Last week Govt of India announced Agneepath scheme for hiring young people in the armed forces, to be known as Agniveers, and a few days back I had written my blog on the details of this scheme.
As soon as the details of the scheme were announced, without understanding the scheme the opposition parties started saying that this is no good scheme as after 4 years 75% of recruited Agniveers will be having no job with the armed forces, and at a very young age they will be once again jobless.
Without understanding the scheme thousands of youngsters started staging protests in parts of Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand and Haryana and started demanding an immediate rollback of the scheme. The protests are carried out as the radical scheme to recruit the bulk of soldiers for only four years will hit the professionalism, regimental ethos, and fighting spirit of the armed forces.
Amid nationwide protests on the Agneepath scheme, yesterday PM made a big statement- “ It is the country’s misfortune that many good things brought with good intentions get trapped in politics”.
In the meantime, armed forces are going ahead with the recruitment of Agniveers. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has released the date or registration, which will start on 24th June 2022 onwards, the Online examination to start on 24th July 2022, the first batch of Agniveers to be inducted into IAF in December 2022, and training to start from 30th December 2022. The notifications are being released by IAF, the Indian Army, and the Indian Navy on their respective official websites. The age limit is now amended, and that is from 17.5 to 23 years, which was earlier up to 21 years.
Minister of State for Defence has said “ It is a good scheme. Despite clarity over misunderstandings, it is not right to stick to the demands. I appeal to youth not to let go of this golden opportunity. There will be no problem in future”. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it has decided to reserve 10% vacancies for recruitment in Central Police Force (CPF), and Assam Rifles for Agniveers. Defence Ministry also came up with a 10% quota which will cover the Coast Guard, defence civilian posts and 16 defence PSUs, which include major ones like Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, as well as four shipyards and 41 ordinance factories. The shipping ministry has also announced attractive service opportunities for Agniveers from Indian Navy for a smooth transition into Merchant Navy.
As per Govt.- the broad objective of Agneepath scheme are as follows
- To enhance the youthful profile of the Armed Forces so that they are at their fighting best at all times with increased risk-taking ability.
- To imbibe the Armed Forces ethos, courage, commitment, and teamwork in the youth.
- To provide abilities and qualities such as discipline, motivation, dynamism, and work skills so that youth remains an asset.
- To provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to serve the nation in uniform for a short period of time.
- To attract youth talent, among the society to effectively exploit, adapt, and use emerging modern technologies with enhanced technical thresholds of intake while leveraging Technical institutions of the country.
Additional Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs has said that the applicants will have to give a written pledge (affidavit) that they were not part of the protest or vandalism. He asserted that there is no place for indiscipline in the Armed Forces.
The problem with our politicians, especially those belonging to opposition parties, is that they have to oppose any scheme or law which has been brought by the present NDA Govt. led by PM Modi, whether it is the Agneepath scheme, Article 370, Triple talaq , National Register for Citizen (NRC), Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) etc.
Now can some detractors of this scheme put light on the following;
- Which other job to a youth who is qualified max up to 12th class can give him/her an income of Rs 11.5 Lakhs as take-home salary in 4 years, and guaranteed Rs 11.71 Lakhs as corpus fund after four years of the contract. Other than the salary drawn by youth in the armed forces, will get accommodation at the place of posting, Mess facility, Canteen facility and other benefits drawn by regular armed force personnel. After 4 years this corpus of Rs 11.71 Lakhs will be used by the youth, as with this fund he might become self-employed.
- Short Service Commission (SSC) for Officer ranks in Armed Force is already existing for many years. Generally, this SSC is for 5 years, on this I have never heard any protest by politicians.
- How can anyone say that this is a bad scheme without being implemented? It is advisable to see what happens to 75% of Agniveers after the completion of 4 years, whether they will be absorbed in other industries and public sector units or not.
- Why do these so-called experts who are opposing the scheme have not given any concrete suggestions to improve the same?
- Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and others who are opposing the scheme, in reality, know that this is a good scheme, as some of their leaders have discretely started appreciating the scheme.
As Govt has already announced its intention to go ahead with the scheme, where these protests are going to lead us?
Waiting for your views on the blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
20th June 2022
Prakash mahadalkar
More than 50% of India’s defense budget goes in salaries and pension and there is not enough money left for modernisation of our armed forces.
The Agneepath reform was long overdue and the Modi govt had the guts to do it. It is in India’s National interest and should be supported by all knowing we have to deal eoth two hostile neighnours I.e.Pakistan and China.
The opposition will protest anything done by Modi govt as they do not care for our national interest.