Chandigarh: The Haryana government would provide guaranteed employment to Agniveers from the state after their four-year stint in the armed forces, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on Tuesday.
Khattar's statement comes days after Haryana, like several other parts of the country, witnessed violent protests over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme to recruit soldiers into the army, navy and the air force followed by compulsory retirement for 75% without gratuity, pension and other benefits.
Khattar, who was addressing a state-level International Yoga Day function at Bhiwani, announced that Agniveers who would like to join Haryana government services, would be given a guaranteed job and that his government took guarantee for this. The chief minister categorically said that the Agniveers would be absorbed in the state's group C services (class III) and in the police force.
Taking a dig at the Khattar’s guarantee, the Congress leaders said that the said promise did not mean anything as the BJP-Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) coalition government in the state would not be in power after its current term which ends in 2024.
The Centre had last Tuesday announced the Agnipath scheme under which youths between 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted in the three services for a four-year tenure of which 25% of the recruits would be retained for regular service. The government held that the scheme as a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to enhance the youthful profile of the armed services.
However, since the scheme evoked violent protests from the army aspirants in different parts of the country, the government on Thursday relaxed the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment this year.
