By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to brief the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Defence on the issue of new Recruitment Scheme “Agnipath” for the Armed Forces. It had led to protests at various locations across the country.
The Ministry of Defence on Thursday said the Committee is set to meet in New Delhi on July 11, 2022.
“Rajnath Singh is scheduled to brief the Committee members about various aspects of the recently-launched Agnipath scheme, through which recruitment of soldiers in all the three Services will henceforth take place.”
The Defence Secretary, three Service Chiefs and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence are also expected to be present.
The committee on Defence chaired by Singh has 20 members, including 13 from Lok Sabha and around 7 from Rajya Sabha, according to the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry website.
It includes members from almost all parties.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah and TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay are among its members.
“Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh is scheduled to brief the Committee members about various aspects of the recently-launched AGNIPATH scheme, through which recruitment of soldiers in all the three Services will henceforth take place,” the ministry said in a statement.
Defence Secretary, three Service Chiefs and other senior officials of the ministry are likely to be present, it added.
After the scheme was unveiled on June 14, violent protests took place in several states for nearly a week and various opposition parties demanded its rollback.
Earlier this week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said it has received 7.5 lakh applications under the “Agnipath” recruitment scheme.
The registration process under the scheme began on June 24.
(With PTI Inputs)
