Amidst the raging protests over ‘Agnipath recruitment scheme’, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday made a major announcement. The MHA said that 10 per cent of vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles will be reserved for Agniveers.
The announcement was made by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earlier in the day on Twitter.
Apart from this, the MHA has also decided to give three years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles.
Further, for the first batch of Agniveer, the age relaxation will be for 5 years beyond the prescribed upper age limit.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced that government will reserve 10 per cent jobs in the Defence Ministry for Agniveers.
"Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh has approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in Ministry of Defence for 'Agniveers' meeting requisite eligibility criteria", said Defence Ministry Office in a tweet.
The 10 per cent reservation will be implemented in the Indian Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings, Defence Ministry Office added further. However, this reservation would be in addition to existing reservation for ex-servicemen.
The announcement comes after four days of widespread protests and agitation over the scheme by aspirants in several parts of India.
The defence ministry office has also clarified that the necessary steps will be taken to implement these provisions.
"Necessary amendments to relevant recruitment rules will be undertaken to implement these provisions. Defence Public Sector Undertakings will be advised to make similar amendments to their respective recruitment rules. Necessary age relaxation provision will also be made", tweeted the ministry office.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Cabinet Committee on Security had announced ransformative scheme of 'Agnipath' to provide Indian youths an opportunity to get inducted into the Armed services. Under this, youngsters between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted for a four-year tenure, while 25 per cent of the recruits will be retained for regular service.
Following widespread protests against the new model for enrolment of soldiers into the three services, the Centre on Thursday increased the upper-age limit for recruitment under the "Agnipath" scheme to 23 years from 21 years for the year 2022.
"Cognisant of the fact that it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years, the government has decided that a one-time waiver shall be granted for the proposed recruitment cycle for 2022," according to a statement issued by the defence ministry.