Army recruitment made easy

NAGPUR, May 14: In a significant move, the Indian Army has revamped its recruitment policy for soldiers to ensure total transparency'' and...

NAGPUR, May 14: In a significant move, the Indian Army has revamped its recruitment policy for soldiers to ensure 8220;total transparency8221; and get rid of some of the cumbersome recruitment procedures, being followed hitherto.

Gone are the hassles for an aspiring soldier to travel all the way to the Branch Recruitment Office BRO of the region concerned, procure the prescribed application form, submit the same to the Zonal Headquarters of the Branch Recruitment Office and wait for a call letter to enable him to appear for the physical, medical and written tests.

Instead, the new policy envisages week-long recruitment rallies which would be publicised well in advance and held at least once every month, at a designated place where an aspiring soldier 8211; fulfilling the educational qualification 8211; can simply walk in and appear for the physical, medical and written tests at one go on the venue itself.

While the first rally of this kind was held from April 21 to 26 at the Sub Area Ground in Pune 8211; the Zonal HQof BRO in Maharashtra 8211; the second has been scheduled for May 25 to 31 on the Police Headquarters Ground at Takli here.

The BRO officials here, entrusted with the task of providing administrative assistance for the rally, are expecting large attendance from all over the state of Maharashtra, considering the number of vacancies for different trades of soldier.

Talking to newspersons this morning, Branch Recruiting Officer Colonel G Loshali said, under the previous system the candidates had to obtain the applications from the BRO office, send it to the Zonal HQ at Pune and await the call letter. Recruitment procedures were then conducted simultaneously at the regional offices of the BRO at Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur.

Now, a candidate who is a domicile of Maharashtra, can appear at any rally conducted within the State and undertake the prescribed tests which would be conducted by authorities from BRO centres other than the place where the rally is held.

Story continues below this ad

8220;All procedures would becarried out in public and the BRO will ensure that those candidates who are rejected, go fully convinced about the reason for their rejected,8221; Col Loshali said. 8220;No outsider can influence the selection process,8221; he said while calling upon the aspirants to have faith in their own abilities and avoid falling prey to unscrupulous elements by directly approaching BRO authorities at the rally venue.

The criteria for different trades ie education qualification, age limit, height, weight and chest requirement, can be learnt from the BRO during working hours, he said.