New Delhi: The second batch of 20,000 Agniveers is set to pass out in the first week of October, ThePrint has learnt.
The first batch, which passed out in August, is deployed across India in different units and formations. Praising the first batch of Agniveers, sources in the defence and security establishment said their performance had been “outstanding”.
A total of 40,000 Agniveers were inducted into the Army in 2022 and sent to various regimental centres for training in two batches.
After nearly a three-year pause in recruitment of the armed forces during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Army started its drive to recruit candidates as Agniveers for a period of four years under the Agnipath scheme in June last year.
Sources said that the initial feedback of the first batch of Agniveers received from the units has been “quite positive”.
“This scheme has inducted fresh recruits after a hiatus and has also raised the technical expertise threshold,” a source said.
Regarding infrastructure at these facilities, the source added, “At a time when no recruitment was being undertaken, the regimental centres ramped up their infrastructure with new simulators and range facilities among other equipment. This made them have upgraded training paraphernalia for fresh recruitment.”
One of the major reasons cited by the Government of India to implement the Agnipath scheme was to reduce the age profile of units. “The age profile of units that are the cutting edge of our Army will become youthful and the technical threshold will increase,” a source said.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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