10% of job vacancies in MoD to be reserved for Agniveers
The Hindu
The announcement was made after Mr. Singh chaired a meeting with the three Service Chiefs at his residence.
Amid continuing protests and violence against the new ‘Agnipath’ scheme for recruitment of soldiers into the armed forces, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday approved a proposal to reserve 10% of the job vacancies in Defence Ministry for ‘Agniveers’ meeting requisite eligibility criteria.
The announcement was made after Mr. Singh chaired a meeting with the three Service Chiefs at his residence.
“The 10% reservation will be implemented in the Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU). This reservation would be in addition to existing reservation for ex-servicemen,” Mr. Singh’s office said on Twitter.
Necessary amendments to relevant recruitment rules will be undertaken to implement these provisions, his office said adding, “DPSUs will be advised to make similar amendments to their respective recruitment rules. Necessary age relaxation provision will also be made.”
On similar lines, Ministry of Home Affairs too announced a decision to reserve 10% vacancies for recruitment in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Assam Rifles for Agniveers and also give three years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles. Further, this upper age relaxation has been extended to five years for the first batch of Agniveers, it stated.
Earlier in the day speaking at the India Today conclave, Mr. Singh termed the Agnipath scheme as a ‘transformative reform’ and noted that several Government departments have announced priority in selecting Agniveers, upon completing of four years, for their recruitment processes and added that If they want to do any other work, then they will also be given the facility of loan at a cheaper rate.
Mr. Singh also stated that Agniveer is not just the name of bringing new recruits in the armed forces but they will also be given the same quality training that soldiers are getting today. “Training time may be short but there will be no compromise in the quality,” he added.
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