Ex-Agniveers get 50 per cent reservation in BSF constable recruitment

The Union Home Ministry has raised the reservation for former Agniveers in BSF constable recruitment from 10 per cent to 50 per cent. The move was formally notified by the Centre through a gazette notification.

The enhanced quota follows amendments to the Border Security Force, General Duty Cadre (Non-Gazetted) Recruitment Rules, 2015, as outlined in the notification.

Age relaxation and test exemptions

According to the notification, candidates from the first batch of ex-Agniveers will be eligible for an upper age-limit relaxation of up to five years, while subsequent batches will receive a three-year relaxation.

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Former Agniveers will also be exempt from the Physical Standard Test and Physical Efficiency Test, the notification issued on Friday stated. By direct recruitment (including fifty per cent), vacancies shall be reserved for ex-Agniveers in every recruitment year, ten per cent for ex-Servicemen, and up to three per cent for Combatised Constable (Tradesmen) in absorption of annual vacancy, stated the notification.

Two-phase recruitment process

In the first phase, the recruitment shall be conducted by the Nodal Force for 50 per cent vacancies earmarked for ex-Agniveers, and in second phase recruitment shall be conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for candidates other than ex-Agniveers for the remaining forty-seven per cent vacancies (including ten per cent ex-Servicemen), alongwith the unfilled vacancies of ex-Agniveers in a specific category in the first stage, it said.

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The Centre had amended the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, by the gazette notification in June this year, inserting a new point in the second schedule under the Department of States of the Union Home Ministry, "coordinating activities for further progression of Ex-Agniveers" who exit after completing four years in the armed forces.

With this amendment, the work relating to coordinating activities for further progression of ex-Agniveer has been assigned to the Union Home Ministry, sources said.

In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services.

Terms of Agnipath recruitment

Under the scheme, candidates between the age bracket of 17 and half years and 21 who get selected are enrolled in the Army, Air Force and Navy as Agniveers for a period of four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years, while the remaining 75 per cent exit.

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The government had already reserved 10 per cent of jobs for ex-Agniveers in all future appointments of constables in the 11-lakh-strong Central Armed Police Forces like CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB, etc.

The changes in the BSF recruitment rules pertain to the border guarding force primarily deployed on sensitive Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

(With agency inputs)