Defence minister Rajnath Singh meets three service chiefs amid resentment against Agnipath scheme

Defence minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with the defence service chiefs today amid widespread protest against the Agnipath scheme through which the government is all set to recruit 46,000 youngsters who fall between the age group of 17.5 and 23 years this year.

This crucial meeting between the defence minister and the service chiefs came after the Union home ministry granted a 10% reservation for Agniveers in CAPF and Assam Rifles recruitment. It is learnt that the focus of the meeting was to ensure a quick rollout of the 'Agnipath' scheme and ways to pacify the agitators.

However, the Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande could not attend the meeting as he is in Hyderabad on an official tour.


The three services are planning to deploy the first batches of recruits under the new scheme both in operational and non-operational roles by June next year, senior military officials said.

Prior to this, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari told PTI that the selection process by the Indian Air Force for recruitment under the new scheme will start from June 24 while the Army said it will begin the initial exercise within two days.

On the other hand the Indian Navy said it will start the recruitment process "very soon". Asenior naval commander said the notification for the recruitment would be out within a week.

Intense protests by youth were witnessed across several parts of the country over the last three days with opposition parties anticipating the move and urging the government to withdraw the scheme.

As of today, All India Students' Association called a 24-hour Bihar bandh in the state, the epicenter of the protest. In an attempt to pacify the protesters, the government on Thursday night increased the upper age limit for recruitment under the 'Agnipath' scheme to 23 years from 21 for the year 2022.

(With inputs from PTI)