Jammu: Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, AOC-in-C, Western Air Command on Wednesday stated that the ‘Agnipath’ scheme was a transformative reform in the armed forces recruitment process which would not only ensure a youthful profiling of the armed forces but would also provide a platform for the youth to don the military uniform and become confident and disciplined citizens.
“The Agniveers will be imparted military skills and experience that will instill discipline, leadership qualities and patriotism among the Agniveers apart from military skills and experience,” Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran said this, while addressing a press conference at Air Force Station, Jammu.
The press conference was organised at Air Force Station Jammu today for reaching out to the media regarding the features of the scheme for better outreach for intended beneficiaries.
Air Marshal Prabhakaran said that this scheme would bring about a transformational shift towards a more tech savvy armed force in the country and would provide an opportunity to the youth tuned with the contemporary technological trends. “The nation will be benefited by the infusion of highly inspired Agniveers with deeper understanding of self-discipline, diligence, adequately skilled and will be able to contribute in other sectors,” he added.
Air Marshal informed that the enrolment for Agniveers would be based on ‘All India All Class’ basis and the eligible age will be from 17.5 to 21 years. Agniveers would meet the medical eligibility conditions laid down for enrolment in the armed forces as applicable to respective categories or trades, he added.
He stated that the Agniveers would be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces as 25 percent of each specific batch of Agniveers would be enrolled in regular cadre of the Armed Forces for which applications would be considered in a centralised manner based on objective criteria including performance during their four-year engagement period.