The Central Government yesterday night (Thursday; March 10, 2023) issued a new mandate announcing 10 percent reservation for ex-Agniveers at constable positions (general duty)/rifleman, in the Border Security Forces, Central Armed Police Force and others.

Last month in February, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, informed the Lok Sabha that the Centre proposed the idea for a 10% reservation in vacancies for ex-Agniveers in recruitments to the post of constable (general duty)/rifleman in the country’s Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles.  Furthermore, another additional mandate for a relaxation in the upper age limit, and an exemption from the Physical Efficiency Test.

As per reports, there’s an estimated 83,127 posts vacant in the CAPFs, in the Assam Rifles  83,127 against the prerequisite maximum  strength of 10,15,237 (stats as observed till January 1, 2023). The Border Security Forces has an estimated  19,987 vacant spots, including  464 at gazetted officer level, 1,314 vacancies for subordinate officers (SOs) and a cumulative 18,209 vacancies in other ranks (ORs).

The Ministry of Home Affairs’ gazetted notification regarding the decision read, “The upper age-limit shall be relaxable up to five years for the candidates of the first batch of ex- Agniveers, the upper age-limit shall be relaxable up to three years for the candidates of ex-Agniveers,”.

Also in the last month, Rai revealed in the Rajya Sabha session that active recruitment drives are being conducted to fill up the vacancies in the country’s armed forces, predicting the drive to be completed by 2023.