“One-Time” Change To ‘Agnipath’ Amid Protests, Age Limit Raised To 23

The Centre as we speak raised the age restrict for the ‘Agnipath’ army recruitment scheme to 23 from 21 amid nationwide protests in opposition to the brand new mannequin of enrolment of troopers. The choice has been taken as no recruitment has taken place within the final two years, the federal government stated in a launch.

“​Cognizant of the truth that it has not been doable to undertake the recruitment over the last two years, the Authorities has determined {that a} one-time waiver shall be granted for the proposed recruitment cycle for 2022,” the federal government stated.

The assertion stated the upper-age restrict for the recruitment course of below the Agnipath scheme for 2022 has been elevated to 23 years.

Violence erupted on Tuesday after the federal government introduced an overhaul of recruitment for India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces, seeking to deliver down the common age of personnel and scale back pension expenditure. The protests have unfold to 10 states, together with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Delhi.

The brand new system had assured to herald women and men between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 for a four-year tenure, with solely 1 / 4 retained for longer durations.

The BJP has come below hearth with a whole bunch of potential recruits protesting in opposition to the shorter tenure.

The federal government has launched an outreach marketing campaign. In a sequence of tweets, the Info and Broadcasting Ministry posted info associated to the Agnipath schemes within the public area. An in depth doc titled “Myths vs Info”, which seeks to “dispel misconceptions”, was additionally shared by authorities sources.

The federal government has additionally put out a 10-point defence of the scheme and warranted recruits they won’t discover themselves within the lurch after finishing their 4 years within the army.