New Delhi: On the fifth day of Agnipath picketing, the army has given a clear message to all the protesters. In the midst of violent protests in many states of the country regarding ‘Agnipath’, the Army has made it clear on Sunday that the Agnipath scheme won’t be rolled back. There will be no place for arsonists, vandals. In the joint press conference of the three forces on Sunday, it was said that now all the recruitments will be done through this.
During the press conference, DMA’s Additional Secretary Lt Gen Anil Puri said that the one who wants to join ‘Agniveer’ with us has not been a part of any demonstration or sabotage. No one can join the army without police verification. Therefore, the protesting students are requested not to waste their time. If an FIR is lodged against them, they cannot join the army… They (aspirants) will be asked to write as part of the enrollment form that they were not part of the arson, their police verification will be done.
And if any FIR lodged against them, they can't join…They (aspirants) will be asked to write as part of the enrollment form that they were not part of the arson, their police verification will be done:Lt General Anil Puri, Addit'l Secy, Dept of Military Affairs #AgnipathScheme pic.twitter.com/7N1InFsBzG
— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2022
‘Candidate with FIR no place in army’- Key points
-Lt Gen Anil Puri said that discipline is the foundation of the Indian Army. There is no place in it for arson, sabotage. Every person would have to give a certificate that they were not part of the demonstration. Police verification is 100%, without that one cannot join.
-Lt Gen Anil Puri said that discipline is a basic requirement for the armed forces. If there is any FIR against any candidate then they cannot be a part of it.
-Additional Secretary of the DMA, Lt Gen Anil Puri, said that ‘Agniveer’ will get the same allowance in Siachen and other areas as is applicable to the regular soldiers currently serving. There shall be no discrimination against them in terms of service.
-He said that ‘Agniveer’ will also wear clothes like us, will eat food together in langar. Along with this, the ‘Agniveers’ who sacrificed their lives in the service of the country will get a compensation of one crore rupees.
-At the same time, Air Marshal SK Jha said that by the end of December, the first batch of ‘Agnaveer’ will be inducted into the Air Force and the training of the batch will start before December 30.
-Vice Admiral DK Tripathi said that we are also taking women ‘Agniveer’ in the Navy. Work has already started for the amendments to be made in our training for that. We await 21st November, I hope men and women ‘Agniveer’ will report on INS Chilka.
-Lt Gen Bansi Ponnappa said that by the first week of December we will get the first batch of 25,000 ‘Agnaveers’ and the second batch will be inducted around February 2023, making it 40,000.
-Lt Gen Arun Puri said that every year around 17,600 people are taking premature retirement from the three services. No one ever tried to ask him what he would do after retirement.
-Earlier, under the chairmanship of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the meeting of the chiefs of the three services was held for the second consecutive day regarding the ‘Agneepath’ scheme.