Agnipath Scheme: 'Agniveers' will be eligible for gallantry awards, the Department of Military Affairs said on Tuesday in the backdrop of protests against the Agnipath scheme in different parts of the country.
Public disorder over Agnipath stands compounded by the lack of a CDS which, in turn had deferred the knock-on ‘transformational’ institution of Integrated Theatre Commands.
The tri-services media briefing at the Defence Ministry took place hours after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force on Sunday for the second straight day.
The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
The intake of Agniveers will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future and will not remain at 46,000 which is the present figure, said Lt. General Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, Department of Military Affairs.