Journalism of Courage
Announcing a key change in the procedures for the Agniveer recruitment, the Indian Army has said that all candidates who register for the drive will be first shortlisted through a computerised Common Entrance Exam (CEE) and then called for the physical and medical tests.
Senior Army officials in Pune said the online registration on the Join Indian Army (JIA) website opened on February 16 and aspirants could apply till March 15. The registration process remains the same as earlier, and the candidates can either register using their Aadhaar Card or Class 10 certificate.
For more transparency, the JIA website has now been linked with Digilocker, Indian digitisation online service provided by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under its Digital India initiative.
Officials said online CEE is being conducted at 176 locations across India. The candidates can select five exam locations and will be allotted one among their choices. For online CEE, the fee is Rs 500 per candidate and half of the cost, Rs 250, borne by the Army. The complete procedure on ‘How to Apply’ has been given in a video on the Join Indian Army website and YouTube.
Officials said the online computerised CEE before the physical fitness test, physical measurement test and medical Tests would ensure that a much smaller number of candidates would be required to report for the recruitment rallies compared to the past. Officials also said that this change also reflects a shift in recruitment policy.
The Army had last year announced the age bar of 23 years was a one-time relaxation given for the first Agniveer process. The upper limit for this year’s recruitment has been restored to 21 years, with the lower limit being 17 years and six months.
