The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and Union Cabinet met on Tuesday and approved the proposal on the ‘Tour of Duty’ recruitment scheme for armed forces. Under the Tour of Duty or ‘Agnipath’ Recruitment Scheme for Defense forces, soldiers will be recruited for a tenure of four years only.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the scheme is being implemented to ensure that the armed forces’ profile is “youthful”.
“The youth sees the armed forces as a matter of prestige and dreams of wearing the uniform. The scheme is being implemented to ensure armed forces’ profile is youthful,” Rajnath Singh said.
The defence minister added that the scheme will also be a boost to employment opportunities, adding that ‘agniveers” will get an opportunity to work with the military.
The chiefs of the three services had briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago about the Agnipath scheme for recruiting soldiers, which would pave the way for inducting soldiers into the security forces for a short term. The scheme is being implemented by the Department of Military Affairs.
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The initial proposal said that the recruitment of soldiers in the Army is set to be conducted under the new scheme in the immediate future and the duration of service for 50 per cent of the new recruits could be between three to five years while the rest may have a much longer tenure.
The original proposal said that some soldiers would be released after three years of service while some others would be released after around five years.
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However, some reports said that as against the initial proposal that certain percentage of the recruits would be released after three years of service, including training and that more would be released after five years of contractual service with around 25 per cent retained for full term, a new proposal envisages release of 100 per cent recruits of the new scheme after four years.
People familiar with the matter had said some of the soldiers recruited under the scheme could have a longer duration of service. However, these proposals saw some changes when the scheme was given final touches in the last few weeks, they said.
Currently, the Army recruits young people under the Short Service Commission for an initial tenure of 10 years which is extendable up to 14 years.
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When the new scheme is implemented, people to be recruited under the ToD for three years and beyond will be eligible to be deployed as combatants in key forward locations and there will be no restrictions in their roles, the people cited above said.
The proposal, which has been part of broad reforms envisaged for the forces, has been deliberated upon extensively in the last two years. The scheme will benefit the Army financially, people privy to the developments had said.
(With PTI inputs)
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