Amid escalating protests and violence over the ‘Agnipath’ scheme which fundamentally revamped the recruitment of soldiers into the armed forces, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 17 said that the one-time waiver, increasing the entry age of recruitment to 23 years for the first cycle, indicates that “the government cares for our youth.”
Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande told news agency ANI that training of first Agniveers will begin in December 2022 and active service will commence in the middle of 2023.
“The government has announced a one time upper age limit relaxation for the recruitment process through Agnipath scheme for 2022 to 23 years. The relaxation of age indicates that the government cares for our youth. Department of Military Affairs, MoD and Services are committed to commence the recruitment process at the earliest, we invite youth of our country to join Armed Forces and serve the nation through Agnipath,” Mr. Singh said in a message.
