After 2-Year Gap, Army Set to Restart Recruitment Rallies from August under Agnipath Scheme

After a break of two years, the Army is set to restart its recruitment rallies for soldiers under the newly launched Agnipath scheme from next month.

As per a zone-wise schedule released by the Army on Thursday for the recruiting year 2022-23, the rallies will begin from August 12 and go on till December across the country, covering all districts. This will also include rallies to recruit women Agniveers.

The Army will recruit women Agniveers only in the Corps of Military Police (CMP). The plans are to induct 1,700 women into the CMP in a phased manner.

While announcing the Agnipath scheme last month, the government had said that recruitment rallies would commence in 90 days and 46,000 soldiers would be recruited under the scheme this year, of which 40,000 vacancies will be for the Army and 3,000 for the IAF and Navy each. The vacancies for Agniveers will grow over the next few years.

The tentative schedule of the rallies shows the plans are largely on track.

As per the plan, the rallies will first begin at the headquarter recruiting zone, Ambala, in districts such as Hisar, Jind, Sirsa, and Fatehabad from August 12 to 25 followed by other districts across the country. The rallies will end by December, when they are scheduled in the districts of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Mizoram. Eleven headquarter recruiting zones will be carrying out the rallies across the country.

Separate recruitment rallies for the Gorkhas—both Indian and Nepal domicile—will be held from September to November in Gorakhpur, Darjeeling, and other regions.

As per sources in the Army, a massive response is expected to the rallies. In a recent interview with News18, Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen BS Raju said that no immediate revenue expenditure will be incurred under the scheme as the Army’s training capacity is more than the numbers recruited.

He had, however, said that there may be a requirement to increase the training capacity after the 6th or 7th year, and infrastructure could be scaled up based on the assessment of the evolving situation.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News, watch Top Videos and Live TV here.