Centre announces support measures for Agniveers

KOHIMA: The Central Government has announced several beneficial and supporting measures in the last few days to allay apprehensions surrounding the Agnipath recruitment scheme into the armed forces and with a view to ensuring support to Agniveers.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and several State governments have announced that Agniveers, after serving the armed forces for four years, will be given preference in filling of vacancies in police forces. Several other departments have also announced support to the Agnipath scheme to enhance the capabilities of the Agniveers and ensure a bright future for them. Also, by augmenting their skills, Agniveers will be a well-trained and highly disciplined youth force that can be harnessed for nation building and will be an asset to the society, stated an official communique.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved reservation of 10 per cent of the job vacancies in Ministry of Defence for Agniveers. The 10 per cent reservation will be implemented in the Indian Coast Guard and Defence posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (HAL, BEL, BEML, BDL, GRSE, GSL, HSL, MDL, Midhani, AVNL, AWEIL, MIL, YIL, GIL, IOL and TCL). Necessary amendments to rules will be undertaken to implement these provisions. Defence Public Sector Undertakings will be advised to make similar amendments to their recruitment rules. Necessary age relaxation provision will also be made to enable recruitment of Agniveers to such posts.

The Government has announced that will increase the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022. The decision was taken in view of the fact that recruitment was not possible for the last two years.

In a statement, the Defence Minister said that the Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence and the Services are committed to commence the recruitment process at the earliest.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to reserve 10 percent vacancies for recruitment in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles for Agniveers. The Home Ministry has further announced that it will give three years age relaxation to Agniveers beyond the prescribed upper age limit to recruitments in CAPFs and Assam Rifles. For the first batch of Agniveers, the age relaxation will be of 5 years, the MHA announced in a series of tweets today.

The Directorate General of Shipping under Ministry of Ports Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), along with Indian Navy, has announced a system for the smooth induction of the Agniveers into the Merchant Navy. Under this, MoPSW announced six attractive service avenues for smooth transition of Agniveers in various roles of the Merchant Navy post their stint with the Indian Navy. This will enable Agniveers to acquire necessary training, with rich naval experience and professional certification to join the remunerative merchant navies across the world. These measures for Agniveers include transition from Ratings in Indian Navy to Certified Ratings in the Merchant Navy, transition from Electrical Ratings in Indian Navy to Certified Electro Technical Ratings in Merchant Navy, transition from Ratings in Indian Navy to Certified Class IV-NCV CoC holder in Merchant Navy, transition from Electrical Ratings in Indian Navy to Certified Electro Technical Officers in Merchant Navy and transition from Cook in Indian Navy to Certified Cook Merchant Navy. The MoSPW will issue INDOS and CDC for those Agniveers who intends to explore in any of the said measures through Indian Navy. Some of the measures are devised for Agniveers with Diploma in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or ITI Trade Certificate in Electronic or Electrical stream - either joining with these qualifications or acquiring these during their tenure with the Indian Navy.

The Department of School Education and Literacy, through its autonomous institution the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), has announced that it will institute a special programme in consultation with the Defence Authorities to enable those Agniveers who are 10th class pass to further their education and obtain a 12th class pass certificate by developing customized courses that are not only current but very relevant to their area of service. This certificate will be recognized for both employment and higher education purposes in the whole country. This will benefit the Agniveers to gain adequate educational qualification and skills to take up a productive role in society later in life. This special programme of NIOS will facilitate enrolment, development of courses, student support, provision of self-learning material, accreditation of study centres, personal contact programme, evaluation and certification. Open schooling system of NIOS which is extremely user friendly and accessible to all from anywhere, anytime opens its doors to all the Agniveers under the Agnipath Scheme.

In order to enhance the future career prospects of Agniveers and to equip them for various job roles in the civilian sector, the Ministry of Education has decided to launch a special, three-year skill-based bachelor degree programme for serving defence personnel that will recognize the skill training received by them during their tenure in the defence establishments. Under this programme, which has been designed by IGNOU and will also be executed by them, 50 per cent of the credits required for a graduate degree will come from the skill training - both technical and non-technical - received by the Agniveer, and the remaining 50 per cent will come from a basket of courses that cover a wide variety of subjects like Languages, Economics, History, Political Science, Public Administration, Sociology, Mathematics, Education, Commerce, Tourism, Vocational Studies,

Agriculture and Jyotish, as also Ability Enhancement Courses on Environmental Studies and Communication Skills in English.

This programme is aligned with UGC norms and with the National Credit. Framework / National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) as mandated under the National Education Policy 2020. It also has a provision for multiple exit points –Undergraduate Certificate on successful completion of the first year courses, Undergraduate Diploma on successful completion of the first and second year courses, and Degree on completion of all the courses in three year time frame. The framework of the programme has been duly recognized by the concerned regulatory bodies - All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National

Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) and UGC Degree will be awarded by IGNOU as per UGC nomenclature (BA; B. Com; BA (vocational); BA (Tourism Management), and will be recognized both in India and abroad for employment and education.

In order to identify ways in which the Banks and Financial Institutions can support the Agniveers on completion of their tenure of duty, the Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) held a meeting with Chief Executives of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Public Sector Insurance Companies (PSICs) and Financial Institutions (FIs). In the meeting it was decided that PSBs, PSICs and FIs would explore employment opportunities for Agniveers in suitable capacities based on their educational qualifications and skills through suitable benefits/relaxations, etc. It was also decided that Banks would explore possibilities of supporting. Agniveers through suitable credit facilities for skill upgradation, education for setting up businesses and to take up self-employment.

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