The Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) decision to enhance reservation for ex-Agniveers in the Group C posts of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) from the existing 10% to 50% will not impact the existing caste-based reservation matrix, a senior government official told The Hindu.
While the recruitment in CAPFs has to adhere to the existing caste-based formula and cannot exceed the 50% cap fixed by the Supreme Court, appointments in the armed forces — the Army, the Navy and the Air Force do not have caste reservation. Agniveers are recruited by the armed forces for a four-year period.
According to the existing norms, there is 15% reservation for the members of the Scheduled Castes (SC), 7.5 % for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 27% for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the CAPFs, similar to other government civil posts.
“The modalities of implementing 50% reservation for ex-Agniveers are still being worked out. Whether it will be a horizontal or vertical reservation is something being looked into,” the official said.
As reported by The Hindu, on December 19, the MHA notified that 50% vacant Constable posts in the Border Security Force (BSF) will be reserved for ex-Agniveers. Though exempted from the Physical Efficiency Test, ex-Agniveers will have to appear for written examinations like other regular candidates, the notification said. Class X is the minimum educational classification.
The Data on Police Organisations 2024 report says that as on January 1, 2024 there are 5.99 lakh Constables in all CAPFs against the sanctioned strength of 6.29 lakh. In 2023, the number of Constables recruited in the CAPFs stood at 56,202.
Ranbir Singh, general secretary, Alliance of All Ex-Paramilitary Association, said hundreds of young men preparing for the CAPF Constable exams will be impacted by the policy as it will shrink the employment opportunity.
“Had the Agniveers been retained in the Army, they would have had to be given pension under the old scheme. There is no such pension in the CAPFs. This will save the government crores of rupees. The training for the Army and the CAPFs is different. The CAPFs are trained for crowd control and law and order measures... There is no such subject or training in the Army. Will the Agniveers be trained all over again? Hundreds of youth in villages are preparing for Constable posts in CAPFs, they stand to lose with this policy. We are opposed to this policy, it will deprive the deserving candidates in rural areas.”
The Agnipath recruitment policy announced in 2022 met with widespread protests and was one of the major issues during the 2024 General Election. Following the protests, the MHA announced that that 10% of all vacancies in the CAPFs will be reserved for the armed forces’ recruits who have completed four years of service under the Agnipath scheme and also announced five years’ age relaxation in recruitment for the first batch and three years’ age relaxation for subsequent batches.
The first batch of Agniveers will be eligible for recruitment in the CAPFs in 2026.