NEW DELHI: Stung by the continuing violent protests against the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces, the ministries of Defence and Home, along with others, today announced concessions for Agniveers, indicating that the government will press ahead with the move by assuaging a wide cross-section of aspirants.
While the Union Home Ministry announced that 10 per cent vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles would be reserved for Agniveers, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a similar proposal for Agniveers once they complete their initial four-year tenure in the armed forces.
To be implemented in the Indian Coast Guard and defence civilian posts and “all the 16 Defence public sector undertakings”, this will be in addition to an existing reservation for ex-servicemen. The Defence Minister’s Office announced that “necessary age relaxation provision will also be made”.
The concessions by the two ministries come close on the heels of the government’s “one-time” relaxation in the upper age limit for aspirants for the armed forces this year, raising it from 21 to 23, especially when there has been no recruitment drive for the last two years. When the Agnipath scheme was announced on June 14, aspirants between 17-and-a-half and 21 years of age were eligible for recruitment.
The MHA also decided to “give three years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment to CAPFs and Assam Rifles”. Besides this, “for the first batch of Agniveers, the age relaxation will be for five years beyond the prescribed upper age limit”.
In addition to the MoD and MHA, the states of Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam announced a preference to Agniveers in state police recruitment.
“The state police forces will greatly benefit from the training and discipline inculcated to Agniveers by the armed forces and their capabilities in tackling insurgency, Naxalism and natural disasters will be hugely augmented.” said the government in a press release.
As per the government, several corporate houses and industry bodies have welcomed the new and transformative recruitment process for the armed forces. “The well-trained, disciplined and technologically savvy youth who finish their service to the armed forces will be a valuable asset to their organizations, they said.
Apart from customized certificates, a bachelor’s programme by the Indira Gandhi national Open University has also been planned for the Agniveers.
The government said that financial institutions will extend support. In order to identify ways in which the Banks and Financial Institutions can support the Agniveers on completion of their tenure of duty, the Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) held a meeting with Chief Executives of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Public Sector Insurance Companies (PSICs) and Financial Institutions (FIs).
“In the meeting, it was decided that PSBs, PSICs and FIs would explore employment opportunities for Agniveers in suitable capacities based on their educational qualifications and skills through suitable benefits/relaxations, etc.”
Amidst these announcements, the procession and protests continued across the country.
While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi roll back of the Agnipath scheme, APP MP Raghav Chadha wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, calling for a similar step and “redeliberation” over the new recruitment move.
Congress MPs, the party’s working committee members and AICC office-bearers will be on a ‘satyagraha’ sit-in at Jantar Mantar here on June 19 in solidarity with youth protesting against the Agniveer scheme.
However, violent protests continued unabated across eight states, with angry youth taking to the streets, burning vehicles and damaging public property, including railway bogies, at Danapur in Patna district and Jehanabad in Bihar, while normal life was affected in Buxar and Gaya.
A Rashtriya Janata Dal-supported 24-hour bandh by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) has been called across the state in protest against the Agnipath scheme.
A mob blocked a highway in UP’s Jaunpur where the angry youth torched a UPSRTC bus. The UP police has registered six FIRs in four districts and arrested 260 protestors so far.
In Delhi, one person was arrested and 18 others detained for protesting against the scheme.
Hundreds of protestors blocked train tracks in Telangana, where one person died in police firing at Secunderabad on June 17, as well as West Bengal where train services on the Sealdah-Barrackpore segment in North 24 Parganas were disrupted for about an hour.
Several hundred youths gathered at Thampanoor, in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, before marching to the Raj Bhavan while raising slogans against the Centre.
While the government is firm on rolling out the Agnipath scheme, the home ministry’s concession, announced over Tweets by Home Minister Amit Shah’s office, said that the 10 percent reservation for vacancies in the CAPFs and Assam Rifles would be applicable for those complete four years under the Agnipath scheme.