In an obvious effort to claim that the protests against the Agnipath scheme are waning, the Government on Tuesday claimed aspirants for a career in the Armed forces have started their physical training for the upcoming recruitment process. Massive country-wide protests had broken out in several States against the scheme rolled out on
June 14.
The Army and the IAF announced the schedule for the recruitment on Monday and the Navy said the process will start from Friday. The Armed forces also clarified that the procedure followed earlier for the recruitment process will be intact.
It means like in previous years the aspirants will have to first clear the physical fitness and medical tests before becoming eligible for the written test for the Army. For the Navy and the IAF, the candidates will have to clear the written tests online before the final call for medical test.
Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, Lt General Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, Department of Military Affairs (DMA), said “credible” information from States indicated youngsters had started training for the physical fitness test in the right earnest. It indicated “rumour mongering” and “negativity” was slowly waning, he added.
He said the main objective of the Agnipath is to have a youthful profile and bring down the average age from the existing 32 years to 26 years in the next six to seven years.
The induction of nearly 46,000 jawans called ‘Agniveers’ over a course of next four years will address the issue of bringing down the age to 26, Puri said adding after ten years nearly 90,000 to one lakh Agniveers will be recruited.
Defending the scheme, he said several committees since 1989 had expressed concern over the ageing profile of the Indian jawans and called for reducing the age to 26 years from 32 to fight modern day war.
On misgivings about the future of the regiment system, Puri said the traditional system will remain intact adding the Agnipath scheme was deliberated upon at various levels before the final decision was taken.
With youths at several places resorting to violence to protest the scheme, Puri said all applicants for ‘Agnipath’ will have to give an undertaking that they were not part of any violence.
“There is no place for arson and violence in the Armed forces,” he said. Referring to police verification, he noted that it has always been a part of the recruitment process.
Over the years, the profile of commanding officers in the military has become younger. Now, the profile of soldiers will become youthful, he said. Backing the scheme, he also said the induction of Agniveers will not dent the combat effectiveness of the Armed forces. He also said Agniveer can also get Paramvir Chakra or any other gallantry medal like the regular soldier.
Regarding employment avenues for demobilised Agniveers, Vice Admiral D Tripathi said they can join merchant navy straightaway after their stint with the Armed forces. The director general of shipping had announced this on Monday, Tripathi said.