The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Saturday that 10% of all vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Assam Rifles will be reserved for the armed forces recruits who have completed four-years of service under the Agnipath scheme. This reservation is other than the existing 10% quota for ex-servicemen in CAPFs, said a senior government official. The ministry also announced a five-year age relaxation for the first batch of Agniveers.
The announcement came as violent protests continued to be reported against the short-term scheme announced on June 15 that from now on would be the only mode of recruitment for soldiers, airmen and sailors. After completion of the four-year tenure, the scheme provides for the retention of 25% of the recruits for regular service, based on organisational requirements and existing policies. On June 16, government-granted one-time relaxation in the upper age limit from 21 to 23 years for Agniveers for the year 2022 as no recruitment took place in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Candidates who are 17.5 year-21 years are eligible for the scheme that aims to enrol 46,000 personnel this year. The salary in the first year of enrolment would be ₹30,000 out of which ₹9,000 will be deducted for Agniveer corpus. At the end of four years of service, the Agniveers will be entitled to ₹11.71 package, of which ₹5.02 lakh would be contributed by them.
On Saturday, the ministry said in a tweet, “Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decides to reserve 10% vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers.”
It added, “The MHA also decides to give 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs & Assam Rifles. Further, for the first batch of Agniveer, the age relaxation will be for 5 years beyond the prescribed upper age limit.”
As reported by The Hindu, there has been over 80% decline in number of CAPFs personnel- constables, sub inspectors and Assistant Commandants (ACs) recruited in the past four years. According to the 2021 Data of Police Organisations report, in the year 2020, only 10,184 CAPFs posts were filled while the vacancy stood at 1.29 lakh. In 2017, as many as 58,396 personnel were recruited against a vacancy of 77,153. In 2018 and 2019, the number of such recruits stood at 30,098 and 14,541 respectively.
CAPFs comprise the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) that are under the administrative and operational control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Assam Rifles deployed along the Myanmar border is under the administrative control of the MHA.
