Amid rising protests in several parts of the country against the “Agnipath” scheme, the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have decided to go ahead with the process of recruitment. While the Army will issue a notification on Monday next, the IAF will start the selection process on June 24.
Giving details of the process, the Army officials said after the issuance of initial notification for enrolment under the Agnipath scheme, various agencies of the Army will come out with details of the induction process like the number of vacancies, location of recruitment rallies and test schedules, they said.
The training of the recruits is likely to commence from December this year, they said. The plan is to deploy the initial batches of recruits under the new scheme in operational and non-operational roles by around June next year.
Indian Air Force chief VR Chaudhari said here on Friday the selection process by the IAF for the recruitment under the Agnipath scheme will start from June 24.
He also said raising the upper age limit to 23 for induction under the Agnipath scheme for the year 2022 will permit a larger section of the youth to enroll under the new model of recruitment.
“The Government has recently come out with the “Agnipath” scheme for enrolment in the armed forces. The age bracket for the scheme is 17-and-a-half-years to 21 years. I am pleased to inform you that the upper age limit for the first induction has been increased to 23 years,” Chaudhari said.
Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Tuesday had said the fully-trained ‘Agniveers’ will also serve stints at the Line of Actual Control(LAC)facing China and the Line of Control(LOC)with Pakistan.
Under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, the Army is likely to recruit around 40,000 soldiers, the Navy is expected to induct around 3,000 sailors and the IAF is set to recruit 3,000 air warriors this year.
The Government plans to have a centralised database on the ‘Agniveers’ to keep track of the skills that they would acquire during their four-year tenure, sources said.
The recruitment process will start after 90 days since the policy was announced and nearly 46,000 soldiers will be selected on a contractual basis for a four-year stint.
Later, 25 per cent of them will be retained for a permanent stint or regular service of 15 years or more with full pension and medical benefits.