IAF Training Command gears up for 3,000-5,000 Agniveers

With the Indian Air Force (IAF) gearing up to recruit 3,000 to 5,000 Agniveers under the just-announced Agnipath scheme, the IAF Training Command Headquarters here has its emphasis on maintaining the quality of cadets without ‘compromise.’

“The scheme will work and the quality will not be compromised, Air Marshal Singh, the Headquarters’ Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief told the media on Wednesday. He was responding to some Army veterans criticising the scheme. The Centre had on Monday unveiled the Agnipath scheme offering four-year military training to youth in the 17.5 to 21-year age group.

The scheme, he said, has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces. “It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends. It will enable the making of skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower for the society.”

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The bulk of the selected Agniveers will head to IAF training centres in Karnataka, including Belagavi and Bengaluru’s Jalahalli and Yelahanka. “There will be no quota, and people from anywhere in India can apply. We will also welcome a large number from Karnataka,” the Air Marshal said.

Notification for the recruitment process will be out soon. Selection will be through an all-India exam, details of which will be posted online. The exams will be held in 250 centres across India by IAF in collaboration with (the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) C-DAC.

Agniveers, who complete the four years, but are not part of the 25% to be retained for full-service in non-officer ranks, will be given priority in Central Industrial Security Force (CSF), Border Security Force (BSF), Assam Rifles and other organisations, he informed.

To a query on the educational qualification of the exiting Agniveers, he said, “We will work out an equivalence, certification or diploma. Our air warriors get their graduate degrees within three to four years. IAF has tied up with a lot of universities/institutions for graduation. Some even do PhDs, MBAs and other post-graduate programmes.”