.png?width=1200)
Chandigarh: In a major development, Haryana BJP government on Wednesday announced a 10% reservation for Agniveers in the recruitment of police constables, forest guards, mining guards and jail wardens, along with relaxations and quota in other posts.
Assembly polls are due in October this year in Haryana, which has a sizeable contribution of over 10% in the armed forces.
Briefing newspersons about the government’s decisions in the context, chief minister Nayab Saini further said that the government would also provide interest-free loans of upto Rs 5 lakh if any Agniveer would like to set up his own business.
He said that while there would be a 10% horizontal reservation for Agniveers in the direct recruitment to the posts of constables, mining guards, forest guards, jail wardens and special police officers (SPOs), there would be an age relaxation of three years for the Agniveers in the group C and D posts. However, for the first batch of the Agniveers, this age relaxation would be of five years, he said and added that in the director recruitment for group C civil posts, there would be a 5% horizontal quota for Agniveers.
Spelling more sops for the Agniveers, the chief minister further said that in case an industry employed an Agniveer for a monthly salary of more than Rs 30,000, the state government would give it an annual subsidy of Rs 60,000. Saini also said that Agniveers would also get arm licenses on priority.
It may be recalled that the then Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said in 2022 – after the announcement of the said scheme – that the state government would give guaranteed employment to the Agniveers after their four-year stint.
For record, the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, introduced by the BJP government at the Centre in 2022 for a short-term induction of personnel in the armed forces. Under the scheme youths between the age of 17-and-half years and 21 years are recruited for four years with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years.
However, it may be recalled, the scheme has met with severe criticism from different quarters including opposition parties. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also said ahead of recent Lok Sabha polls that if voted to power the opposition INDIA bloc would scrap the Agniveer scheme.
