Parliamentary panel for setting up nodal agency to help ex-Agniveers

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, December 21

The Parliamentary Committee on Defence has “recommended” setting up a separate nodal agency in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for providing employment opportunities to Agniveers, who are not retained by the forces after the stipulated initial period of four years of service.

A report of the committee was tabled in Parliament yesterday. Agniveers, who will not be absorbed in the forces, will have much younger profile compared to that of ex-servicemen who are looked after by the Directorate General Resettlement (DGR).

The committee has recommended that the DGR needs to devise a focused and special approach for re-settlement of such Agniveers.

Agniveers have already been inducted into forces. After completion of first four years of service, about 25 per cent of the youth will be retained in the armed forces. The committee recommended that educational and resettlement opportunities should be provided to the Agniveers who will not be inducted into the forces. The committee also addressed the issue of re-employment of ex-servicemen. The MoD informed the committee that the percentage of those availing the benefits of reserved posts in the police and elsewhere was “not satisfactory”.

“The committee recommends that the draft roster for ex-servicemen may be finalised,” the report said, adding that the MoD must pursue the Centre and state governments to fill posts reserved for retired soldiers.

The report said the committee had recommended to the MoD to conduct a study on reasons for retired soldiers not getting jobs The MoD has informed the committee that in some cases retired soldiers were not meeting qualifying parameters for posts reserved for them for want of requisite educational qualification.