Indian Army Tour Of Duty (Agniveer) – Eligibility Criteria, Salary

According to the sources, in the future, the Indian Army will include a third type of selection procedure for the recruitment of Soldiers in the force. This news is being circulated all over the media houses and a lot of patriotic and ambitious youth are supporting this new upcoming rule. Tour of Duty(Agnipath Bharti) is an American selection criterion, where the recruited soldiers were sent for a year or half a year’s tour to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out the military operations. So, the official Indian term would probably be different for it, the recruits will provide their service to the nation for only 3 years.

The most possible reason for this proposal could be to reduce the amount of money that is invested in the newly recruited soldiers, which includes their salary, pension, and others. Instead, the money saved could be used for better advancement in the technology and weapons for the military. Another reason is because of the rising patriotism in the youth of the country, it is a good step to give the young generation a chance to serve their motherland. The discipline and the training from the army will shape a better future and a better life for the youth.

Indian Army Tour Of Duty(Agnipath) Eligibility Criteria

The Indian Army Tour of Duty is the third type of recruitment method to get into and serve the Indian Army and the country. The duration of service is comparatively very low to the other two recruitment methods, so if you are thinking that there will be some relaxation in the eligibility criteria then you might be wrong. The eligibility criteria for selection will be the same, so there will be no relaxation for height, weight, age, medical condition, and physical fitness. The candidates that could apply for the selection should be young and the Indian Army would prefer young soldiers over the elder ones because of the physical fitness aspects. However, this news has still no proper source and so the eligibility criteria are not exactly known, but it would be very much in similarity than the normal eligibility criterion.

Agniveer Age Limit: 17+1/2 to 23 Years

Salary: 1st-year package approx 4.76 lakhs. Upgrading up to approx 6.92 lakhs in 4th year.

Meanwhile, you can check your eligibility for the Indian army with our online army eligibility checker.

Indian Army Tour Of Duty Benefits

The discussion about this process is still in discussion and the think tanks have come to this conclusion because they think that in the long run, the country could produce a better and large number of soldiers in less time and with fewer investments. However, the most possible reasons for this project could be:

• Tour of duty will produce a better disciplined and experienced youth who could venture out into other fields after the tenure of their service.
• Candidates after completing their service could opt for the corporate level jobs and the 3-year service would increase their chances of selection.
• The government of India could save a lot of money by this process, the overall cost that will be spent on a single soldier would be reduced from Rs. 5 crores to Rs. 80 – 85 lakh.
• 5 crores was the overall money spent on one soldier for their total service of 10 – 14 years. Similarly, the amount spent on 3 years of “interns” would be around 80 lakhs and if you compare the average for 14 years then the total cost would still be less than 5 crores on a soldier.
• With the money saved, the defense could focus more on the advancement of the technology and the weapons of the force.

Vacancies For Tour Of Duty

If this process is added then the first time this idea will be tested on around 100 officers and 100 jawans. All these soldiers will undergo a one-year training and will serve for the next two years. If it becomes a success, then it will be further implemented and who knows, it could also become a permanent part of the Indian Army selection process. It is estimated that the savings on indulging 1000 jawans via TOD could be around Rs. 11,000 crores, which could be used in the development and advancement of technology and weapons.

Types Of Recruitment In the Indian Army

To get selected into the Indian Army, a candidate can choose from either of the two types of commission available, i.e. Permanent Commission and Short Service Commission (SSC). The difference between the two is quite clear from their names, in permanent commissioning, the candidate applies intending to serve lifelong for the army, whereas in SSC, the candidate can provide their service for 10 – 14 years.

Any aspirant can apply for these two categories provided they fulfill the eligibility criteria. If an SSC soldier wants to extend their service, they can extend it by 4 years. The Indian Government is also working on providing permanent commissions to women, and after some time women could also serve their country for their whole life.

Another selection process in the army could be through the Tour of Duty process, it will be the Internship for any Indian Citizen that wants to serve their army for a shorter time. The candidates will be given a monthly salary probably along with other benefits but they will not be applicable for the pension schemes if any soldier sacrifices their life in action. Then their family would probably get all the pension benefits that a regular Indian Army soldier gets.

There are certain exams through which one could get selected for permanent and short service commission, some of which are the selection for NDA, CDS, OTA, and other technical entries.

Possible Disadvantage Of TOD

Some veteran army officers have the opinion that this step won’t be much successful as instead of devoting totally to the army, these intern soldiers could be very much focusing on just building their resume. Which could tamper the army protocols and would not be good for the health of our armed forces. Some believe that the youth would not take it seriously and the recruits will lack the discipline and that it is not possible to train them in such a short time.

However, there are always some downsides to every plan that comes up, but the government has to balance the good and the bad and choose the one with the maximum output. So, let’s hope that those who want to serve the nation for a short period get their wish fulfilled and that this plan works out just fine and may help our nation to grow stronger.