DMA 'actively' taking stock of feedback on Agniveers as Agnipath scheme sparks Lok Sabha election debate

By Anish Kumar | First Published May 24, 2024, 12:34 PM IST

The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is 'actively' reviewing feedback on the Agniveer program from all three services—the Army, the Navy, and the Indian Air Force—with the aim of making necessary changes.

The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has been 'actively' gathering feedback on Agniveers from all three services—the Army, the Navy, and the Indian Air Force—with the aim of making necessary changes if required.

Introduced two years ago in 2022, the Agnipath Scheme has become a major topic in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024, with the INDIA Bloc promising to scrap the scheme if elected to power.

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“The Services’ personnel department are working on it,” sources in the defence establishment said.

Earlier this week, officials from the DMA convened a meeting to assess the feedback received on Agniveer. According to another source, such feedback is regularly provided to the DMA.

The Indian Army is reportedly troubled by the ongoing decline in soldier strength, which is projected to reach its peak by the end of this decade, as per sources.

Furthermore, the source emphasized that unless concrete measures are implemented to address the shortfall, it will be challenging to meet the sanctioned strength of soldiers. It is estimated that it could take another decade to fully replenish the ranks.

In July of last year, Asianet Newsable reported potential significant revisions to the Agnipath scheme, with a likelihood of retaining 50 percent of Agniveers.

In March this year, ensuring that the future of the Agniveers is secure, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said that the government is “open to change'' in the Agnipath Scheme, if needed.

In June 2022, the then Additional Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, Lt Gen Anil Puri, projected that the number of Agniveers would reach 1.25 lakh in the near future.

It is anticipated that by 2026, approximately 1.75 lakh youths will be inducted under the Agnipath scheme.

“In the next 4-5 years, our intake (of soldiers) will be 50,000-60,000 and will increase to 90,000-1 lakh subsequently. We have started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme... and to build up infrastructure capacity," Lt General Anil Puri had said.

It is worth noting that approximately 60,000 soldiers retire annually.

In 2021, Parliament was informed of the shortage of troops in the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force, amounting to 1.18 lakh, 11,587, and 5,819, respectively.

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