Agencies
New Delhi, June 7: The government looks all set to announce the new system of recruitment in the three Services - Indian Army, IAF and Indian Navy called 'Tour of Duty' once the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday clears the final version, reliable sources said. A key review meeting in this regard took place on Saturday in which a final presentation was made by the officials of the Department of Military Affairs to the government.
As per the proposed changes in the recruitment policy, jawans will first be recruited for a period of four years after which they will be released and nearly 25 per cent of them will be absorbed in the forces to serve a full term of another 15 years. However, those who served for four years will not be entitled to get retirement benefits or pension, sources said.
According to the proposed changes, the 75 per cent jawans demobilised after four years of service would be provided a financial package of around Rs 10-12 lakh and training to assist them to choose a career outside the forces, sources said.
The 25 per cent soldiers recruited for a full term will be entitled to get all the applicable benefits in the service period including risk and hardship allowance, disability benefits etc., and other benefits post their retirement as before.
Recruitment of soldiers in the Indian Army has been suspended for two years.
As per the statistics provided by the government in Parliament during the Budget Session, 53,431 candidates were enrolled for recruitment in the Indian Army in 2018-19. Similarly, 5,885 and 6,862 candidates were enrolled respectively in the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.
In 2019-20, Indian Army enrolled 80,572 candidates, the Indian Navy 6,068 and the Indian Air Force enrolled 7,222 candidates for recruitment.
Replying to queries, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said that the process was restricted for the Indian Army in 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to spread of COVID since Army recruitments require large gatherings of the candidates. He said that COVID cases have substantially reduced but not eradicated in the country, as a result the process of recruitment was slowed down. |
