To encourage the youth to join Army, the Centre has announced a scheme called ‘Agnipath’, which allows youths to join the Army for at least three years instead of a longer period of time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier talked about bringing reforms in reducing expenditure and age profile of the defence forces, , as per a report published by India Today.
The youths joining the Defence forces through this scheme will be called ‘Agniveers’, said the media report. All the three forces – Air Force, Navy and the Army – will have the choice to retain the best among the ‘Agniveers’ while the others can join civilian jobs on completion of the three years duty.
Even corporates have expressed their desire to employ youth trained in military warfare, which opens up job opportunities for many.
The COVID pandemic has severely impacted recruitments to Defence forces, which has resulted in creation of over 1 lakh vacancies in the three services combined. The ‘Agnipath’ programme will create provision for more recruitments in the armed forces.
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Earlier, youths keen on joining any of the three wings were encouraged to opt for a long duration service. In contrast, the Government of India now wants youngsters to join for three years and then take a call on their future prospects. Instead of keeping them bound to the Defence services for longer period of time, the armed forces would help them find jobs in varied areas of work after the three-year period. It is possible that corporates may reserve jobs for ‘agniveers’, who could add value to their organisation because of discipline and other qualities inculcated in them during the ‘Agnipath’ programme.
The programme could also allow the Defence Forces to save crores of rupees which it has to spend in salaries, allowances and pension.