Amid protests, MHA announces 10 per cent reservation for 'Agniveers' in CAPFs

In a bid to assuage concerns over the Agnipath scheme the home ministry on Saturday approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in the Ministry of Defence for Agniveers meeting requisite eligibility criteriaThe announcement comes amid widespread protests against the recently unveiled scheme for recruitment of soldiers in the armed forces on a shortterm contractual basis The soldiers recruited under this scheme are to be called AgniveersThe Ministry of Home Affairs MHA decides to reserve 1037 vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers a tweet of the Home Ministry saidThe MHA also decides to give 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs amp Assam Rifles Further for the first batch of Agniveer the age relaxation will be for 5 years beyond the prescribed upper age limitmdash HMO India HMOIndia June 18 2022On the agerelaxation it said The MHA also decides to give 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs amp Assam RiflesFurther for the first batch of Agniveer the age relaxation will be for 5 years beyond the prescribed upper age limitAt present jawans between the age of 1823 years are recruited in the paramilitary forcesThe Home Ministrys announcement is seen as a part of a slew of measures taken by the government to allay the concerns raised by youths protesting across the country against the scheme They have also torched public and private property and attacked BJP offices at some placesThe finance ministry held a meeting on Thursday with the heads of public sector banks and financial institutions to explore employment opportunities for Agniveers in their respective organisationsIt was also decided that banks would explore possibilities of supporting Agniveers through suitable credit facilities for skill upgradation education for setting up businesses and taking up selfemploymentThe Skill Development Ministry had said the Agnipath scheme will create a large pool of skilled youths who can contribute to Indias overall defence preparedness as well as the growth of the economySkill India and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will work collaboratively with various wings of the Armed Forces to train the students in additional skills to make them better suited to these job roles an official statement had saidBesides all Agniveers will get Skill India certification while in service which will enable them to pursue many diverse opportunities in entrepreneurship and job roles that are being created in the economy after completion of their tenure it addedSeveral BJPruled states like Uttar Pradesh Haryana Madhya Pradesh and Assam have also announced various measures to encourage the youth to apply under the Agnipath scheme and assured them reservation in their statesUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Agniveers will be given priority in police and related servicesSimilar announcements were made by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who said his government will give preference to the 75 per cent soldiers who come back after four years as soldiers and seek government jobsMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the state will give such retired soldiers priority in the state police jobs Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also said the retired soldiers will be given preference in the state police jobWith inputs from ANI and PTI