Students from ITIs and Polytechnics will strengthen technical wing of Army as 'Agniveers', says Lt General BS Raju

New Delhi [India], June 15 : The Indian Army will look forward to recruit people already qualified in technical skills from industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics under the Agnipath recruitment scheme, said Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) Lieutenant General BS Raju on Wednesday.
Speaking to ANI, Raju highlighted the rollout of the scheme within 90 days of its announcement and within a year the first batch will serve in battalions.
On being asked how the Agnipath recruitment scheme going to impact the Indian Army, he said that the recruits are going to serve in various arms of the Indian Army.
"At the end of four years, Army will be retaining 25 per cent who will be having attitude and aptitude to stay with the Army and remaining will be released to the environment. And with this Army will be able to fight future wars," he added.
He further said that the average age of Indian Army soldiers is approximately 32-33 years for the Agnipath scheme which will come into force in the next 8-10 years. He also said Army will be able to lower the profile of the soldier to approximately 24-36 years this will only make the Army fitter and will be able to handle more challenges in the area are forces are deployed.
Highlighting the impact on the profile of the regiments who have for centuries recruited on caste or region basis, he said that one of the important components of the Agnipath scheme is the opportunity to get recruited will be given to people from across the country and what necessary measures require to ensure that these particulars recruitment takes place has been done.
"We have not changed the basic ethos of our regimentation. The regimentation available in the Indian army is borne out of their staying together, eating together and fighting together. So the basic ethos of the Indian Army will remain the same. Yes over the period the character of the regiment will slowly evolve based on troops from different areas joining the individual battalions. This change will happen but it will be a very slow process," he said.
When asked about would Army be recruiting specialists for specific jobs like that of technicians or drivers from state govt ITI or other agencies, he replied that for the technical arms like signals and engineers, Army will be looking forward to recruiting people who are already qualified in the skill set that is required for the Indian army.
"We will be tapping the resources of ITIs and polytechnics so that when Army get them into the fold of the Indian Army the recruitment of their subsequent training is reduced. The prestrained people will be polished upon the equipment we have," he stated.
Getting into the details of the deployment of Agniveers, he said that the Agniveers coming into the system will go to the respective battalions and based on where the battalion is it could be a peace station, field station, Siachin glacier or high altitude area. The exposure Agniveers will be getting will be very challenging
VOCAS has highlighted the advantages of the Agnipath scheme over the recruitment done earlier by claiming it is a transformative step.
He said the transformative nature of the Agnipath scheme is in its ability to draw in talent from the environment and then retain 25 per cent of it and then release balance into the environment.
"Over the period of time, we will be able to get a good balance of working hands and experience. The ratio of leader and the led will be at an optimum level that 50 per cent will be Agniveers and remaining 50 per cent will be experienced, this will ensure we will able to act better in forwarding areas," VCOAS Let Gen said.
Getting into the details of recruitment dates as Army recruitment has been pending for the last two years post the outbreak of Covid, he said that the recruitment was stopped because of the COVID outbreak, now with the announcement of the Agnipath scheme, we will be rolling out recruitment process very soon.
"In around 90 days from today the first recruitment rally will take place and 180 days from now the first recruits will be in our training centres. And around a year from now, our Agniveers will be in battalions," he added.