Punjab, with its strong military tradition can take the lead in tapping the skills of Agniveers after their release from the Armed Forces by offering them institutional pathways to transition into the defence manufacturing ecosystem as supervisors, equipment maintainers or entrepreneurs, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said here on Saturday.

“The Agniveer scheme provides an opportunity of harnessing a skilled manpower which is already disciplined and trained through a skilled certification framework to ensure that their certified training leads into civilian qualifications recognised under the National Skills Qualification Framework, which can seamlessly turn towards our defence industry,” he said while speaking at a Defence Skills Conclave organised by the Punjab Government.

Approved in 2022, the Agniveer scheme entails recruitment to the rank and file for a four-year period, including basic training, out of which 25 percent would be absorbed into the permanent cadre and the rest would be released from service. The batch of Agniveers are now in their final year of service.

The Defence Secretary also said that the central government is putting in place a process to make Agniveers “industry-ready” by imparting them requisite skills as part of their training and awarding them a diploma to help them get absorbed in the industry. This is in addition to reservations already made for them in the para-military forces and other government organisations.

Delving upon giving an impetus to the industry, he said that self-reliance is no longer a strategic aspiration but a national imperative. “At a time when geopolitics is increasingly trumping economic theories, the world is redefining global supply chains and technology dominance is shaping new security architectures. For India, this is a challenge as well as an extraordinary opportunity,” said