Defence forces announce schedule for recruitment under Agnipath scheme

The Army, Navy and the Air Force came out with a broad schedule for recruitment of soldiers under the Agnipath scheme while asserting that it is being implemented to bring down the age profile of the armed forces.

Lt Gen A Puri, the additional secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, strongly defended the scheme, saying that reducing the age profile of the three services has been on the table for quite some time and even the Kargil review committee had made observations on it.

At a press conference, Lt Gen Puri said the government was going ahead with implementing the Agnipath scheme and appealed to the youths to end their protest.

Giving details of the Navy's plan to induct Agniveers under the scheme, Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said the naval headquarters will come out with a broad guideline for the recruitment by June 25. The first batch of recruits will join the training programme by November 21, he said.

He said the Navy is recruiting both men and women as Agniveers under the scheme.

About the Indian Air Force's plan for induction of recruits under the Agnipath scheme, Air Marshall S K Jha said the registration process will start on June 24 and the process for online examination for phase one of the recruitment will begin on July 24.

"We are planning to start the training for the first batch of recruits by December 30," Air Marshall Jha said.

About the Army's recruitment plan, Lt Gen Bansi Ponappa said the Army will issue a draft notification on Monday and subsequent notifications will be issued by various recruitment units of the force from July 1 onwards.

Recruitment rallies under the Agnipath scheme will take place across India in August, September and October, he said.

Lt Gen Ponappa said the first batch comprising 25,000 personnel will join the training programme in the first and second week of December. The second lot of recruits will join their training around February 23.

He said a total of 83 recruitment rallies will be organised across the country to select around 40,000 personnel.