In a major development, the Indian Army has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with 11 Indian banks for providing banking facilities to Agniveers on enrolment under the Agnipath scheme. This was stated by the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. The MoUs were signed by Lt General V Sreehari, DG of Manpower Planning and Personnel Services and the senior officials of banks in a ceremony presided over by Lt General C Bansi Ponappa, the Adjutant General of Indian Army.
According to the ministry, the benefits extended under the Agniveer Salary package are similar to that of the defence salary package. The banks have also offered soft loans to the exiting Agniveers in order to promote and elevate their entrepreneurial skills.
The names of the 11 banks that will provide banking facilities to Agniveers on enrolment are as follows: State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC First Bank, IDBI Bank, and Bandhan Bank.
The registration process for the recruitment of Agniveer’s for the Indian Air Force (IAF) is scheduled to begin from the first week of November 2022. The registrations are open for all eligible female and male candidates to apply. IAF has announced that the examination will be held online in January 2023.
Recently, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, on the occasion of 90th IAF Day celebrations, had said that the induction of air warriors into the IAF through Agnipath Scheme is challenging but also an opportunity to harness the potential of India’s youth and channelize it towards the service of the nation.
“In December this year, we would be inducting 3,000 Agniveer Vayu for their initial training. This number will only go up in the years to come to ensure adequate staffing,” the IAF Chief said. The Air Chief Marshal also outlined the plans for the induction of women Agniveers starting next year and informed that the creation of infrastructure is underway and the streamlining of trade structure is being finalized. Earlier in July, IAF had received a tremendous response with 7.5 lakh applications from army aspirants.
Ever since the announcement of the Agnipath Scheme, recruitment rallies have been taking place in different parts of the country across various states. These include Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, J&K, Kerala, Telangana (Oct 15-31), Northeast region, Gujarat and Haryana, among others. Haryana is set to witness yet another Agniveer recruitment rally from October 25 to November 11, with participation of youth from six districts Ambala, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Panchkula and Chandigarh.
Recruitment will be held for posts of Agniveer General Duty, Agniveer Clerk, Storekeeper (Technical), Agniveer (Technical), and Agniveer Tradesman. Recruitment Director, Colonel B S Bisht said that recruitment rules allow sons of serving or retired officers and Women Soldiers to be given relaxation in height, weight, and chest and 20% bonus marks for passing the examination. Bonus marks will also be extended to the winners of Khelo India Youth Games and All India School Games Federation.
Indian Navy will enroll women sailors for the first time under the Agnipath Scheme. The move will pave way for them to be able to be deployed on warships in future. Navy is yet to finalize the final number of women among the 3000 naval Agniveers that it is set to induct into the Indian Navy. However, according to reports, this number may be 10-20% of the first batch that is scheduled to start training at INS Chilka, the premier basic training establishment for sailors of the Indian Navy, later in November.
“The Agnipath scheme in the Navy will be gender-neutral. As we speak, 30 women officers are sailing on board frontline warships. We have decided that the time has come to recruit women sailors as well, and in all trades which will include women who will go to sea,” Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi had informed at the time when the Agnipath Scheme was announced.
Earlier in July, the government had also given “in-principle approval” for 10 % reservation in the Central Armed Police Forces like the CRPF and BSF for ‘Agniveers’ after their service in the military. According to reports, a whopping 30.41 lakh candidates had appeared against 60,210 posts of constables in the CAPFs.
