New Delhi, June 18
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with top officials of the Army, Navy and Air Force on the overall situation arising out of the rollout of the ‘Agneepath’ military recruitment scheme, as protests against it intensified in several parts of the country. ,
The meeting was attended by Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary, Chief of the Navy Admiral R Hari Kumar and Chief of the Army Staff, General BS Raju.
It is learned that the focus of the meeting was to ensure early implementation of the ‘Agneepath’ plan and ways to pacify the agitators.
Army Chief General Manoj Pandey could not attend the meeting as he is in Hyderabad on an official visit.
The Army, Navy and Air Force on Friday announced the commencement of the enrollment process under the new model by next week.
Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary told PTI that the selection process by the Indian Air Force for recruitment under the new scheme would begin from June 24 while the Army said it would start the preliminary exercise within two days.
While the Indian Navy said it would start the recruitment process “very soon”, a senior naval commander said the notification for the recruitment would be issued within a week.
Senior army officials said the three services are planning to deploy the first batch of recruits in both operational and non-operational roles by June next year under the new scheme.
In an effort to pacify the protesters, the government on Thursday night raised the upper age limit for recruitment under the ‘Agneepath’ scheme from 21 to 23 years for the year 2022.
Unveiling the scheme on Tuesday, the government said youth in the age group of 17-and-a-half to 21 years would be inducted for a four-year term, while 25 per cent of them would be inducted for regular service later.
The youth to be recruited under the new scheme will be called ‘Agniveer’. One of the major objectives of this scheme is to reduce the average age of military personnel and cut down on rising salary and pension bills.
The announcement of the new scheme comes in the backdrop of army recruitments being halted over the coronavirus pandemic for more than two years.
The army recruits 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers annually. However, the recruitment could not take place for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.