Agniveers to be given weightage in UP Police, PAC force: CM Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday that the Agniveers who return after serving the country will be given weightage in UP Police and PAC force.

Adityanath said this while speaking to reporters here at his official residence on Friday evening before leaving for NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi.

"The country will get trained and disciplined young soldiers in the form of Agniveers," he said.

The UP chief minister said the youth today are getting recruited in Agnipath Yojana with enthusiasm. After this, arrangements are being made to accommodate them in paramilitary and civil police, he said.

"The UP government has also said as the Agniveer scheme progresses and when these youth return after their service, we will provide facility and weightage for their adjustment in UP Police and PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary) force. We will get trained and disciplined youth as Agniveers. Our government is fully committed to this," Adityanath said.

Adityanath, while criticising the politics of the opposition on the Agniveer issue, said the work of the opponents is to create obstacles, hindrances and spread rumours in every work of progress and reform, the UP government said in a statement on Friday.

The UP chief minister said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become the fifth largest economy in the world today. Excellent reforms have taken place in India in the last 10 years.

"We are moving towards self-reliance in the matter of modernisation of the Indian Army and its equipment," Adityanath said.

He said reforms from time to time are extremely important for any country and society to establish new standards of progress and prosperity. Excellent reforms have taken place in every field in the last 10 years. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, work has been done to bring India's economy to a respectable position and make it the fifth largest economy in the world, he said.

"On one hand, we are touching new heights of prosperity, so we have to give equal importance to national security. Whether it is the steps taken for self-reliance in the Army and its equipment or the quick decisions taken for modernisation, today India has state-of-the-art fighter planes," he said.

The UP chief minister said the Defence Industrial Corridor is being developed in UP and Tamil Nadu. Thousands of crores of rupees of investment have come in the six nodes of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor.

"Whether it is the work of Bharat Dynamics Limited or the progress towards making Brahmos missile, we have taken a long leap. The Army is also moving ahead with this speed.

"The Agniveer scheme has been taken forward in the Indian Army with this vision. There is enthusiasm among the youth about this. Ten lakh Agniveers are moving forward to serve as strong soldiers on the Agnipath of the Indian Army," Adityanath said.

It is unfortunate that for some political parties, their own politics has become bigger than the country. They want to do politics at the cost of the country, he said.

They keep doing acts like interfering, misleading and making statements in every reform and progress work. The opposition is constantly misleading the youth on this issue, he said.

The central government introduced the Agnipath recruitment scheme in 2022 with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services.

The scheme provides for recruiting as Agniveers youngsters between the age group of 17-and-a-half and 21 years for a block period of four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for another 15 years.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress, have been targeting the government over the scheme, raising questions about the fate of the remaining 75 per cent of Agniveers after the end of their four-year tenure.