Ex-Agniveer quota for BSF constable increased to 50%

The Union Home Ministry has increased the quota for ex-Agniveers for constable recruitment in the BSF to 50 per cent from 10 per cent, according to a gazette notification. The increase has been made by amending the Border Security Force, General Duty Cadre (Non-Gazetted) Recruitment Rules, 2015.

The first batch of ex-Agniveers will also get upper age-limit relaxation up to five years, while the rest of the ex-Agniveers will get three years’ relaxation. The ex-Agniveers shall also be exempted from Physical Standard Test and Physical Efficiency Test, said the notification issued on Friday. By direct recruitment (including fifty per cent), vacancies shall be reserved for ex-Agniveers in every recruitment year, ten per cent for ex-Servicemen, and up to three per cent for Combatised Constables in absorption of annual vacancy.

In the first phase, the recruitment shall be conducted by the Nodal Force for 50 per cent vacancies earmarked for ex-Agniveers, and in second phase recruitment shall be conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for candidates other than ex-Agniveers for the remaining forty-seven per cent vacancies (including ten per cent ex-Servicemen), alongwith the unfilled vacancies of ex-Agniveers in a specific category in the first stage, it said.

The Centre had amended the Government of India Rules, 1961, by the gazette notification in June this year, inserting a new point in the second schedule under the Department of States of the Union Home Ministry, “coordinating activities for further progression of Ex-Agniveers” who exit after completing four years in the armed forces. With this amendment, the work relating to coordinating activities for further progression of ex-Agniveer has been assigned to the Home Ministry, sources said. In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme with an aim to bring down the age profile of the 3 services.

Under the scheme, candidates between the age bracket of 17 and a half years and 21 who get selected are enrolled in the Army, Air Force and Navy as Agniveers for a period of four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years, while the remaining 75 per cent exit.

The Government had already reserved 10 per cent of jobs for ex-Agniveers in all future appointments of constables in the 11-lakh-strong Central Armed Police Forces like CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB, etc. The changes in the BSF recruitment rules pertain to the border guarding force primarily deployed on sensitive Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.