Centre increases upper age limit to 23 for recruitment under Agnipath scheme

Unveiling the scheme on Tuesday, the government had said the entry age for all new recruits will have to be between 17 and a half and 21 years

The Centre late Thursday raised the upper age limit for the Agnipath scheme amid widespread protests against the defence recruitment plan that saw trains set afire and vehicles attacked across several places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

“Cognisant 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,” a defence ministry spokesperson said. He said the upper age limit for recruitment under the scheme for 2022 has been increased to 23 years from 21.

Protests were also reported from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh.

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Punjab, which witnessed the anti-farm laws protests in 2020-21, and sends one of the highest numbers of jawans to the defence forces, was relatively peaceful. At several places, the youth also protested against delays in the Railway Recruitment Board exams.

Bihar had seen similar protests in January. Not just the opposition, but BJP MP Varun Gandhi and the JD (U), the BJP’s coalition partner in Bihar, said the government should rethink the scheme. The Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, with a following among UP’s Jats, announced protests across UP on Saturday. BKU’s Rakesh Tikait said the farmers of the country suffered for 13 months and now it is the youth because of the BJP government’s “wrong policies”.

In Haryana, young men torched government vehicles in Palwal. The authorities imposed prohibitory orders and suspended mobile internet services. Bihar bore the brunt of the violence with trains set ablaze, window panes of buses smashed and passersby, including a ruling BJP MLA, pelted with stones. Police fired teargas shells and used batons to break up protests by irate youth who blocked railway tracks, threw burning tyres on roads, and performed push-ups and other drills on the streets.

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Protests over the scheme erupted in at least six districts of UP. Protesters hurled stones at buses in Aligarh and Agra. Bulandshahr, Mathura, Firozabad and Ballia witnessed protests. CM Yogi Adityanath, whose home district of Gorakhpur also saw protests, urged the youth to not get “deceived” and that the scheme will give a “new dimension” to their lives.

Job aspirants are upset defence recruitment at the jawan level has remained stalled since 2019. They complain that instead of filling permanent vacancies that come with pension and other benefits in the 13-lakh strong armed forces, the government has proposed the new ‘Agnipath’ scheme. The scheme envisages the recruitment of soldiers for a short four-year period and retirement of most without pension and other benefits.

In Delhi, more than a dozen defence force aspirants stopped a train at Nangloi Railway Station by lying down on the tracks.

(With PTI inputs)