No Rollback of Agnipath Scheme, Asserts Defence Ministry

The top defence officials said the defence reforms like Agnipath was long pending as the armed forces wanted to bring youthfulness and experience. The defence ministry asserted that the scheme will not be rolled back. 

Referring to the reservations for the ‘Agniveers’ by different ministries, the defence ministry said that announcements were pre-planned and not in reaction to the arson which took place after the Agnipath scheme announcement. 

“This reform was long pending. We want to bring youthfulness and experience with this reform. Today, a large number of jawans are in their 30s& officers are getting command much later than in the past,” Lt Gen Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, Dept of Military Affairs, said at the presser. 

“Agniveer batch number 1 registration process to start from June 24 and from July 24, phase 1 online examination process would start. The first batch would be enrolled by December and training would commence by December 30," Air Marshal SK Jha said.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana have witnessed violent incidents with protesters torching train bogies, police vehicles and damaging government property against the new Army recruitment scheme Agnipath. 

The Railway police on Saturday arrested 52 persons in connection with the Secunderabad arson. 

Also Read: Why Did Central Govt's Agnipath Recruitment Scheme Trigger Protests?