Why Congress' Idea Of Reversing Agniveer Is Dangerous

The Congress party ought to refrain from politicising the recruitment process of the Indian Armed Forces.

Day before yesterday, (26 February), Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, demanding the withdrawal of the recently introduced Agniveer scheme in the armed forces.

He said that the scheme is gross injustice to the youngsters and promised to reinstate the old recruitment system if Congress comes back to power, potentially reversing the advancements made over the past two years.

With these statements on Agniveer, the Congress has wandered into domains with serious national security consequences.

The Agniveer recruitment scheme is for the recruitment of soldiers, personnel below officer rank (PBOR), in the forces, aged between 17.5 to 21 years, for a four-year period.

After completion of their four-year tenure only a quarter (or 25 per cent) of Agniveers will be retained for further service, while the remaining 75 per cent will be discharged without pension benefits, receiving instead a lump-sum amount of Rs 11.7 lakh, tax-free as Seva Nidhi.

Furthermore, these Agniveer soldiers will receive priority in recruitment into various state police forces and central armed police forces, such as the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, and others.

The need for introducing this radical reform had its genesis in the Ministry of Defence's inability to allocate sufficient funds for modernisation of military.

Most of the defence budget goes towards paying salaries, pensions, and on the day-to-day functioning of the forces.

In the interim budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this year (2024-25), nearly half of the Rs 6.2 lakh crore defence budget is allocated to salaries and pensions, with pensions accounting for 22.7 per cent (Rs 1.41 lakh crore) of the budget, and salaries another 30.68 per cent.

Close to 14.82 per cent will be spent for day-to-day running of the forces, (revenue expenditure), which includes spending on live-fire training and procuring spares, fuel, oil and lubricants for tanks, fighter jets, ships and submarines.

This leaves little for modernisation.

Only 25-odd per cent (in this case, 26 per cent — Rs 1.62 lakh crore) of the defence budget goes towards procuring new weapons (capital procurement), leaving the forces to make-do with older vintage equipment or, in most cases, without them at all.

In comparison, modern armed forces spend almost 50 to 60 per cent budget for new weapons.

Since the Indian Army is the second largest all-volunteer standing army in the world, with close to 12.5 lakh soldiers, just behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) with 20 lakh active soldiers, close to 80 per cent of its budget goes towards personnel costs.

No points for guessing that more than 40 per cent of the equipment used by the Indian Army falls in the vintage category. This is a slight improvement from five years ago (2018), where close to 70 per cent of its equipment fell into the vintage category.

And this improvement can only be traced back to the government approving emergency procurement powers for the Vice-Chief following the Balakot airstrikes (2019) and the subsequent standoff with China in the Himalayas (2020).

This is what the Agniveer scheme is intended to address — a reduction in the bill for salaries and pensions.

Agniveers will not only have a financial head start with their Rs 11.7 lakh seva nidhi, but also possess traits and habits acquired during their service — discipline and dedication — that will set them apart from their peers. They will anyway be earning more than what a majority of graduates make just after getting out of college.

While adjustments to the scheme are necessary, the Agniveer programme ensures that the amount of funds needed for modernisation of the Army are available.

Congress should think twice and then some more, before declaring that they would reverse this policy if elected to power.

(Also Read: General Naravane's comments on Agniveer lay bare the Army's stubborn resistance to reform)