NEW DELHI: The youth selected for the Indian Army and Air Force under the new recruitment scheme Agnipath have reached their respective training centres and the training for those to join the Indian Air Force began on Sunday. The Air Force informed, “Training of the first batch of ‘Agniveer Vayu’ commenced at Airmen Training School (ATS) Belagavi from today.” Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Training Command, visited the school and addressed the newly recruited batch.
Also, the youth recruited from across the country to join the Army as soldiers after their training is completed have reported to various training centres. Army Chief General MK Pande had informed last week that their training today.
The Indian Navy has allowed women also to join training and 3,000 Agniveers commenced their training in November at the Sailor Training Establishment at INS Chilka in Odisha, of which 341 were women.
The beginning of this recruitment is significant for the Armed Forces as there has been no recruitment since three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And, this is the first time trainees have been recruited under the new Human Resource scheme through a rigorous four-stage examination and filtering process as Agniveers will be undergoing a training period of around six months in the Army.
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As reported earlier by TNIE under the new scheme the youth will be inducted into the Armed Forces initially for four years. Once the four year service is over all of them will leave and a re-induction process will be held to take in 25 percent from them to serve as permanent cadre of the forces. As per the government aim of the scheme is to make the military youthful. At present the soldiers join for a minimum of 15 years and they get pension while leaving.
Agnipath Scheme announced in June 2022 to recruit the Other Ranks (Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen) initially created controversy regarding the future of the youth leaving the armed forces after their four year service. Government not only announced the package but also announced reservation for the Agniveers in jobs.
There will be 10 percent reservation for the Agniveers if they join the Indian Coast Guards, Central Armed Police Forces, Defence Public Centre Undertakings and defence civilian posts. There will be a financial package of around `11.71 lakh to be given to each of the recruits at the end of the four-year tenure from the ‘Seva Nidhi Package’, which will provide financial independence to the youths.
