Agniveers: over 82,000 women apply to join the Indian Navy

Virendra Pandit 

New Delhi: That the anti-BJP elements had organized the short-lived protests and provoked violence in June against the Centre’s ambitious Agnipath scheme, has become clear with the enthusiasm among aspirants and the high number of applicants seeking to join the security forces this year.

Under the scheme, the registration for the Senior Secondary Recruit (SSR) and Matric Recruit (MR) concluded on Wednesday. The Indian Navy alone received over 82,000 applications from women candidates, an official report said on Thursday.

Those selected in the Agnipath scheme to serve the nation will be known as Agniveers.

“Indian Navy’s SSR (Senior Secondary Recruit) and MR (Matric Recruit) registration process towards the #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme has been completed. 9.55 lakh Agniveer applicants, including 82,000 women aspirants, have registered,” tweeted the official handle of the Indian Navy.

Focusing on gender-neutrality in all its branches, the Indian Navy had, on June 20, announced to recruit women sailors, through the newly unveiled Agnipath recruitment scheme.

While all the three services–the Army, Air Force, and Navy – have had women officers, this will be the first time that positions of Personnel Below Officers’ Rank (PBOR) will be open to women.

“We are still planning the exact number of women sailors to be recruited through the Agnipath scheme,” Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of Personnel, said in a tri-service press conference at the Ministry of Defence here on Sunday, adding that the training of the first batch of Agniveers will begin in November this year.

“The Indian Navy has 30 women officers at present sailing on different Indian Navy ships. We have decided that under the Agnipath scheme, we will recruit women as well. We will deploy them on warships as well,” he added.

Arrangements are being made at INS Chilka in Odisha, the basic training establishment for the Indian Navy, to accommodate the women sailors.

“From November 21 this year, the first naval ‘Agniveers’ will start reaching the training establishment INS Chilka, Odisha. Both female and male Agniveers are allowed for this,” Vice Admiral Tripathi said.

Following a Union Cabinet decision, the “transformative” Agnipath scheme was announced by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on June 14, in the presence of the three service chiefs. It provides for the recruitment into the armed services of youths in the age bracket of 17-and-a-half-years to 21 for only four years, with a provision to keep 25 percent of them for 15 more years. The Centre later extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022.

The government announced the recruitment of 46,000 Agniveers this year. It had said that the armed forces would have “a younger, fitter, diverse profile” to face future challenges.