Agnipath scheme: Decoding the new military recruitment plan for Indian Navy

The Government of India launched the Agnipath Recruitment Scheme on June 14, making it the only recruitment arrangement for entry as Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen in all the three branches of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force. Under this scheme, a fresh tour of duty recruit (Agniveer) will be mandated to serve for -04- years in the respective service. On completion of four years of service, based on forces’ requirements and policies, up to 25% of Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the regular cadre of the concerned Armed Force. The qualification criteria of all the three forces have remained unchanged for the Agniveer entry. Recruitment notifications under the Agnipath scheme have been published by all three services and the applications are breaking all-time records.

The youth of India today have a dream. A dream to serve the country with adventure, satisfaction, money, recognition, and a sense of achievement. The Indian navy offers a range of thrilling career opportunities coupled with the chance to see the world and meet new people. A tour of duty as Agniveer is one such opportunity to experience all this and also to feel the pride of serving the nation.

Indian Navy’s procedure for the intake and initial training of Sailors was adopted from the British Navy. It was viewed that Sailors should be inducted when young and given long periods of initial training to indoctrinate the naval discipline and to familiarise them with life at sea. The year 1976 saw Indian Navy break away from the Royal Indian Navy’s recruitment patterns and devise a fresh recruitment policy more suitable to Indian conditions. The initial contract and the period of engagement were enhanced to 15 years. Educational qualification at entry was raised to matriculation or equivalent with Direct Entry sailors of Seaman and Marine Engineering branches and Boy Entry sailors of all branches. This minimum educational qualification at direct entry was again revised up to senior secondary level after the year 2000.

From the initial days of sail ships to the introduction of intricate machinery, the modern sailors’ intellect has overtaken the “corpus virile” in importance, as the role of manual labor on-board ships has waned. They still need the muscle to manage the weight of heavy guns and machinery. The Navy’s recruitment patterns for sailors have also, over time, seen a sea change. From training boys’ entry Sailors to become ‘Jacktar’ to recruiting Agniveers, the Indian Navy has come a long way, leading the path of modernization in recruitment.

Armed forces are required to plan their recruitment policies to best suit their personnel planning. The Navy had been recruiting direct entry Sailors on a contract basis for fifteen years, which could be extended as per the service’s requirements, the request of the concerned individual, and the competent authority’s recommendation based on the sailor’s professional competence.

In the rush of emotions posts the Agnipath protests, the entire country, including services veterans, was misled and almost got carried away opposing the scheme. It was disregarded that the new recruitment process for soldiers, sailors, and airmen was introduced after long consultations with the three services who, in this case, are the stakeholders.

The services focus is not just on economizing and employment, but on enhancing the Combat Capability. Those throwing winds of caution and saying that an Agniveer recruit with 24 weeks' training cannot take charge of lethal weapon systems, complex machinery, and electronics, know very little about the functioning of the armed forces. There are jobs defined for the juniors. Then, there is on-the-job training that plays the most vital role in building a soldier out of a recruit. For the initial four years, the Agniveers will mostly fill the void of recruits and walk the Agnipath. The chosen one through merit will be drafted to become full sailors as per the availability of the vacancies.

It will be a challenge for the navy to analyze the Agniveers based on their traits of personality, motivation, and interest to predict their long-term performance in the service. Because the cost of recruiting and training a 21st Century Sailor is much higher than in the previous century, the Navy is going to focus more of the effort to identify individuals who will not only be successful on the job but, importantly, will remain in the Navy beyond the initial contract. The task facing the future Navy is to recruit and retain the best-suited personnel to serve in its high-tech war fighting positions.

There are no easy days in the naval service. The sea conditions and ram-packed life makes service on board a naval ship a challenge. The services can be a great place, but if you don’t like it for whatever reason, it can be a tough place. Whenever desertions happen, it is mostly a junior man within the initial years of service who isn’t able to fit in the naval culture and extremely challenging working conditions on board ships.

As Agniveers are only on a four-year contract, those who are willing to serve and granted further accession in the service will be more or less ready for the gruels of day-to-day naval life, resulting in a higher retention ration ratio even after the initial 15-year contract. The total service period of a retained Agniveer will be a minimum of 19 years, instead of the earlier 15 years for a direct entry sailor, giving them and the navy a long rope. Agniveers will make up for the manpower shortage in junior-level deckhands. Besides, Agnipath's human resources model will most probably ensure that those who are retained, will in all possibility be career soldiers.

I joined the Navy in the late nineties. Since then, the service has turned pages and become a force to reckon with in the Indian Ocean Region. In recent years, the maritime service has undergone extensive modernization and expansion with an intention to increase its capabilities as a recognized blue-water navy. India, being a maritime nation with a coastline of over 5,700 km to protect, the Navy has an immense responsibility. The Navy plays a huge part in enhancing India’s international relations through joint exercises, port visits, and humanitarian relief missions, including disaster relief.

Inspired by the PM’s vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy is effectively carrying out mission-based deployment to protect maritime interests by round-the-clock Mission Based Deployments of naval ships and aircraft at sensitive locations. The Navy has been transformed into the Net Security Provider for the

Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) in the Indian Ocean Region. We can never disregard the human element in naval warfare and in naval leadership and keep talking about machinery and weapon modernization. The sailor is and will remain the first line of naval defence.

The Navy’s readiness posture wholly depends on attracting and retaining high-quality, motivated, and trained sailors. The true greatness of a Navy can only be achieved through retaining and harnessing its number one resource, the sailors. Agnipath is a brand new recruitment initiative that will creatively recruit, retain, equip, and promote the best of all of India. Then, the navy shall do everything it can to enable the professional success of those sailors.

An Agniveer will be the junior most junior sailor, even junior to the lowest ranking sailor, i.e. a Seaman-II. It is the junior sailors who make the Indian Navy a fighting force ready to “fight tonight,” navigate, fight fires, and ensure the safe and accident-free operation of ships and submarines.

Agnipath cannot simply be opposed because the demobilised Agniveers will be without a pension. Since the inception of the Royal Indian Navy, the transition to the Indian Navy, and the modern blue-water navy, sailors were recruited under contracts and many of them were released without a pensionable extension of service. The amount of pension was also meager, which necessitated the ex-servicemen to immediately search and venture into a second career. There was no direct transition to merchant shipping, so the ex-sailors always struggled to find an entirely new profession.

A demobilised Agniveer shall leave the service in the 21 years to 24 years age bracket. With his disciplined grooming and the professional exposure of the Indian Navy, the ex-Agniveer will be far better placed to succeed in civil life at a young age and future opportunities for education and a second career than the one demobilised after full service at 40 years with family responsibilities in tow, albeit with a pension.

The Navy is grappling with a host of challenges that have sometimes left ships deployed for longer periods than planned. Extended deployments can cause higher rates of sailors not re-enlisting or attrition. The service has faced difficulties in rotating mostly the engineering mechanics, key sailors associated with weapons and machinery, and artificers for shore postings because of operational necessities. This has remained a cause of concern also for the Navy’s top leadership.

Shore-based rotational posting gives the sailor a more routing lifestyle, which is good for his emotional health and for the family. Agniveers on board ships would mean more sailors will get an opportunity for shore postings that will enable them to spend time with their loved ones and also pursue education. For the Indian Navy, the Agnipath can be considered a path-breaker recruitment process that will transform the force into a modern and agile service.

Availability of junior hands is a major issue for the manpower-crunched Navy. Retention of experienced sailors is another. Agniveers solve both. The most expensive component of a ship is its crew. The addition of every man would cause an increase in the expenses, not just wages but also medical, pensions, and training, which would

eventually add up to the life-cycle costs of the ship. By employing Agniveer crews, the overall number of men can be reduced, and ships can remain forward-deployed for extended periods.

The only thing that bothers me is the promises of post-demobilisation jobs for Agniveers. False promises of post-demobilisation settlement of Agniveers by corporates can cause the men getting sadly disillusioned and bear malice and bitterness towards the Service. Parliamentary records show that the actual number of corporate jobs which the Agniveers can be offered or will get is going to be extremely few.

There is a policy in place for reservation in government jobs for ex-servicemen. As far as non-retained Agniveers are concerned, I would rather prefer vacancies in educational institutions and guarantees for collateral-free loans to start a new profession. We need to learn from the mistakes the British did during their pre-war recruitment drives Recruitment promises and discontent and stop it before some damage is done.

To serve the military is an honour for the youth of this country. The attractions and rewards of the services, however essential on their own merits, will be inadequate if they are not accompanied by a public recognition that joining the services is a worthy choice. The abusive defamation of the armed forces that has circulated in many quarters of our society is increasingly an obstacle to the recruitment and retention of personnel by the armed forces. The smear campaign against Agnipath is unjust and would endanger national security. If the military service is not bestowed the reverence it merits, no monitory compensations, no service conditions or any recruitment campaign, will attract adequate qualified volunteers to sustain a powerful military.

Disclaimer: The writer is a veteran of the Indian Navy. Views are his own.

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