By Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd.)
Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw, Military Cross while addressing the Commissioning Gentlemen Cadets at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun said, “One thing remains the same. That is, your work and your duty. You need to ensure the security of this country against any attackers. What does that mean for you? That means you have to fight, and fight to win. There is no place for losers. If you lose, don’t come back.”
As debate and discussion in every television news channel, print and social media and in the living room on the Agneepath scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Indian Armed Forces, cannot be denied the fact that since independence it is the biggest defense is improvement. It affects every soldier/sailor/airman in the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.
However, the success of this scheme in the Indian Army rests on two important points – the implementation and the regiment.
Unlike the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, where there are no regiments due to the highly technologically advanced aircraft and warships that form the core of these two services, the Indian Army has a unique dimension and that of “regimentation”.
The first critical point on which the success of Agneepath scheme in the Indian Army rests is the implementation which involves 4 years of service of Agniveer and rehabilitation of each Agniveer, which will not be retained after the minimum service period of 4 years. As described in Agneepath plan.
Let’s take a look at the implementation during the first 4 years of service period. During this period, it will be mandatory for every officer, JCO and other rank to either in the Regimental Center where there will be a training period of six months, or in the respective Regiment/ Battalion where Agniveer will spend as a period of 3.5 years. A trained soldier, to ensure that Agniveer is inculcated in the ethos and ecosystem of the fighting unit.
During the period of 3.5 years in the Regiment/Battalion, each Agniveer should have served in the same Regiment/Battalion and should not be posted elsewhere. An Agniveer must have a Field Area Profile over his 3.5 years of service in order to capitalize on Agniveer’s short lifespan in a field field for maximum combat output.
Also, the power to retain an Agniveer for long service after a service period of 4 years should lie with the Regimental Centers concerned, with due importance given to the inputs of Agniveer’s performance received from their Commanding Officer.
Firefighters hired for longer service than a period of 4 years may then be made to take career courses and posted for Additional Regimental Employment (ERE) as per the prevailing policies by the respective Record Offices.
It is natural that after three years of service, each Agniveer will generally know where he stands in terms of getting permanent enrollment and hence will start planning his life after the four-year enlistment period. Thus it becomes imperative that organizations like the Director General of Rehabilitation (DGR) are staffed with more officers so that the rehabilitation of these released firefighters is seamless.
DGR’s past experience in settling ex-servicemen (armed force personnel of Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force who retire/retire) has not been encouraging as various resettlement schemes virtually collapsed due to exit from PSUs They do so despite being mandated, thus leaving many veterans in limbo and struggling after retirement.
The DGR will now be tasked to ensure that firefighters who are not hired after a period of 4 years are absorbed into various government organizations where vacancies have been announced by various central ministries and state governments. No Agniveer can be left high and dry, otherwise the first priority of rural youth would be paramilitary forces and other government jobs where there is a fixed long term service and armed forces would become the second option for them. Till now, a job in the army is the first option for the rural youth of the country, which comprises almost 70% of the Indian Armed Forces personnel.
The second important point on which the success of the Agneepath scheme in the Indian Army is the regiment.
The Indian Army has three state-of-the-art combat weapons which are Infantry, Mechanized Infantry and Armored Corps as these three weapons have the first direct contact with the enemy.
These three combat arms have regiments/battalions, which have a fixed army composition, some of which belong to the pre-independence era and have excelled in both pre-independence and post-independence wars. The composition of the army should not be tampered with. Some examples are Maratha Light Infantry, Rajput Regiment, Bihar Regiment, Sikh Regiment and Sikh Light Infantry of Infantry also known as the Queen of War.
This is because an Agniveer who is joining for a short period of 4 years will find it easier to assimilate and amalgamate with his regiment/battalion environment as the regiment/battalion has many comrades and seniors in and around his village Will be Fixed military structure in these three combat weapons. This will help in increasing the combat capability of these three combat weapons.
A similar move in supporting weapons like Regiment of Artillery, Corps of Army Air Defense and Corps of Engineers would help make the Agneepath plan a success.
An all-India-all-class recruitment system must be followed for the soldiers that have been in existence since our independence in 1947, yet the army composition of the existing combat units should not be changed.
The Agneepath plan has to be successful at all costs because the security of the country depends on it, as there are no runners-up in war or anti-insurgency operations.
Alan Mullally has rightly said that “Leadership consists of a compelling vision, a comprehensive plan, tireless implementation and talented people working together”.
(The author who is retired from Indian Army Corps of Engineers, is an alumnus of NDA, Khadakwasla and IIT Kanpur. He is M.Tech in Structures and has also done MBA and LLB. He tweeted and cussed @JassiSodhi24 Is. The views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproduction of this material without permission is prohibited).