The First Agniveers Will Be Trained In December 2022, Active Service Beginning In The Middle Of 2023: Army Chief

While the central government has yet to establish an official start date for the Agnipath scheme, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande indicated on Friday that training for the first Agniveers will begin in December 2022, with actual service beginning in the middle of 2023.

The Indian Army Chief remarked today in an exclusive interview with ANI, “The recruitment process would start soon. A notice will be posted on the official website within the next two days. Following that, our Army recruitment organisations will issue a full registration and rally timetable…”

“In terms of Agniveers travelling to recruitment training centres, the first Agniveers will be trained at the centres in December of this year (in 2022). In the middle of 2023, active service will begin “He went on to say.

Covid-19, in particular, put a two-year halt on Army recruitment. The Army last recruited jawans in 2019-2020, and there have been no new recruits since then. The Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, on the other hand, have both recruited in the last two years.

Hundreds of aspirants disrupted rail and road traffic while police fired tear gas shells to disperse them as violent protests over the central government’s ‘Agnipath’ plan for armed forces recruitment continued across Bihar on Thursday.

Aspirants held protests against the project on Wednesday in Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, and Buxar districts, interrupting road and rail traffic. The first cohort of ‘Agniveers’ will be ready by July 2023, with recruitment starting in the next 90 days. “The government should grant ‘Agniveers’ 20-30% reservation in other positions if they leave the ‘Agnipath’ scheme after four years,” a protester suggested.

The government has implemented the Agnipath Scheme in an effort to modernise the Armed Forces’ recruitment process. The Centre has decided to change the upper age limit for recruiting Agniveers in response to the Opposition’s criticism of the new military recruitment plan. The Agniveer upper age restriction for recruitment under Agnipath Scheme has been extended to 23 years from 21 years, thanks to a one-time waiver granted by the Centre on June 16, 2022.

The entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been set at 17 1/2 – 21 years of age as a result of the start of the Agnipath scheme, according to the ministry of defence on Friday.

The Agnipath scheme, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, is aimed to help the Armed Forces maintain a youthful profile. It will give young people who want to wear the uniform the chance to do so by drawing young talent from the community who are more in tune with current technology trends and returning skilled, disciplined, and motivated manpower to society.

The execution of this strategy is expected to reduce the average age profile of the Indian Armed Forces by around 4-5 years. The injection of highly inspired youth with a stronger grasp of self-discipline, dedication, and focus who are suitably skilled and can contribute in various sectors would be extremely beneficial to the country.

This is a significant defence policy reform presented by the government to herald in a new era in the three Services’ Human Resource policies. The policy, which takes effect immediately, will regulate enrolment in the three programmes going forward.