‘Agniveers’ to get priority for jobs in Paramilitary forces, Assam Rifles: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Giving more clarity on the recruitement for Agniveers in Armed Forces, the Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday stated that the government has decided to give them priority for jobs in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and the Assam Rifles.

Taking to Twitter, the Home Minister wrote, “Agnipath Yojana is a visionary and welcome decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the bright future of the youth. In this context, the MHA has decided to give priority to Agniveers who complete 4 years under this scheme for recruitment in CAPFs (central armed police forces) and Assam Rifles.”

The Home Minister also said that this will help youngsters, trained under the Agnipath scheme to contribute more in the nation-building efforts.

‘अग्निपथ योजना’ युवाओं के उज्ज्वल भविष्य के लिए @narendramodi जी का एक दूरदर्शी व स्वागत योग्य निर्णय है।

इसी संदर्भ में आज गृह मंत्रालय ने इस योजना में 4 साल पूरा करने वाले अग्निवीरों को CAPFs और असम राइफल्स में भर्ती में प्राथमिकता देने का निर्णय लिया है।#BharatKeAgniveer

— गृहमंत्री कार्यालय, HMO India (@HMOIndia) June 15, 2022

The ‘Agnipath’ scheme makes a provision of recruitment of youths in theall three wings of Armed Forces, with age group from 17.5 years to 21 years. Out of selected Agniveers, 25% of them will get inducted in regular forces for 15 years while the remaining 75% will be released for civilian jobs, with all possible help from the forces.

The young recruits will be known by name of ‘Agniveers’ and will wear a distinct insignia as part of their uniform.

According to available data, there are more than 1 lakh vacancies in CAPF – including the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Assam Rifles (AR).

At present, the total strength of CAPFs and Assam Rifles stands at close to 9.5 lakh with 34,000 women in the workforce.

Agnipath scheme & its impact

The ‘Agnipath’ scheme was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, with an objective to achieve lean & more agile Armed forces while for the latter, they will get a chance to serve the nation in uniform.

The move is also expected to slash the ballooning salary & pension bills of the Armed forces. Critics have their own reasons to denounce the move as they believe that this will adversly impact the professionalism & military ethos of the 14 lakh strong Armed forces.