“Indian Army’s foundation is discipline. There is no space for arson and vandalism. Every Individual will have to give a certificate and police verification is 100 % necessary. No one can join without that,” Ministry of Defence says.
Department of Military Affairs Additional Secretary Lt. General Anil Puri speaks at a Press Conference on the commerce of the Agnipath scheme, image source, PTI
Yesterday, the military leadership briefed the media regarding the Agnipath scheme. The Ministry of Defence also clarified that non participation in anti-Agnipath protests is a must for selection in the forces.
“The Indian Army’s foundation is discipline. There is no space for arson and vandalism. Every Individual applying for the Agnipath scheme will have to give a certificate that they were not part of protests or vandalism. Police verification is 100% necessary.No one can join without that”, said Lt. General Anil Puri, the Additional Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs.
“ If FIR is lodged against them, they can’t join.They will be asked to write as part of the enrollment form that they were not part of the arson and their police verification will be done”, he added.
Armed Forces Need Young People as Agniveers
Spokespersons from the forces made this statement while explaining why the country needs such a scheme.
“We had lengthy discussions on how to make our forces young. We studied foreign forces too. We want young people. Youth are risk takers, they have passion. In them josh and hosh are in equal proportions. This reform was long pending. We want to bring youthfulness and experience with it. Today, a large number of jawans are in their 30s . Also Officers are getting command much later than in the past,” Lt. General Puri said.
“In the next four to five years,our intake( of soldiers) will be 50,000-60,000 .It will further increase to 90,000-I lakh subsequently. We’ve started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme and to build up our infrastructure capacity” he concluded.
Lt. Gen Puri further stressed that future wars will be technologically driven hence a younger profile is needed. The armed forces had to wait for 30 years to undertake this transformative reform. Meanwhile, they also had to suspend recruitment for two years due to the pandemic. “Whether god heard or nature heard, we got this golden opportunity. The forces had been waiting since 1984 to reduce the age profile, he said. Agniveers will draw the same salary as regular soldiers, he concluded.
Training Schedule
The rallies for army recruitment will start in the first half of August. And the first lot of Agniveer cadets will come by December first week. Soon the second lot of Agniveer cadets will come up by February. The army will also hold 83 recruitment rallies and touch every village in the country, said Lt. General C Bansi Ponnappa.
The navy will induct its first batch of Agniveers on 21st November. The force has already started working on the process. Advertisements would reach the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by June 25th. The entire process will commence within a month, said Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi.
Cadets will reach INS Chilka in Odisha for training. Among 3000 Agniveer cadets, some will be women, Tripathi added.
Meanwhile, the air force will train its first batch of Agniveers in December. The notification and registration process will begin from June 24th through online, said Air Marshall SK Jha. Online exam will start on July 24th. By end of December, the air force will enroll the first batch. Trainings will commence by December 30th, he concluded.
(Inputs, ANI, Indian Express, the Hindu)
