With Agnipath, Indian Navy proposes to enhance role of women
New Delhi
Amid unwarranted row over Agnipath scheme, the country's Naval force has taken a unique decision now to boost women enrolment into the blue water force.
Top Naval officials said INS Chilka in Odisha, which is the premier basic training establishment for the Indian Navy, will now accommodate women recruits.
“As we speak, 30 women officers are sailing on board ships. We have decided that time has come to recruit more women sailors," Vice Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, Chief of Personnel, said at the tri-service press conference on Sunday.
In fact, the training of the first batch of Agniveers under the Navy will begin in November this year.
The Navy top bosses would be soon formulating the exact ratio of women sailors to be recruited through the Agnipath scheme.
The women sailors will be posted on board warships as well.
Of course, Indian Army, Air Force and Navy – have had women officers, this will be the first time that positions of Personnel Below Officers’ Rank will be open to women in the Navy.
Sources said when the Navy takes in nxt batch of sailors through the Agnipath scheme,around 20 per cent will be women.
About the Indian Air Force's plan for induction of recruits under the Agnipath scheme, Air Marshall S K Jha said the registration process will start on June 24 and the process for online examination for phase one of the recruitment will begin on July 24.
Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said the naval headquarters will come out with a broad guideline for the recruitment by June 25. The first batch of recruits will join the training programme by November 21.
Lt Gen A Puri, the additional secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, strongly defended the Agnipath scheme, saying that reducing the age profile of the three services has been on the table for quite some time and the Kargil review committee had also made recommendations on those lines.
About the Army's recruitment plan, Lt Gen Bansi Ponappa said the Army will issue a draft notification on Monday and subsequent notifications will be issued by various recruitment units of the force from July 1 onwards.
ends
A top military officer on Sunday informed that the recruitment of soldiers will increase to over one lakh in the future under the Agnipath scheme.
He said that the Centre will start with the recruitment of 46,000 Army aspirants to ‘analyse’ the scheme.
“In next 4-5 years, our intake (of soldiers) will be 50,000-60,000 & will increase to 90,000 – 1 lakh subsequently. We’ve started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme…and to build up infra capacity,” said Additional Secretary Lt Gen Anil Puri, Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in a media briefing here today.
He further said, “Our intake of ‘Agniveers’ will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future and will not remain at 46,000 which is the present figure.”
The top military officer also said the Agniveers will get compensation for Rs one crore if he sacrifices his life in service of the nation.
“We want a mix of josh and hosh and that is why we wanted to reduce the age profile. The average age is 32 years at present and we want to reduce it as per the recommendations of the Kargil review committee and Arun Singh committee report,” Arun Puri said.
He said around 17,600 people are taking premature retirement from the three services every year.
“No one ever tried to ask them what they will do after retirement,” he stated.
He further asserted that Agniveers would get the same allowance in areas like Siachen and other areas which are applicable to the regular soldiers serving at present.
“No discrimination against them in service conditions,” he added.
“This reform was long pending. We want to bring youthfulness and experience with this reform. Today, a large number of jawan are in their 30s and officers are getting command much later than in the past,” he added.
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.
Under the scheme, people between the age of 17.5 years and 21 years will be inducted into the services for a four-year tenure. During this period, they will be paid a monthly salary between Rs 30,000-40,000 plus allowances, followed by compulsory retirement for most without gratuity and pension benefits.
Following the announcement of the scheme, agitations broke out and a tense situation prevailed in various states. The protests took place in several states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam so far.
In a few states, the protests turned violent, which included setting trains on fire and stone-pelting incidents, and arrests were made. In Uttar Pradesh at least 250 people have been arrested and six FIRs were lodged till Friday. One died in Telangana’s Secunderabad district.
Protesters expressed concerns about their future after four-year of contractual employment in the Indian Army, hence, demanding immediate rollback of the scheme.
Owing to the violence, the train services of the East Coast Railway zone were also affected.
In states like Bihar, where trains were set on fire in some places, the state police are probing the role of the coaching institutes behind the violence.
Acting against the violence, the Andhra Pradesh Police on Saturday detained a man named Subba Rao who ran Army training centres in Palnadu district on the suspicion that he is the conspirator in Thursday’s arson at Secunderabad Railway station in Telangana.
In response, the Centre has stepped up its efforts to appeal to the protestors not to protest and understand the new recruitment programme of the military. The government explained to the youths that they will get an exit package worth Rs 11.71 lakhs after their tenure and priority in government services.
In an effort to pacify the protesters, the Centre has introduced several modifications to the newly-unveiled Army recruitment scheme since the initial announcement.
On Saturday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in the Ministry of Defence for Agniveers meeting requisite eligibility criteria.
The government had also announced that it has decided to increase the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022.
The Union Home Ministry decided to reserve 10 per cent vacancies for recruitment in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles for Agniveers. Home Ministry has further announced that it will give three years of age relaxation to Agniveers beyond the prescribed upper age limit to recruitments in CAPFs and Assam Rifles. For the first batch of Agniveers, the age relaxation will be of five years.
Moreover, there are several state governments like Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka that have come out and announced various supportive measures for the Agniveers who would return to the civil life after their 4-year service in the Defence Forces.
Several state governments have announced that Agniveers, after serving the armed forces for 4 years, will be given preference in filling vacancies in state police forces. (ANI)
Agniveers To Be Given 10% Reservations In Defence Ministry Jobs: Rajnath Singh
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of jobs in the Defence Ministry for ‘agniveers’, who would meet the requisite eligibility criteria. This announcement comes amid the raging nationwide protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the Indian Armed Forces.
Earlier in the day, a similar announcement was made by the Union Home Ministry, which has promised to reserve 10 per cent vacancies for recruitment in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles for Agniveers.
“The 10 per cent reservation will be implemented in the Indian Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings. This reservation would be in addition to existing reservation for ex-servicemen,” the Defence Ministry said in a tweet.
Rajnath’s approval comes hours after he held a key meeting with top brass of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. The meeting, which was held at his residence, was attended by Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, and Vice Chief of Army Staff General BS Raju.
Army Chief General Manoj Pande could not attend the meeting as he is in Hyderabad on an official tour.
‘Agnipath scheme announced after wide-ranging consultations’
Earlier in the day, Rajnath strongly defended the Agnipath scheme and said that the new model was adopted after wide-ranging consultations. Calling the scheme “revolutionary”, Rajnath asserted that no compromise will be made on the quality of training for the agniveers.
“It is bringing revolutionary changes in the recruitment process in the armed forces. Some people are spreading misunderstanding about it. Maybe, there could be some confusion among the people as it is a new scheme,” Rajnath was quoted as saying.
“We wanted that there is a sense of discipline and pride for the country among the people.”
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