Agniveers will make up 50% of Army by 2032: Vice-chief

'Scheme Can Be Tweaked If Need Arises'

- Rajat Pandit

New Delhi: Agniveers' will constitute half of the 12-lakh strong Army by 2030-2032 to achieve an optimal balance of youth and experience to fight wars of the future under the far-reaching 'Agnipath' scheme, which will be tweaked if required based on-ground experience and operational necessities, Lt-General B S Raju said on Wednesday.

"We are going to progressively scale up the annual recruitment under the Agnipath scheme. From 40,000 recruits this year, it will go up to 1.2 lakh by the seventh or eighth year and then 1.6 lakh by the tenth or eleventh year. All recruitments (except officers) will be done only under Agnipath," said the Army vice chief, in an exclusive interview to TOI.