Finance
In a major development, several central armed forces, including the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Border Security Force (BSF), and Railway Protection Force, will reserve 10 per cent of constable posts for former Agniveer soldiers.
The remarks made by Director General Nina Singh of the CISF and Nitin Agrawal of the BSF coincided with increased attention being paid to the Agnipath recruitment program, which is used to induct soldiers into the Army, Navy, and Air Force for a brief period of time.
“The Union Home Ministry has taken an important decision regarding the recruitment of ex-Agniveers. Accordingly, the CISF is also preparing the process of the recruitment of ex-Agniveer,” Singh said.
The chief of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said 10 per cent jobs will be reserved for ex-Agniveers in all future appointments of constables.
“In physical tests also, they will be given exemption along with the relaxation on the age. In the first year the age relaxation is for five five years and in the subsequent year, the age relaxation will be three years,” she told DD News.
“Ex-Agniveer will be able to take advantage of this and the CISF will ensure that. This will be beneficial for the CISF too as the force will get trained and disciplined personnel,” Singh said.
In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services.
Under the Agnipath program, young people between the ages of 17 and a half and 21 may be recruited for a period of four years, with the option to retain 25% of them for an additional fifteen years.
Since only 25% of all recruits will be retained for a 15-year period, some opposition parties, including the Congress, have been criticizing the administration over the program, questioning what will happen to 75% of the Agniveers after their four-year tenure ends.
A number of ministries and agencies within the federal government have already declared their intention to hire ex Agniveers.
“They got four years of experience. They are fully disciplined and trained personnel. This is very good for the BSF as we are getting trained soldiers. After short training, they will be deployed along the border,” said Border Security Force (BSF) director general Agrawal.
He said all the security forces will be benefitted by recruiting former Agniveers.
“We are waiting for them to be deployed after giving conversion training, they will be deployed. 10 per cent of the total vacancies will be reserved for them,” he said.
“There will be age relaxation for them as well. The first batch will get five years of age relaxation and the subsequent batches will get three years of age relaxation,” he told DD News.
