The Indian Air Force (IAF) has received nearly 750,000 online applications under the new Agnipath scheme, which is considered to be the highest number till now in any recruitment cycle, though the registration drives for Army and Navy are currently under way.
The IAF was the first to begin their registration process, which began on June 24. The Army and Navy, in turn, launched their recruitment procedures on July 1. An IAF officer said “compared to 6,31,528 applications in the past, which was highest in any recruitment cycle, this time 7,49,899 applications have been received”.
Under the newly launched Agnipath scheme announced on June 14, where 46,000 Agniveers (40,000 for Army and 3,000 each for IAF and Navy) will be recruited this year. Only 25% of them will be selected after four years for induction into the regular military cadre to serve for another 15 years.
The government has not rolled back the Agnipath scheme despite it triggering widespread protest for over a week by youths in several states against the short-term recruitment to the military services (Army, Air force and Navy) with no pension and ex-servicemen benefits. However, the government has announced a series of concessions for 75 per cent of Agniveers to be released from military service from each batch.
