Fake Defence Ministry Letter On Agnipath Scheme Goes Viral
BOOM found that the viral letter is fake and no such letter has been issued by the Ministry of Defence claiming personnel under Other Ranks (OR) to be kept under the Agnipath Scheme.
A fake letter is viral claiming the Ministry of Defence has ordered that personnel under Other Ranks (ORs) attested after January 1, 2019, and not promoted to a substantive rank of Naik or equivalent as on July 1, 2022, are to be kept under the Agnipath Scheme.
Under the recently declared Agnipath scheme, new recruits (Agniveers) will be recruited on a contract of four years and 45,000 to 50,000 personnel will be recruited annually. However, only 25 per cent of these will be retained after four years and those retained will be allowed to continue their services for the next 15 years and will be able to avail of benefits like health insurance.
The viral letter reads, "I am directed to refer to this Ministry's letter no. F.No. 9 (11/2027/F dated 17 June, 2022, on the subject sited above and to say that the ORs attested after 01 January, 2013 and not promoted to the substantive rank of Naik or equivalent on 01 July, 2022 are to be kept under the new Agnipath Scheme...."
The fake letter is being shared with the caption when translated reads, "Big fraud - Soldiers who joined the army after 1st January 2019 (who did not get promotion) were declared Agnivar. So what will the new recruitments be?"
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The same fake letter is also being shared on Twitter.
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Also Read: Old News Report Of Army Aspirant's Suicide Falsely Linked to Agnipath Scheme
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral letter is fake and no such letter has been issued by the Ministry of Defence regarding personnel under Other Ranks (OR) to be kept under the Agnipath Scheme.
A relevant keyword search with keywords viral letter, did not lead to results from any credible news outlets about such a notification.
Additionally, we checked the Ministry of Defence's website and did not find an official named 'MK Ramanna, Additional Secretary to GoI' who has signed the viral letter. Also, the phone number listed on the letter is invalid.
BOOM also contacted M Ponnein Selvan, PRO (Chennai) Ministry of Defence, who confirmed that the viral letter is fake. Selvan sent us a statement from the Government of India's official fact-checking arm Press Information Bureau (PIB) stating the claims made in the letter are false and that it is fake.
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