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Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on 17 June announced that the selection process by the Indian Air Force for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme will start from 24 June.
Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari was of the view that raising the upper age limit to 23 for induction under the Agnipath scheme for the year 2022 would permit a larger section of youths to enrol.
"The government has recently come out with the 'Agnipath' scheme for enrolment in the armed forces. The age bracket for the scheme is 17-and-half-years to 21 years. I am pleased to inform that the upper age limit for the first induction has been increased to 23 years," Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said.
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"This change would permit a larger section of the youth to enrol Agniveer. The selection process for the Air Force will start from Jun 24," he said.
Earlier on 16 June, the government raised the the upper age limit for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme to 23 years from 21 for the year 2022.
The Agnipath Scheme was rolled out by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 14 June. Unveiling the scheme, the government had said youths between the ages of 17 and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted for a four-year tenure while 25 per cent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service. They will be called 'Agniveers'.
Following the scheme was rolled out, all the three service chiefs have strongly backed it and said it was unveiled after over two years of deliberations.
According to the scheme, each 'Agniveer' in the first year of employment would recieve a monthly salary of ₹30,000 and the in-hand amount would be ₹21,000 as ₹9,000 would go to a corpus with an equal contribution from the government.
Subsequently, the monthly salary in the second, third and fourth year will be ₹33,000, ₹36,500 and ₹40,000. Also, each 'Agniveer' will get an amount of ₹11.71 lakh as 'Seva Nidhi Package' and it will be exempted from income tax. The four-year recruitment scheme, comprise of two-and-half months to six months of training periods.
Meanwhile, nationalwide protest continues against the scheme as youth opted violence in several states. Protesters attacked railway property across Bihar, settling alight coaches in at least two locations, damaging train tracks and vandalising a station.
Train services have been badly hit across India due to protests. Haryana government has ordered suspension of mobile internet services, all SMS services in view of potential law and order situation for next 24 hours.
Also, one person was killed in police firing in Telangana's Secunderabad. Railways
Till now, over 200 trains were affected, 35 cancelled and 13 short-terminated. Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has urged protesters to not damage the properties of railways.
With inputs from PTI.