In an attempt to quell the protests against the Agnipath armed forces recruitment scheme, the Union Government has announced 10 per cent reservation for released Agniveers in paramilitary forces and the Assam Rifles.
The decision was announced via a tweet on the official handle of the Home Minister’s Office. “The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decides to reserve 10% vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers.”
In a second tweet, the HMO also announced relaxation of upper age limit for these recruits. While three years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit has been announced for Agniveers wanting to get recruited in CAPFs & Assam Rifles, for the first batch, the age relaxation will be for five years beyond the prescribed upper age limit, MHA said.
Welcoming the move, retired Major General Rajesh Arya said this would lift the overall level of personnel in the paramilitary forces. “There is criticism that how can a person who isn’t fit enough to be absorbed in the Army be fit enough for the Assam Rifles, which is also an organisation at par with the Army. To this, I wish to say that those Agniveers who don’t get absorbed in the Army after four years are not unfit. It is just that the Army’s openings may be X and total personnel available may be X+10. It is a great decision to absorb the remaining into paramilitary. They will lift the overall level in the CAPFs,” the army veteran told CNN-News18.
Officials in the paramilitary forces told News18 that they are still awaiting clarity on how the reservation would be done. The options are to award extra points to those who have Agniveer experience or make all Agniveers compete amongst themselves for 10 per cent of the total seats that are available.
Officials said that given the fact that the paramilitary forces are mostly on civilian duties, the Agniveers will have to be trained afresh when they join. “Paramilitary personnel undergo a training of 11 months or so. Agniveers will have to be trained in those SOPs of civilian duties. But the physical fitness, weapon training and discipline which they would bring to the table post Agniveer training will be an added advantage,” a paramilitary official said.
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