How the Defence Pension Bill became a Big Burden

The history of this burgeoning defence pension bill has valuable lessons for policy-making. Here’s how India’s defence pension bill became a financial burden. Before 1965, soldiers below officer ranks were recruited through a mechanism resembling Agnipath in the sense that they served seven years of compulsory service and didn’t receive a pension on retirement. This service period was first raised in 1965 to 10 years for bulking the armed forces after the 1962 defeat. Since a pension required a minimum service of 15 years, most soldiers still didn’t qualify.