Armed forces draw proposal to absorb 50% more agniveers

The ambitious Agnipath scheme might see some changes as the armed forces are mulling ways to obviate problems that may arise in the future. These problems, among the many, include the decline in numbers of personnel at the soldiers levels due to the restricted number of recruitments planned up till 2026.

- MAYANK SINGH

The proposal being worked out, said the sources, includes raising the percentage of Agniveers getting permanently absorbed to 50 per cent. Another issue that is being looked into is in inducting eligible candidates for technical streams such as aviation, engineering, electronic and similar trades.

“The cap in the maximum recruitment age to 21 years is leaving a smaller pool of eligible candidates. Thus, the proposal is to raise this to 23 years so that we can get the youth passing out of polytechnic institutions,” said sources.

The eligibility age is in the range of 17.5 to 21 years and the enrolment is done in various categories and trades, including the technical ones.