Nearly 750,000 candidates have registered for recruitment into the Indian Air Force (IAF) under the central government’s new ‘Agnipath’ scheme for short-term induction as soldiers in the armed forces, officials familiar with the development said on Wednesday.
This is the highest number of registrations received for air defence forces in any recruitment cycle, the IAF said.
The registrations to get into IAF under the new scheme opened on June 24 and the online process completed on Tuesday. Candidates who have registered will be competing for 3,000 jobs in the air force.
According to data shared by the IAF, it has received 749,899 applications from defence aspirants compared to 631,528 applications in the past, which was the previous highest in any recruitment cycle. Those recruited under the new defence programme will be called ‘Agniveers’.
IAF aspirants will now have to undertake an online examination between July 24 and July 31 before they get call letters for phase two of the recruitment – medicals – between August and November. The list of selected candidates will be out in early December and the course will begin on December 30.
The armed forces will recruit 46,000 Agniveers this year, including 40,000 by the army and 3,000 by the navy. The registration of candidates for these two services began on July 1 and the process is still underway.
India on June 14 announced the new scheme, replacing the legacy system of recruitment, to lower the age profile of the armed forces, ensure a fitter military and create a technically skilled fighting force capable of living up to future challenges. It sparked widespread protests and forced a concerted outreach by the Centre to scotch apprehensions about the scheme.
The unprecedented response IAF received under ‘Agnipath’ proves that the apprehensions of those opposed to the scheme were unfounded, said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general of the Centre for Air Power Studies.
“People still feel they have a great opportunity to serve the nation through the new scheme, and they will work very hard to compete and become permanent air warriors,” Chopra added.
Under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, the government seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 years after another round of screening. The four-year service includes training for 10 weeks to six months.
Those recruited under the legacy system trained for nine months and served in the armed forces for around 20 years before retiring in their late 30s with a pension. ‘Agniveers’ released after four years will not be eligible for pensions.
Up to 20% of the candidates that the navy plans to recruit under the Agnipath model are expected to be women, HT reported earlier. The force will be recruiting women in the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre for the first time.
The army will kick off recruitment rallies in August, followed by a common entrance exam between October 16 and November 13. The selected candidates will report to training centres in December. The army’s first set of ‘Agniveers’ will join their units in July 2023; the navy will follow a similar timeline.
‘Agniveers’ will draw an annual salary of ₹4.76 lakh in the first year of service and ₹6.92 lakh in the fourth. They will get a non-contributory insurance cover of ₹48 lakh, and an additional ex-gratia payment of ₹44 lakh for death attributable to service.
Those released after four years will get ₹11.71 lakh as Seva Nidhi severance package, including ₹5.02 lakh contributed by them during their service. They will also be secured with job quotas at different government organisations, paramilitary forces and other departments.