Youths recruited in the armed forces under the short-term Agnipath scheme can be called back if the situation demands, particularly in case of a full-fledged war, Lt General K.K. Repswal, Chief of Staff, Eastern Command said on Wednesday.
“It will be trained pool available to you and if the situation so demands they can be called back,” Mr Repswal told presspersons.
Addressing a press conference at the headquarters of Eastern Command at Fort William in Kolkata, he said that the average age of personnel of Indian army is 32 years at present and with the recruitment under the Agnipath scheme the age will come down to 26 years. About 40,000 youths from 17.5 years to 21 years age group would be recruited for this short-term contractual scheme in the next three months, Lt General Respwal said.
While highlighting the pay and other facilities for the scheme, he added that after completion of service the Agniveers will not be treated as “ex-servicemen”. After four years about 25% of Agniveers will be absorbed in the Army and the rest can participate in recruitment processes of Indian Army.
Lt General Respwal described the scheme as a paradigm shift in the recruitment of the Indian Army and said that educated youth with right skills will get chance to join the Army without any dilution of standards.
The educational qualification for Agniveers will be Class X , matriculation. He added that that one of the objectives of the new scheme was to improve the technical threshold of the Indian Army and in some of the technical branches of Army recruits with ITI ( Industrial Training Institute) training will be taken in.
Asked about whether women can be part of the new scheme, Lt General Respwal said that once the scheme stabilises “girls will get a chance”.
