New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved extending the service period of Agniveers by 2 years, Chief of Defence Staff N.S. Raja Subramani announced yesterday.
To recruit young people into the three wings of the Indian armed forces (Army, Air Force, and Navy) on a short-term basis, the central government implemented a new recruitment scheme called “Agnipath” in 2022. The young people selected under this scheme are called “Agniveers.”
They are given the opportunity to serve in the armed forces for a total of 4 years, along with 6 months of military training. After 4 years of service, 25% of the soldiers will be inducted into permanent service in the military based on merit. The remaining 75% of the soldiers will be released from service.
In this context, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the armed forces, General N.S. Raja Subramani, who met reporters in Delhi yesterday, made an important announcement about the Agnipath scheme. Speaking about this, he said, “25% of the Agniveers who complete their initial 4-year term of service will be inducted as regular soldiers.
As for the remaining 75%, the three services recommended that they be given a second term of two years. Accepting that, the Union Cabinet has approved a two-year extension of service for Agniveers,” he said.
Set to leave on Dec. 31
Among the Agniveers recruited into the three services in 2022, in the first batch, 19,000 joined the Army, 2,850 the Air Force, and 2,550 the Navy, bringing the total number of Agniveers recruited across the three services to 24,400.
More than 18,300 Agniveers had completed their four-year term and were due to leave the armed forces by December 31. Following this move by the central government, they are likely to be granted an additional two-year extension of service.