Former Agniveer employees are also exempt from the physical efficiency test.
New Delhi:
Complementing the ambitious Agnipath plan, the Union Department of the Interior has announced a 10 percent reservation for former Agniveers in Border Security Force vacancies with relaxations in the upper age limit.
The announcement was made through a Post-Amendment Notice to the Border Security Force, General Duty Cadre (Non-Gazetted) Recruitment Rules, 2015, and is effective as of March 9.
“Ten percent of the vacancies are reserved for ex-Agniveer”, according to the report.
The ministry said that while the upper limit for candidates from the first batch of ex-Agniveer could be relaxed to five years, the limit for candidates from other batches could be relaxed to three years. Former Agniveer will also be exempt from physical efficiency testing, the notification said.
The Center unveiled on June 14 last year the Agnipath plan for the recruitment of young people between the ages of 17 and a half and 21 in the army, navy and air force, largely on a four-year short-term contract basis.
Those recruited under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’. After the completion of the four-year term, 25 percent of the recruits of each batch are offered permanent service.
At the time, the Home Office had announced that 10 percent of the vacancies in the Central Paramilitary Forces and the Assam Rifles would be reserved for demobilized 75 percent Agniveers.
It had also announced that the maximum age for the first batch of ex-Agniveer would be relaxed by a maximum of five years and three years for subsequent batches. In addition, the ex-Agniveer would be exempted from the physical aptitude test, the ministry had said.
The specified age limit for recruitment into paramilitary forces is 18-23 years.
For those who join the Armed Forces even at the age limit of 21 years under the Agnipath Scheme, they can be enlisted in the BSF until the age of 30 after their four years of service in the Army or Air Force or Navy in case of the first batch and up to 28 years for subsequent batches.
The Home Office’s decision to include Agniveers in paramilitary forces is significant as it will help ex-Agniveers gain employment until retirement age.
The paramilitary forces will also benefit as they will have a trained pool of personnel to fill more than 70,000 vacancies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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