The IAF on Friday started the recruitment process under the recently announced Agnipath scheme. The Army had started the process earlier this week while the Navy will commence the recruitment this weekend.
"Registration window to apply for #Agniveervayu is operational from 10 am today," the IAF said on Twitter.
The candidates will have to register online and then clear an online examination. Those successful will then undergo physical fitness and medical tests for final selection. The Navy also follows same system. So far more than 4,000 aspirants had registered for the IAF examination, sources said.
The Agnipath scheme to recruit jawans to be known as Agniveers on contractual basis was rolled out on June 14. It led to mass protests in many parts of the country.
The government, however, ruled out rolling it back and termed the scheme as “transformative” to ensure youthful profile and technology savvy armed forces to fight modern day war. Unveiling the Agnipath scheme, the government had said aspirants between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years will be inducted for a four-year tenure. After completion of this stint, 25 per cent of them will be selected for regular service of 15 years or more with full pension benefits. Several parts of the country witnessed violent protests against the scheme. A number of opposition parties and military experts had slammed the scheme, contending it will adversely impact the operational capabilities of the armed forces.
The government had on June 16 increased the upper age limit for recruitment under the scheme to 23 years from 21 for the year 2022 as a one time waiver. It said the decision was taken as recruitment was put on hold for the last two years due to the corona pandemic.
The Army has said the new scheme will ensure a youthful profile of the defence forces and result in reduction of the average age of soldiers from 32 to 26 years over a period of time.
The three service chiefs have strongly backed the scheme, which was unveiled after over two years of deliberations.
The monthly salary of an 'Agniveer' in the first year of employment will be Rs 30,000. The in-hand amount will be Rs 21,000 while the rest Rs 9,000 will go to a corpus with an equal contribution from the government.
Subsequently, the monthly salary in the second, third and fourth year will be Rs 33,000, Rs 36,500 and Rs 40,000. Each 'Agniveer' will get Rs 11.71 lakh as 'Seva Nidhi Package' on retirement which will be exempt from income tax. The four-year tenure under the new scheme will include around two-and-half months to six months of training period.