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Home ministry raises ex-Agniveer quota in BSF constable recruitment to 50%
The latest notification pertains only to amendments in the BSF rules and not to other central armed police forces
New Delhi: The Union home ministry on Friday issued a notification amending the Border Security Force (BSF) Rules, increasing the reservation for ex-Agniveers in constable recruitment to 50% from the earlier proposed 10%.
“In the first phase, the recruitment shall be conducted by the Nodal Force for 50% vacancies earmarked for ex-Agniveers. In the second phase, recruitment shall be conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for candidates other than ex-Agniveers for the remaining forty-seven per cent (including ten per cent ex-servicemen) of the vacancies, along with the unfilled vacancies of ex-Agniveers in a specific category in the first stage. The vacancies for female candidates shall be calculated on a year-to-year basis by the Director General, Border Security Force, on functional requirement basis,” the notification said.
Earlier, 10% of vacancies for constable (general duty) were reserved for ex-Agniveers in all central armed police forces.
To be sure, the latest notification pertains only to amendments in the BSF rules and not to other central armed police forces.
Ex-Agniveers, according to the existing rules, will be exempted from the physical efficiency test but will have to clear the written examination.
The BSF and the Indian Army work closely along the international border and the Line of Control. BSF teams in Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Sindoor worked with Indian Army personnel in kinetic gunfights along the border.
On June 14, 2022, India announced the Agnipath scheme for the short-term induction of soldiers into the three services — the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force — replacing the legacy system to lower the age profile of the armed forces, ensure a fitter military, and create a technically skilled warfighting force capable of meeting future challenges.
At least 3,000 Agniveers — barely 20 years old and recruited during the last two years — manned critical weapons and systems integral to the Army’s hardy air defence (AD) shield activated during Operation Sindoor, which Pakistan could not punch through despite launching wave after wave of missile and drone attacks on multiple Indian military installations, airbases and cities during the May 7–10 clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Under the Agniveer programme, soldiers, including women, are recruited for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 more years after another round of screening, to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces and create a skilled and dynamic workforce for employment in other sectors. Recruits are in the age group of 17-and-a-half to 21 years.
For their induction into the paramilitary forces, the government has relaxed the upper age limit and the requirement of a physical efficiency test. The upper age limit has been relaxed by up to five years for candidates of the first batch of ex-Agniveers, while for subsequent batches it will be relaxable by up to three years. Soldiers recruited under the legacy system serve for about 20 years before retiring in their late 30s with pension and other benefits.
