A flickering ‘agni’ in a military hamlet

Its a calm morning in the rural setting amid the Sahyadri hills But a sharp blast of whistles cuts through the tranquil Twenty teenagers walk out in a field and form a queue as they get ready for their physical training Soon after they warm up they will trek to the hilltops with weights strapped to their torsosAlongside them are the former drill sergeants of the Indian Army whose commands echo like war cries pushing the teenagersrsquo weary feet to move faster The scene is straight out of Indiarsquos military academies though these youths are yet to wear their official cadet uniforms and eventually the regimentalsThese teens are preparing for the army exams alongside all the other forcesrsquo testsApshinge martyrsrsquo memorial at the entrance of the village The memorial has the name plaques of martyred soldiers and the number of participants in wars starting from The Great War PicsSatej ShindeSuch scenes are the most common sights in Apshinge the ldquomilitaryrdquo village located just 15 km from Satara city The British officially referred to this village as ldquoApshinge Militaryrdquo but after Independence it was just called ApshingeFor generations around 2025 people every year from this hamlet have joined the Indian Army as well as paramilitaries such as the CRPF and BSF and civil forces such as the Maharashtra PoliceNaturally the kids here are no strangers to the rigours of military trainingmdashthey were born into it moulded by the villagersquos proud legacy of service Legend has it that warriors have been emerging from this Maratha hamlet since the times of Shivaji forming a crucial part of his infantry Once fighting with swords and spears todayrsquos soldiers from Apshinge now carry Kalashnikovs and SIG Sauers continuing their long tradition of sacrificeVetrerans and members of Shoorveer AajiMaji Sainik Association Apshinge village in Satara districtThe village has produced Generalrank officers dozens of Brigadiers and Colonels as well as martyrs and mighty fighters who gave the supreme sacrifice in The Great War the Second World War and every major conflict since India gained Independence Their names are carved on the martyrsrsquo memorial which stands just a few metres from the village panchayatrsquos main entranceToday over 20 officers and 250 soldiers from this village are on active dutyApshinge is often compared to Rajasthanrsquos Jhunjhunu where around 60000 people serve in the army and various paramilitaries at any given time While Jhunjhunu is a much larger district with a population of approximately 12 lakh Apshinge according to the 2011 census has a population of about 2700 only However the local gram panchayat estimates the current population to be closer to a little over 4000 Like Jhunjhunu almost every family in Apshinge has at least one member serving in the army paramilitary or civil forcesMaj Gen retd Yash Mor and Sushant SinghHowever since the launch of the Central governmentrsquos Agnipath Yojana in 2022 which allows youth aged 17andahalf to 21 to enrol as Agniveers for a fouryear tenure the village has observed a gradual decline in interest in joining the armed forcesmdasha trend seen up north in Jhunjhunu too There could be many reasons for this shift including the fact that only 25 per cent of Agniveers are offered permanent service leaving the remaining 75 per cent to fend for themselvesAnuj Bhogle a fiveyearold from the village says ldquoI want to become an army officer My father is a Major and I will also fight for my country when I grow uprdquo Riya Mohite another fiveyearold shares the same goal Coming from a family where three generations have served in the military she dreams of becoming the first woman soldier in her familyThis sentiment runs deep across the village transcending socioeconomic lines With children like Riya showing interest it is clear that the desire to serve is also cutting across genders Whether from welloff or modest backgrounds the dream remains the samemdashto serve the nation However these children were unaware of the latest scheme and their dreams are unharmed by reality In Apshinge the love for the armed forces is in every kidrsquos bloodA captured Pakistani tank from the 1965 IndoPak war given to the village as a memorial to its contribution to the Indian ArmyAccording to Sarpanch Tushar Nikam only 18 people have joined the army since the Agniveer Yojana was introduced in 2022 compared to the 2025 soldiers who would enlist each yearldquoThe decline in the number of kids joining the army is mainly due to the Agniveer scheme not because of lack of patriotic spiritrdquo says Honorary Captain Narayan B Mohite who served in the Army for 28 yearsHe says ldquoThe desire to serve the country is still strong but personal interests play a role too It is quite apparent as even women from neighbouring villages are no longer keen on marrying men from Apshinge Back in the day when we were in service our fighting morale was always high which is a USP of the Indian Army One reason for this was the assurance that our families would be taken care of with provisions like pensions if something happened to us on the battlefield For Agniveers this provision is absentrdquoMohite continues ldquoWhen Agniveers come home on leave instead of using the time to relax they are always preoccupied with the uncertainty of finding a job in future which isnrsquot far Soldiers are assessed on various parameters and only 25 per cent will be retained after the fouryear term From my experience once someone wears the olive uniform they give nothing less than 100 per cent The competition is going to be tough but the rule remains that only a quarter will be kept This uncertainty is causing anxiety among the Agniveers from our village Who doesnrsquot want to wear the uniform all their life Not an Apshinge kid NeverrdquoWhile a proposal to raise absorption to 50per cent is on the anvil Agniveers are paid a basic salary of Rs 30000 monthly with various allowances as of now After four years Agniveers would be paid a onetime Seva Nidhi package of Rs 1171 lakhHonorary Subedar Major Subhash Narayan Nikam who served for around two decades says ldquoThe first four years are the foundational years for a soldier Even officers at the rank of Captain and Major take time to become battlehardened It is the experience of multiple postings acclimatisation to different terrains and service across various fronts that hone a soldier But this essential development will be largely absent for the new recruits Agniveers Countries like the US and UK have similar provisions but they also have a system in place to support their soldiers afterwards These kids who will be trained to handle assault rifles will likely end up as bank guards with dunaalis doublebarrel shotguns or as personal security guards From what I have seen even JCO jawans who retire after 1820 years of service struggle to find positions in paramilitary forces And JCO jawans with that experience are fierce fightersrdquoNikam adds ldquoIf the government turned these promises into a formal Act or law ensuring that Agniveers are absorbed into the BSF CRPF or police forces this scheme would make much more senserdquoThe first four Agniveers from the village are reportedly anxious about their prospectsHavildar retd Vikram Ghadge a veteran who served for nearly two decades in the Indian Army has served in UN Peacekeeping missions in Northern Africa as well as in Kashmir Rajasthan Manipur and along the Bangladesh border Today he runs the biggest training academy in Apshinge dedicated to training young aspirants to become soldiers His academyrsquos students also prepare for ldquoPolice bhartirdquo as securing a jobmdashwhether in the army or the paramilitary and police forcesmdashhas also been a top priority alongside serving the nationGhadge started his academy a year before the Agniveer scheme was implemented giving him a unique perspective on its impact As a seasoned oldschool soldier he says ldquoMany donrsquot realise this but for a lot of people in India the forces are seen primarily as a job opportunityrdquo ldquoIrsquom not saying they arenrsquot patriotic It is our patriotism that makes the Indian Army one of the fiercest forces in the world But employment is a major concernrdquo says Ghadge who was also an instructor at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and the Belgaum Commando Training Centre of the Maratha Light InfantryHe adds ldquoSince securing employment is one of the main goals Class 12 students in my academy now appear for all available exams including those for civilian forcesrdquoldquoChaar saal mein gharwaapasi hogi toh aagey ki tension toh hogi hihellip Pehle ke muqaable abhi academy ke bachcho ka bhi josh kam haihellip If they are returning home after just four years itrsquos natural for them to worry about their future Compared to earlier times the enthusiasm among the academyrsquos students has diminishedrdquo says the former Drill UstaadIt remains to be seen what the first batch of Apshingersquos Agniveers will do once they complete their service Yet for now the kids have a simple dreammdashtheir beloved fauj and their legacy of being generational fightersAs he wraps up yet another day at his training academy waiting for the ldquobhartirdquo recruitment dates to be announced the Drill Ustaad mutters to himself ldquoFighting spirit kam nahi hona chaahiye bashellip The fighting spirit should not wanehelliprdquolsquoTheir confidence gets affected by not being deemed good enoughrsquoThe Indian Army has a nearly 275yearold legacy and it has endured because of traditions passed down through generations Certain norms may get diluted if the recruiting doesnrsquot happen from the traditional lot We may not attract the best talent and many youths may turn to the central paramilitary forces or the policeAlso when someone joins the army they do so with the expectation of serving for the long term Agniveer scheme disrupts that vision So anyone signing up through the scheme should view it as a brief exposure to the military They need to go in fully aware that after four years they will have to pursue another career pathOlder military men never had to worry about a career postretirement as there were adequate pensions and other facilities in place However 22yearolds may struggle with it as they need to figure out a career and also deal with the perception that they are part of the 75 per cent deemed not ldquogood enoughrdquo for permanent service which could affect their confidence and future prospectsSushant Singh Lecturer at Yale University JournalistlsquoNot recruiting from traditional regions may not affect Armyrsquos unit cohesion but having soldiers on contract canrsquoBefore the Agniveer scheme we were recruiting around 6000065000 soldiers annually for the Army alone Now the total annual recruitment has dropped to approximately 46000 which includes recruits for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy as well This means the army is getting nearly half the number of recruits compared to earlierThe scheme should have been tested with few thousand soldiers in standalone mode and regular recruitment should have continued alongsideMoreover the training period has been reduced from nine months to just six which is insufficient It takes eight to nine years to become a soldier capable of leading small teams like tank or gun crew etcAlso if recruits no longer come from traditional military regionsmdashsuch as Rajasthan Uttarakhand Haryana and Maharashtramdashthe unit cohesion may not suffer solely from their absence but the impact of having soldiers on a fouryear contract could prove to be detrimental as they will constantly think of their future prospectsMajor General retired Dr Yash Mor