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Kanpur clerics to urge Muslim youths to apply for Agnipath scheme
The Association of Muslim Professionals and imams are using social media to encourage Muslim youths to join the Indian armed forces through the Agnipath scheme
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KANPUR Amid widespread protests over the central government’s Agnipath scheme, clerics in Kanpur will on Friday urge Muslim youths to apply for recruitment under this scheme.
The appeal will be made in all the mosques here just before the Friday prayers. The Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), a body active in promoting education among Muslims, is spearheading this campaign and has roped in Muslim clerics for the initiative.
The AMP and imams are using social media to encourage Muslim youths to join the Indian armed forces through the Agnipath scheme, said Shahid Kamran Khan, patron of the outfit.
The clerics are sharing details so that those who have passed Class 10 and 12 examination could apply. The registration process begins from June 24 and online the examination for recruitment would be held on July 25. The age of candidates should be between 17 years and six months and 23 years, said Haji Mohammad Salees, convener of Sunni Ulema Council.
He said this initiative received an encouraging response from the community.
“By becoming Agniveers, Muslim youths will be benefited in many ways. Maximum number of Muslims should apply for the scheme and serve the country,” said Shahid Kamran Khan, adding that AMP is promoting this at all levels and Imams will make special appeals to the masses in this regard on Friday.
The aim is to make people aware about the Agnipath scheme. The next step would be to publicise this among all college students, besides Muslims, he added.
Another cleric, Maulana Khairuddin, said he had shared the details of Agnipath scheme on social media asking people to seek more details from the portal -- www.mod.gov.in
The Agnipath scheme is a new initiative introduced by the Government of India on June 14, 2022, for recruitment of soldiers below the rank of commissioned officers into the three services of the armed forces.
Soldiers recruited under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
The recruits will serve for a tenure of four years that includes training for six months followed by 3.5 years deployment.
After retirement from the service, they will have the opportunity to apply to continue in the armed forces, and up to 25% of the Agniveers will be selected for the permanent cadre. Personnel who retire after 4 years of service will not be eligible for pension, but will receive a lump sum amount of approximately ₹11.71 lakh at the end of tenure.
There were protests over the scheme after the defence ministry announced a one-time waiver for the upper-age limit of the recruits from 21 to 23.
