New Delhi: The NDA government has tasked a group of secretaries from 10 key ministries to review the Agnipath scheme and suggest ways to make the armed forces recruitment programme more attractive, underscoring the urgency with which the Centre wants to address any lacunae after it became a key election issue. Those selected under the scheme are called Agniveers.The panel of secretaries will give a final presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his return from the G7 summit in Italy, people aware of the details told ET. The group can suggest additional monetary benefits as part of tweaks in the scheme, the people cited said. The review of the programme is also included in the revised 100-day agenda of the new government. The G7 summit runs from June 13 to 15.

“The group of secretaries will prepare the details before June 16 and submit a detailed presentation at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO),” a senior official aware of the discussions told ET. The presentation is likely to be on June 17 or 18, he said.

The PMO will take the final call on changes in the scheme after reviewing the recommendations and feedback from other stakeholders, including states. “The army is also carrying out own internal assessment,” the official said.

The government had rolled out the Agnipath scheme in June 2022 for short-term induction of personnel into the Indian armed forces.

Criticism for Scheme
Agnipath was launched to boost the recruitment of youth in the armed forces amid a burgeoning defence pension bill.

The scheme faced intense criticism by the opposition during the election campaign, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh – traditional recruitment areas for the armed forces – for not guaranteeing job security, part of the broader theme of rising unemployment.

Under the Agnipath scheme, Agniveers are recruited for a four-year term. Over this period, they get a regular monthly salary starting at Rs 30,000 and going up to Rs 40,000 in the fourth year. Additionally, and on completion of the four-year tenure, an Agniveer will get about Rs 12 lakh as a one-time Seva Nidhi Package. The armed forces can also offer permanent enrolment to Agniveers, depending on their requirements.

According to a study by the Observer Research Foundation, one Agniveer costs the government Rs 1.75 lakh less every year than a full-time recruit. For a batch of 60,000 Agniveers, the total saving on salaries would amount to Rs 1,054 crore. It said that the more significant impact would be on the pension bill in the medium to long term. Pensions account for almost 20-25% of the defence budget. In the interim budget, the Centre allocated Rs 1.41 lakh crore for defence.

A key ally of the ruling coalition, the Janata Dal United (JDU), has also sought a review of the scheme. Last week, senior JD(U) leader and spokesperson KC Tyagi said that his party wanted the shortcomings in the scheme to be discussed in detail.