NEW DELHI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government on Friday extended the entry age by two years for the recruitment of youths in the country's armed forces under the newly-announced employment scheme "Agnipath."
The decision was taken amid violent protests going on in several states against the new recruitment scheme fixing the entry age bracket between 17-and-a-half years to 21 years.
Since there has been no recruitment in the armed forces in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the youths aged between 21 and 23 years have been protesting over the past three days, against the new recruitment scheme. They allege that they had been preparing for the past two years but were now rendered ineligible for recruitment under the new scheme.
"Cognizant of the fact that it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years, the government has decided that a one-time waiver shall be granted for the proposed recruitment cycle for 2022. Accordingly, the upper age limit for the recruitment process for "Agnipath" scheme for 2022 is increased to 23 years," said an official announcement on Friday.
In the violent protests by the youngsters opposing the scheme, trains were burnt, national highways were jammed, and security personnel were attacked with stones in various parts of India on Thursday, particularly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana.
The new recruitment scheme has come in for severe criticism from several quarters of the Indian society, including retired defence personnel. Those opposing it argue that the scheme is impractical as only 25 percent of the recruits will be given permanent employment while the rest 75 percent will be removed from service after four years.
Those supporting the scheme argue that those youths who would be removed from defence forces after four years of employment, would collect a sum of around 2 million Indian Rupees (around 25,621 U.S. dollars), and would also possess certain skills enough to get re-employment in the corporate or government sectors. ■
