New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved an attractive recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the armed forces. The scheme is called ‘Agnipath’ and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’ and will be allowed to serve in the armed forces for a period of four years.

The Agnipath scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the armed forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.

It will enhance the youthful profile of the armed forces while at the same time bring about a transformational shift towards a more tech savvy armed forces – which is indeed the need of the hour.  It is envisaged that the average age profile of Indian armed forces would come down by about 4-5 years by implementation of this scheme. The nation stands to immensely benefit by infusion of highly inspired youth with deeper understanding of self-discipline, diligence and focus, who would be adequately skilled.

‘Agniveers’ will be given an attractive customised monthly package along with Risk and Hardship allowances as applicable in the three services. On completion of the engagement period of four years, Agniveers will be paid one time ‘Seva Nidhi’ package which shall comprise their contribution including accrued interest thereon and matching contribution from the government equal to the accumulated amount of their contribution including interest.

The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from income tax. There shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits.  Agniveers will be provided non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakhs for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian armed forces. During this period of service to the nation, the ‘Agniveers’ will be imparted with various military skills and experience, discipline, physical fitness, leadership  qualities, courage and patriotism.

Moreover, the ‘Seva Nidhi’ of approximately Rs 11.71 lakh would aid the Agniveers to pursue their future dreams without the financial pressure, which is normally the case for young people from the financially deprived strata of society.

The individuals, selected for enrolment in the armed forces as regular cadre, would be required to serve for a further engagement period of minimum 15 years and would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of junior commissioned officers or other ranks in the Indian Army and their equivalent in Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. /BI/