Services rule out rollback of Agnipath, reveal hiring planAspirants should not have been part of protests

Terming Agnipath the “only progressive step” to make the Army younger, a senior military officer on Sunday ruled out any rollback of the scheme, and said those applying for it should give an undertaking that they did not take part in protests that broke out after its announcement.

The three Services announced the recruitment schedule for the first batch of Agniveers with training set to commence by 2022-end.

“There is no space for indiscipline in the armed forces. No space for arson and vandalism. Every individual who aspires to join Agnipath has to give an undertaking and pledge that they have not taken part in any protest or arson… There will be police verification after that. No one can come into the armed forces without police verification,” Lieutenant-General Anil Puri, Additional Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, said at a tri-service press conference after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met the three Service chiefs for the second consecutive day.

Lt. Gen. Puri said efforts to bring down the average age of the armed forces started three decades ago. The Kargil review committee had reiterated the need for a reduction in age, but it did not come about, he added.

With Agnipath, he said, the average age will come down from 32 to 26 in line with the age profile of major Armies worldwide.

Stressing that future wars will be technology driven and hence a younger profile is required, Mr. Puri said there had been no opportunity in the past 30 years to undertake this transformative reform.

Noting that recruitment was not held for two years due to the pandemic, he said “God and nature” gave this opportunity to build a younger Army. The forces had been waiting since 1984 to reduce the age profile, he said.

On Agniveers, he said their allowances would be the same as what regular soldiers drew. There would be no discrimination.

IAF schedule

Air Marshal S.K. Jha, Air Officer in-charge, Personnel, said the notification and registration process for enrolment of the first batch would go live online from June 24 through the online system of the Indian Air Force.

“From July 24, an online examination will start and by end December, we will enrol the first batch and December 30, the training will commence,” he said.

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