SOLDIERING UNDER SHADOWS?

Operation Sindoor's battlefield tragedy, resulting in the sacrifice of certain Agniveers, has ignited a national reckoning over the Agnipath scheme, which is a bold but uncertain military reform whose promise of youthful transformation ostensibly stands at odds with the notions of institutional experience, expertise and camaraderie

- SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

The recent military conflict along the India-Pakistan border—Operation Sindoor—has again sparked a storm regarding the Agnipath scheme, a recruitment policy many describe as revolutionary and others view as regressive. The reported killing of three Agniveers, including 22-year-old Akashdeep Singh, during the operation has hung a dark shadow over the government's ambitious military transformation. Singh's family's demand for martyr status and full military honours—a status withheld under existing Agnipath guidelines—has become a lightning rod, inviting public outrage and compelling a re-evaluation of the scheme's ethical, operational, and strategic dimensions.

Commenced in June 2022, the Agnipath program created a tectonic shift in India's strategy of appointing personnel under officer rank (PBOR) in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Branded as a youth-oriented overhaul to revitalise the military, the program aims to reduce the average age of military personnel by four to five years. At the heart is a four-year model of engagement, in which recruits—here called Agniveers—have a short-term service, with only a quarter being kept back for a permanent position. The others are released with a retrenchment package of Rs 11.71 lakh and a skill certificate. Although the government contends that this model will produce a leaner, fitter, and more technologically attuned force, its divergence from the traditional 19-30 year service tenure has triggered alarm among defence specialists, veterans, and civil society.