VELLORE: Hundreds of youngsters gathered in front of the Vellore collectorate on Thursday and staged a protest against the Indian Army's latest plan to recruit soldiers under the 'Agnipath scheme'.
They raised slogans demanding a rollback of the scheme, which was introduced by the Centre earlier this week. Since then, it has been receiving strong opposition from aspirants in the form of protests and blockades.
The scheme aims at recruiting applicants aged between 17.5 and 21. Candidates who join under the scheme will be called 'Agniveers'. The duration of the service is four years including a six-month training, after which only 25% of them will be re-enrolled to the regular cadre of armed forces.
The remaining 75% outgoing forces will receive an exit fund of around Rs 11.71 lakh.
In Vellore, the protesting students opposed the move and said, "It has been our dream to join the army, but the Agnipath scheme will let us work for only four years and then relieve us. We do not know what we will do after that."
The aspirants also raised concerns about the delay in conducting the Common Entrance Exam (CEE). "The notification for the exam was out in 2019 and I cleared the physical test and medical test. But I have been waiting for the written test which is pending for over a year; it is still unclear if the exam will take place at all." The age limit for the rank of soldiers (General Duty), clerks, technical, trade, and nursing under the CEE is between 17.5 and 23. The aspirants said some of them are above 21 years and if the Army recruits under Agnipath, they would not stand an opportunity to get into the services.