New Delhi:- In a major change to the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of personnel into the Indian Armed Forces, Chief of Defence Staff General N.S. Raja Subramani on Wednesday announced that the services of all Agniveers completing their four-year tenure in December this year would be extended by two years.
The CDS was briefing the media about the decision taken at a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He explained that under the existing policy, 25 per cent of the personnel recruited on a contractual basis four years ago were to be permanently absorbed into the Armed Forces as regular personnel.
General Subramani said the changes announced today would apply to the remaining 75 per cent of personnel who were scheduled to leave the Armed Forces in December. These personnel, who were due to be released from service, would now be granted a second tenure of two years. General Subramani further said, "As soon as this two-year period is completed, all these personnel will be given the option of becoming regular soldiers, subject to two conditions—their own willingness and physical fitness. They will be permanently inducted into the Army based on their performance and the prevailing guidelines."
Under the existing scheme, Agniveers are recruited on a four-year contractual basis. The two-year extension comes at a time when more than 18,300 personnel were scheduled to complete their four-year tenure and retire by December 31. The CDS said the Cabinet had devised a pathway to enable Agniveers to be permanently absorbed into the Armed Forces. He added that the performance of Agniveers over the past four years had been very good.
