Agnipath Scheme: Rajnath Singh to hold another meeting today amid violent protests
19 June, 2022 | Pravina Srivastava
Rajnath Singh will convene a meeting at his house today as protests over the Centre's Agnipath plan continues
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will convene a meeting at his house today as protests over the Centre’s Agnipath plan continue in various regions of the nation.
The tri-service leaders are likely to attend the conference and discuss the scheme’s deployment as well as methods to appease agitators, according to sources. Rajnath Singh has convened a meeting for the second time in two days.
In a landmark move, Ministry of Home Affairs stated on Saturday that 10% of slots in the Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles will be reserved for Agniveers.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs resolves to reserve 10% of openings for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers,” the ministry announced in a tweet.
According to the MHA, “In addition, the MHA has decided to grant Agniveers a three-year age relaxation above the specified upper age limit for recruitment into the CAPFs and Assam Rifles. Furthermore, the age exemption for the first batch of Agniveer will be for 5 years beyond the statutory maximum age restriction.”
After their four-year tenure is completed, Agniveers will be given selection priority under CAPF’s seven different security forces, including the Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Forces (BSF), Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF), Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had stated that when Agniveers complete their four years of service, several national ministers and state governments, as well as public sector undertakings (PSUs) and companies, will offer them job priority.
“In the coming days, several administrations and departments will make announcements regarding the priority in career prospects for Agniveers,” the Defence Minister continued.
The government had already announced a modification in the recruitment of ‘Agniveers,’ raising the maximum entrance age from 21 to 23 years and providing a one-time remission of two years.
Union government announced that the Agniveer upper age restriction for recruitment under the Agnipath Scheme has been raised to 23 years from 21 years, as part of a one-time waiver.
Ministry of Defence stated in an official statement on the Agnipath Scheme that a one-time concession in the higher age restriction was allowed since recruiting throughout the two-year period was not practicable.