The Indian Army has announced major changes in the recruitment process under the Agnipath scheme for candidates wishing to join the force. Aspirants will now have to first appear for an online common entrance examination (CEE), followed by physical fitness and medical tests.
Advertisements announcing the change in the enrollment process were put out by the Army in various newspapers. An official notification in this regard is expected to be issued around mid-February.
Earlier, the recruitment process for Agniveers followed a different order, which began with the candidates undergoing a physical fitness test first followed by their medical tests. The qualifying candidates then had to write a common entrance examination and they were selected for training based on the final merit list.
Sources in the Army told India Today that the change in the selection process was made to reduce the costs involved in organising recruitment rallies for physical and medical tests. It will also help ease the administrative and logistical burden as only the candidates who qualified the entrance exam will take the physical and medical tests.
The earlier procedure involved huge administrative costs with lakhs of candidates lining up at more than 200 screening centers across the country, said the sources.
The new process will apply to about 40,000 candidates who are willing to join the army from the next recruitment cycle of 2023-24. Sources told PTI that the first online CEE will likely be held in April at around 200 locations across the country.
