The Center on Thursday raised the upper entry age limit from 21 to 23 years for recruitment under the new Agneepath Military Scheme amid massive protests across the country. The government said that the age relaxation will be given only once for the proposed 2022 recruitment cycle.
In a statement, the government said, “Keeping in view the fact that it is not possible to make recruitment during the last two years, the government has decided that one-time relaxation will be given for the proposed recruitment cycle for 2022. Accordingly, the upper age limit for the recruitment process for the Agneepath scheme has been increased to 23 years for 2022.
The Centre’s newly launched military plan, unveiled earlier this week, has violent protest across the country – from Bihar to Gurugram – as agitators demanded its withdrawal. The scheme proposes to recruit youth between the age group of 17.5 years and 21 years to take up jobs in the Indian Armed Forces for a tenure of four years.
The upper entry age limit of 21 years was one of the many issues raised by the protesters against the recruitment scheme.
Under Agneepath, after four years of compulsory retirement, the government is planning to induct youth into civilian jobs. However, the move was widely criticized by the job aspirants as well as the opposition.
Government wants to address concerns
Following the protest, government officials on Thursday sought to address concerns expressed by some over the financial security of those involved in the Agneepath scheme. the officials Told That the ‘agnivers’ after completing their four-year long stint with the armed forces will have many options like entrepreneurship, further studies and priority in other jobs.
“Those who want to become entrepreneurs – they will get financial package and bank loan scheme. Those wishing to pursue further studies will be given an equivalent certificate of class 12th and a bridging course for further studies. Preference will be given to the job seekers in CAPFs and State Police. Several avenues are being opened for them in other areas as well,” explained a senior government official.
The scheme, which will replace the existing procedures for recruitment in the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF), was unveiled by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and hailed as “transformative”. Recruitment rallies for the services are scheduled to begin within 90 days.
Under this scheme, the Army is set to induct around 40,000 soldiers, Navy 3,000 sailors and IAF 3,000 airmen in the first year. an officer told News18 That as per the current plans, in the second year, the total recruitment is likely to go up to around 46,500, out of which the Army and Navy numbers will remain the same at around 40,000 and 3,000, but the IAF figure will reach around 3,500. ,
In the third year, the plan is to recruit around 52,400 youth, of which the Army will recruit around 45,000, the Navy 3,000 and the Indian Air Force 4,400.
The armed forces plan to induct around 58,800 youth in the fourth year, of which the Army is likely to have around 50,000, the Navy 3,500 and the Indian Air Force 5,300.
In order to meet the shortage of Armed Forces personnel created in the last two years when the recruitments were stalled, the increased recruitment will be significantly noticed.
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