New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) In a meeting with the prime minister weeks after becoming the Army Chief, Gen MM Naravane sounded out in early 2020 about the ‘Tour of Duty’ scheme for inducting soldiers for short-term tenure but months later the PMO came out with a formulation with a much wider scope to include all the three services.
This is what Gen Naravane says in his memoir ‘Four Stars of Destiny’ while elaborating on the birth of the ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme — considered India’s most radical military recruitment policy.
Naravane, who served as the 28th Army Chief from December 31, 2019, to April 30, 2022, notes that various models of the scheme were deliberated upon and the Army’s initial view was that 75 per cent of the personnel to be recruited could be retained while 25 per cent should be released.
In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme for short-term induction of personnel with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services.
It provides for recruiting youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
In the book, published by Penguin Random House India, Naravane also recalled that the first year’s starting salary for the inductees was kept at just Rs 20,000 per month (all-inclusive) and that was “not acceptable”.
“This was just not acceptable. Here, we were talking about a trained soldier, who was expected to lay down his life for the country. Surely a soldier could not be compared with a daily wage labourer? Based on our very strong recommendations, this was later raised to Rs 30,000 per month,” he says.
After the new formulation of the scheme, Gen Naravane says, the Army was “taken by surprise by this turn of events, but for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue.” “When I had first sounded out the PM about the Tour of Duty scheme, it was more on the lines of a short-service option at the soldier level, similar to the Short Service Commission scheme for officers that was already in vogue.” “Just as a limited number of SSC officers are taken each year, likewise a limited number of jawans would be similarly enrolled and released after the completion of their ‘tour’ with the option of re-enlisting for another tour, if found to be fit,” he writes.
Naravane writes that nothing much happened in the next couple of months as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic grabbed all the attention, followed by the clashes in Galwan in eastern Ladakh.
“However, the prime minister’s office (PMO) was considering this proposal but with a much wider scope and applicability. In the PMO formulation, not only should the complete intake of the year be short-service based, but it would also apply to all three services,” he writes.
“Having become a tri-service matter, it now fell on the CDS, Gen Bipin Rawat, to take the proposal forward, albeit with the Army remaining the lead service.” “We in the Army were taken by surprise by this turn of events, but for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue,” he says.
Naravane says it took him some time to explain to the other Chiefs that his proposal had only been Army-centric and that he was equally surprised by these developments.
“And it took them some time to reconcile with the fact that they were very much part of the new proposal, dubbed the ‘Agnipath’ (Walk of Fire) scheme by the PMO, with the soldiers, sailors and airmen recruited under this scheme to be known as ‘Agniveers’ (Fire Warriors),” he notes.
For several years, the Army was contemplating inducting civilians on a three-year short service or ‘Tour of Duty’.
On the preliminary discussions on ‘Agnipath’, Naravane says the first issue to be addressed was that of retention of inductees and the Army felt that it should be 75 per cent retention and 25 per cent released, while the Department of Military Affairs opined that it should be 50-50 per cent, with the term being five years.
Naravane says this was the model that was presented by the CDS to a full panel comprising “the prime minister, ministers of home, defence and finance, the NSA, service chiefs, PS to the PM and the secretaries of the relevant departments in November 2020.” “In fact, it was during this meeting that the terms ‘Agnipath’ and ‘Agniveer’ were used for the first time. Assuming an intake of 50,000 soldiers each year, then after each ‘tour’, 25,000 soldiers would revert to civil society,” he says.
“It was felt that this was too little to bring about any significant change in the population since one of the aims of the scheme was to give back to society disciplined manpower, who would be in a position to contribute much more in the workplace due to the values and ethos they would have imbibed while in service.” Naravane says the percentages therefore got reversed, with only 25 per cent to be retained and 75 per cent released.
He says it was back to the drawing board as the discussion progressed and the next issue that came up was the modalities for retention.
“It was taken for granted that this would be like the SSC scheme, with the retention or release after the contracted period of five years.
“On this account, the PMO view was that there should be a two-step retention process; 50 per cent after three years and another 25 per cent after five years, effectively making it only 25 per cent retention,” he says.
“This was just not practical. Six to eight months would go into basic training and deployment, and the process for the selection of personnel to be released would also take about six months, meaning that any given jawan would be effective for just about two years,” he adds.
Naravane says the discussions went on for some time, adding the problem was even more for the Air Force, for whom three years was just not enough to impart the technical skills required to carry out repairs or periodic operating and maintenance tasks on high-value platforms like aircraft.
“Ultimately, a middle path was agreed upon, a one-step retention after four years of service,” he says.
Several parts of India witnessed violent protests after the ‘Agnipath’ scheme was rolled out with the agitators demanding its roll-back as the new model does not provide a job guarantee to 75 per cent of recruits. The protests fizzled out within weeks.
‘Four Stars of Destiny’ will hit the stands next month. PTI MPB RT RT
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