The government has no plans to shake up the controversial Agnipath recruitment model that cuts tenure of personnel below officer rank and offers them fewer service benefits as making any changes to the scheme will go against the grain of what it seeks to achieve, and endanger India’s security interests, top officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. Agnipath was a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system that was scrapped when the National Democratic Alliance government announced the new scheme in June 2022. (ANI) The recruitment model, a political hot button, was introduced two years ago with the stated objective of keeping the armed forces young and battle-ready. “The scheme is at the core of our strategy to counter China,” said one of the officials cited above, who asked not to be named. “The army needs young men to fight in those rugged mountains along the contested border. The average age of our infantry soldiers is 29 but we need them to be closer to 21.” Agnipath was a major departure from …