Union Cabinet’s Agnipath Scheme Made An Important Provision For Women. But Bihar Aspirants Are Furious With It
Over the years a lot has changed in the Indian army when it comes to the participation of women. I mean, there was a time when it was extremely difficult for women to even get into the Armed Forces. However, now things have changed for the better and that is all thanks to the fight Indian women have put up. And that fight has gotten us here today when the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced a short-term defence requirement scheme called Agnipath in which youth of India will be given an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed Forces irrespective of their gender.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said while announcing the scheme, “The Cabinet Committee on Security has taken a historic decision today to approve the transformative scheme of Agnipath. Under this, Indian youth would be granted an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed Services.”
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In fact, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar further highlighted and emphasised the fact that the Agnipath scheme will also give young Indian women the opportunity to be inducted into the Armed Forces. And all those candidates will be known as ‘Agniveers’ and will be completely assimilated and integrated into the Armed services.
As per the reports, the Agnipath scheme is an attempt to create a youthful and gender-equal profile for the Armed forces. They also specified that 45,000 young Indians (men and women) will be inducted for a span of 4 yrs. The youth of India can start applying for the scheme when the recruitment begins in the next 90 days and those selected will be the first batch to get ready by July 2023. However, they have not announced any changes in the medical, physical, and educational requirements.
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Here’s what the Agnipath scheme includes:
1. Agniveers will be paid Rs. 5 lakhs per annum in the first year and later will get a hike to Rs. 6.92 lakhs in the 4th year.
2. Agniveers will also be getting an allowance (like The Risk, Hardship, and other allowances) based on their existing norms
3. After completion of 4 years, all of the cadets will be given a total of Rs. 11 lakhs (inclusive of contribution and interest).
4. Agniveers can voluntarily apply to get inducted into the regular cadre after their tenure is completely based on their merit as well as the requirements
5. As per the Agnipath scheme, only 25% of cadets will be retained in the Armed Forces
6. Each Agniveer will be given a non-contributory insurance cover worth Rs.1 crore. This amount will be given to them for the unserviced period for their sacrifice while serving the Armed Forces.
7. If any cadet gets disabled during their tenure, they will get fully paid and can even avail Seva Nidhi package with full interest
8. A provision is available in the Agnipath scheme for awarding Rs. 44 lakhs that will be based on the severity of the disability.
However, the Agnipath scheme didn’t sit well with many aspirants from Bihar. In fact, rail and roads of over half-a-dozen districts in Bihar were blocked by aspirants who vandalised shops and private establishments to protest against the new recruitment policy of the scheme. A stationary passenger train engine also was set on fire in Ara, however, no casualty was reported from anywhere. The aspirants are pissed because of the four-year service. They say that instead of catching them young, the new policy is retiring them young.
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