomes burdensome to exchequer, it will reflect in either slower recruitment or thinned down entitlements for future personnel.
