AGNIPATH scheme

Story hook

It is 14 June 2022, 3 PM, South Block. Rajnath Singh stands behind a podium flanked by the three Service Chiefs. The announcement: AGNIPATH — a Tour of Duty scheme that will recruit young Indians aged 17.5 to 23 as Agniveers for 4-year tenures, with 25% retained for full service and 75% exiting with a Seva Nidhi package of around Rs. 11.71 lakh.

Within 48 hours, trains burn in Bihar, UP, Telangana, Haryana. The Secunderabad railway station fire (16 June 2022) kills one, injures dozens. Defence aspirants — coaching town stalwarts of Mukherjee Nagar (Delhi), Sikar (Rajasthan), Gaya (Bihar), Shahbad (Karnataka) — pour into the streets. Their case: AGNIPATH ends the lifetime job, ends the pension, ends the certainty that defined Indian recruitment since 1947.

The government holds firm. Recruitment opens July 2022. First Agniveer batch joins training August 2022. By December 2024, over 1 lakh Agniveers are serving — across the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

For UPSC, AGNIPATH is the most-debated personnel reform in independent India's military history. Examiners test whether you understand the demographic + fiscal + operational logic behind it, the legitimate concerns of stakeholders, and the comparison with short-service models of other countries.

Why this matters for UPSC

This was a flagship Mains topic in 2022 and 2023 — and remains high-probability through 2027 as the first cohort exits in 2026. Prelims tests factual anchors (eligibility, Seva Nidhi, retention ratio). Interview boards probe the reform-vs-tradition tension, social implications, and your stance on military HR philosophy.