Agnipath revamp: Cabinet gives 75% of Agniveers a two-year second tour and a route to regular service

Every Agniveer now has a route into the regular armed forces. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday, 4 November, approved a second two-year engagement for the 75% of Agniveers who are not selected for permanent service at the end of their four-year term, the Ministry of Defence said.

The first step of the Agnipath scheme stays as it was when it was launched in June 2022. At the four-year mark, 25% of each batch will be chosen on merit for regular service. Those left out, who until now would have gone home with a lump-sum package, can choose to serve two more years. At the end of that period, every Agniveer who is willing and clears the selection criteria will be offered enrolment as a regular soldier.

Higher pay in the second tour

The ministry said the extra two years will come with better pay, seniority benefits and a larger Seva Nidhi payout. Chief of Defence Staff General N S Raja Subramani, briefing reporters, said pay will be Rs 43,500 a month for the first of the two extra years, rising to Rs 47,500 for the next. Agniveers in the first batch began on Rs 30,000. For those who leave after six years, the government will meet 70% of the Seva Nidhi contribution instead of the earlier equal split with the soldier.

General Subramani said the change followed four years of yearly performance reviews of every Agniveer, tracked through a central database kept by the three services. Discipline, adaptability and a clean vigilance record will be among the tests for regular enrolment after the second tour. He said the Agnipath scheme itself will continue with its four-year first term.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he called a “Second Tour of Duty” for Agniveers. The ministry listed wider recruitment across districts, a more transparent selection process and more branches of the forces opened to women among the gains of the scheme so far.

First batches finish in November and December

More than three lakh Agniveers are serving or training in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Navy’s first batch completes its four-year term in November, and the first Army and Air Force batches reach the same point at the end of December, making them the first to face the new two-step choice.