Agnipath Scheme: 10% quota for Agniveers not to affect 50% Supreme Court ceiling: Govt

NEW DELHI: The 10 percent reservation to be given to Agniveers in the recruitment to posts of constables in central armed police forces will be horizontal and not affect the 50 percent ceiling kept by the Supreme Court, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai said this in a written reply to a question. "An in-principle approval has been given for reservation of 10 percent of vacancies for ex-Agniveers in the recruitment to the post of constable (general duty), rifleman in the Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles. This reservation will be horizontal which will not affect the 50 percent ceiling kept by the Supreme Court," he said. Rai said relaxation in the upper age limit and exemption from the physical efficiency test will also be given to the former Agniveers.

The Centre on June 14 unveiled the ambitious Agnipath scheme for recruitment of youths aged between 17-and-a-half years and 21 years in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis. Those recruited under the scheme will be known as Agniveers. After the completion of the four-year tenure, 25 per cent of the recruits from each batch will be offered regular service.

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There have been protests by job aspiring youths against the scheme. Subsequently, the Union Home Ministry announced that 10 per cent of vacancies for recruitment in the central armed police forces or the paramilitary forces will be reserved for the Agniveers.

Replying to another question, the minister said in January 2016, it was decided to reserve 33 percent of posts at the constable level for being filled by women in the CRPF and CISF, to begin with, and 14-15 percent posts at the constable level in border guarding -- the BSF, SSB and ITBP. The existing strength of women personnel in central armed police forces and Assam Rifles at present is 34,151 and the recruitment is an ongoing process, he said.