When the government announced the Agneepath scheme in June, protests erupted across the country. In many cities of Bihar, there was disturbance on the roads and trains were set on fire. After a week, the situation was completely under control. This sent a message to the country that the youth were not in a mood to accept the scheme. The three armies repeatedly held joint press conferences and enumerated the benefits of the new Agneepath scheme. Soon the advertisements for recruitment also came. It is worth noting that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has received 7.5 lakh online applications under the new Agneepath scheme. This is the highest figure ever in any recruitment process. At the same time, the process of registration for Army and Navy is still going on. The IAF had first started the registration process on June 24 and it ended on Tuesday. On the other hand, the Army and Navy started the recruitment process on July 1.

Earlier, 6.30 lakh applications were recorded,

an Airforce official said. Under the Agripath scheme announced on June 14, 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year. There will be 40,000 for Army and 3000-3000 for IAF-Navy. After four years of their recruitment, only 25 percent of the jawans will get an opportunity to serve in the regular military cadre for the next 15 years.

Scheme not reverted even after violence 

There was heavy violence in many states against the Agneepath scheme but the government refused to withdraw it. Instead, the government put forward the examples of many countries of the world and also told about the suggestions being received for the last 30 years regarding the formula to increase the number of youth in the army. Later, the central and several state governments announced various exemptions for 75 percent of the Agniveers.

In view of protests in several states against the scheme, the government has increased the upper age limit for recruitment to 23 years for this year in 2022.

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