NEW DELHI: Amid protests and agitations against the newly-launched Agnipath recruitment scheme for the military, Lt Gen Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, Dept of Military Affairs, on June 19 clarified the scheme will be implemented and there is no question of a rollback. He also clarified that all recruitment will be through the Agnipath scheme only.
Lt Gen Puri was addressing a joint military briefing on the Agnipath recruitment scheme with Air Marshal SK Jha, Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, and LG C Bansi Ponnappa.
He also stated that the Agniveers would get the same allowance in areas like Siachen and other areas which are applicable to the regular soldiers serving at present. "No discrimination against them in service conditions," he added.
"Coming to the rollback of the scheme. Why should it be rolled back? It is the only progressive step to making the country young. Why is it being made young? We are tinkering with Desh ki Raksha (national security). There is no space. I will give you an example. Do you know how many casualties are reported just for health purposes from high-altitude areas? Do read about it, then you would come to know why being (sic) young is important," the officer said.
Calling this reform ‘long-pending’, Lt Gen Puri said, "We want a mix of josh and hosh and that is why we wanted to reduce the age profile. The average age is 32 years at present and we want to reduce it as per the recommendations of the Kargil review committee and Arun Singh committee report," Lt Gen Puri said.
Referring to the provisions of reservations in different ministries, Lt Gen Puri said that announcements were pre-planned and not in reaction to the arson and agitation which took place after the Agnipath scheme announcement. He also clarified that all recruitment will be through the Agnipath scheme only.
He said around 17,600 people from the three services are taking premature retirement from the three services every year. "No one ever tried to ask them what they will do after retirement," he stated.
On the protests and acts of violence happening across the country, Lt General Puri said, "Indian Army's foundation is discipline. No space for arson, vandalism. Every individual will have to take a pledge that they were not part of protests or vandalism". He said that the individual against whom an FIR is lodged would not be allowed to join the forces. All candidates will have to give a written pledge that they did not indulge in any arson/violence, he added.
Implementation plans announced
"Registration process for the first batch of Agniveers will start from June 24 and from July 24, phase 1 online examination process will begin", said Air Marshal Jha. He informed that the first batch would be enrolled by December and training would commence by December 30.
Talking about the recruitment process in Indian Navy, Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said the first batch of naval Agniveers will start reaching the training establishment INS Chilka in Odisha from November 21. He also made clear that both males and females will be recruited through the Agnipath scheme.
"The Indian Navy has 30 women officers at present sailing on different Indian Navy ships. We have decided that under the Agnipath scheme, we will recruit women also. They will be deployed on warships," the Navy official added.
"By December, we will get the first batch of 25,000 Agniveers and the second batch would be inducted around February 2023 making it 40,000," said Lt Gen Bansi Ponappa.
Lt Gen Puri that the Centre will start with the recruitment of 46,000 Army aspirants to 'analyse' the scheme. "In next 4 to 5 years, our intake (of soldiers) will be 50,000-60,000 and will increase to 90,000 to 1 lakh subsequently. We've started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme... and to build up infra capacity," he said.
"Our intake of 'Agniveers' will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future and will not remain at 46,000 which is the present figure”, the officer added.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)