New Delhi: Amid the raging protests over the Agnipath Scheme across the country, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with the defence service chiefs in Delhi. Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari were present at the meeting in Defence Minister's residence.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday announced that 'Agniveers' will be absorbed into the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles at the end of their four-year term in the army. MHA also announced three years of age relaxation, beyond the upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles.
For the first batch of Agniveers, age relaxation will be for 5 years beyond the upper age limit. The decision comes amid the raging protests that have broken out across the country against the Centre's Agnipath Scheme. The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
Singh also met Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Vice Chief of Army Staff Gen B S Raju and is learnt to have discussed a quick rollout of the Agnipath scheme and ways to pacify the agitators. Mobs set ablaze Taregana railway station in Bihar during a bandh on Saturday and vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab, as protesters continued to target railway properties on the fourth day of the stir and blocked roads and rail tracks in several states including West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
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Railways cancelled 369 trains on Saturday and passengers faced a harrowing time. Over 200 trains were cancelled a day earlier after the railways faced the brunt of the protests. The agitation also spread to the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, with aspirants doing push-ups on roads at some places to register their protest. Congress president Sonia Gandhi termed the scheme as "directionless" and said her party will work for its withdrawal while appealing to the youths to adopt peaceful and non-violent means to fight for their demands.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to withdraw Agnipath like the farm laws. "He will have to accept the demand of the youth of the country by becoming 'maafiveer' and take back the 'Agnipath' scheme," the former Congress chief said. As army job aspirants staged a protest in Chennai, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin asked the Centre to rethink the scheme. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann demanded a rollback and said those who cleared physical tests in the last two years must get a chance to appear in written exams for joining the Army. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader claimed that the Agnipath scheme will "dilute" the fighting ability of soldiers and render the youth jobless.
Agnipath allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces for a period of four years. The Agnipath Scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces.
According to the latest announcement by the Ministry, the upper age limit for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) - inclusive of Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), National Security Guard (NSG) and Special Protection Group (SPG) - will stand at 26 years. Meanwhile, the first batch of Agniveers will avail a further relaxation of 5 years beyond the upper age limit of 23, taking it to 28 years.
