India's navy passes out its biggest recruit batch as Agniveers gain a route to permanent service

India's navy graduated the largest group of recruits in the history of its main sailor training school on 13 November, when 3,358 trainees finished basic training at INS Chilka in Odisha state. The navy chief, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, reviewed the passing-out parade and told the new sailors that a recent overhaul of the Agnipath short-service scheme gives them a fresh chance to stay on in the regular cadre.

The batch, designated 02/26, was made up of 2,756 Agniveers, 142 of them women, together with 286 navy medical assistants and 316 Naviks, the enlisted sailors of the Indian Coast Guard, the Press Trust of India reported. The Times of India also described it as the biggest batch yet trained at the establishment.

In an advance notice on 9 November, India's Press Information Bureau said the parade would mark the end of 16 weeks of initial training and would be the largest batch ever to pass out from Chilka. Vice Admiral Sameer Saxena, who heads the Southern Naval Command, presided over the valedictory function on the eve of the parade and attended the ceremony itself.

Swaminathan told the trainees that only about 1.5 percent of the several hundred thousand young people who applied had been selected, which he presented as proof of a tough and competitive intake. He singled out the 142 women Agniveers, saying their success would encourage girls in small towns and villages to follow the same path.

Turning to the scheme itself, the admiral said the Agnipath rules had gained an important new element while the batch was still in training, giving the graduates a new way to become regular sailors with long careers. He urged each of them to aim for that goal, but stressed that the navy could only open the door and that individuals would have to earn a place through their performance, conduct and competitiveness.

The change he referred to was announced on 4 November by the Chief of Defence Staff, General N S Raja Subramani. Agniveers who reach the end of their four-year terms will be offered a two-year extension followed by permanent recruitment, provided they meet set eligibility criteria. When the scheme was launched in June 2022, recruits were hired for four years and no more than 25 percent were to be kept on in regular service. PTI noted that the overhaul came just over three weeks before about 18,300 Agniveers were due to leave the armed forces.

For the navy, the revision means that sailors trained under the short-service model can now plan for a full career rather than a fixed four-year stint, if they qualify. That gives the service a way to hold on to people it has already spent months training.

Swaminathan also addressed fears that automation will shrink the role of sailors. He said satellites, drones, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and autonomous systems had transformed naval warfare since he joined the service in 1987, but argued that smarter machines make human direction and decision-making more important rather than less, ANI reported.

The parade opened with a wreath-laying at the Chilka War Memorial. Marakkar Division won the overall championship trophy, Shivaji Division finished as runner-up, and the school released Ankur, its bilingual trainees' magazine. Naval veterans and Asian Games medallist Muhammad Ajmal, a serving chief petty officer, were among the guests, according to ANI.