Agnipath: Centre fields CISF chiefs to reiterate Modi govt's commitment to 10 percent reservation for Agniveers

Agniveers will be recruited for the first time in 2026.

They will be recruited in CAPFs like CISF, BSF, CRPF.

Reiterating the government's commitment, Nina Singh, Director-General of CISF said in Doordarshan as quoted by The Hindu, "The CISF has made all arrangements to absorb the Agniveers. They will be an asset to the organisation as they have received training. They will be exempted from physical eligibility test."

Nitin Agrawal, D-G, BSF said as quoted by the daily, "Since they are trained and disciplined and worked for four years, they will be aligned with BSF’s work culture. After a short conversion training, they will be deployed at the borders. The first batch will get an age relaxation for five years and the subsequent batches will get a relaxation of three years."

This comes at a time the central government is facing the heat over the scheme with the ruling party BJP's key allies, JD(U) and LJP-Ram Vilas have asked for a reconsideration and discussion on it.

Launched in 2022, Agnipath scheme provides for short-term induction of personnel into the armed forces with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services. Those recruited under the scheme are called Agniveers.

The Congress had demanded a complete rollback of the Agnipath scheme, calling it a "unilateral decision of the government".

Congress president Mallikarjun had earlier written a letter to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, saying that the government was doing injustice to lakhs of youth by bringing the Agnipath Scheme and ending the regular recruitment process.

Kharge, while terming the scheme "discriminatory among the jawans," said, "The scheme is creating parallel cadres of soldiers who are expected to work on similar tasks but with different emoluments, benefits, and prospects."