The scheme may disperse violence and weaponry back to the social order

Enrolment under India’s new armed services recruitment plan will commence this month, a top defence officials has said, despite protests against a scheme that will drastically cut tenure and offer fewer service benefits at the end of contract.

“Why should it be rolled back? This was a long-pending reform,” Lieutenant General Anil Puri, additional secretary in the Defence Ministry, told reporters in New Delhi on June 19.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on June 14 set out a policy called Agnipath, or “path of fire”, designed to bring more people into the military on four-year contracts to lower the average age of India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces.

The scheme sparked violent protests in northern and eastern parts of the country, with thousands of young men attacking train coaches, burning tyres and clashing with officials, after which the government tweaked some of the rules.

The plan has also received criticism from some defence experts, who say it could weaken the structure of the forces and have serious ramifications for national security in a country which shares often-tense borders with Pakistan and China.

Concerns

Under Agnipath, 46,000 cadets will be recruited this year, and only 25 per cent will be kept on at the end of their four-year terms. The cadets will go through training for six months and will then get deployed for 3-1/2 years.

One of the biggest concerns is the fate of the soldiers after they finish their term, but Puri said the government will ensure those enrolled under the scheme find suitable jobs when they are discharged.

He said anyone participating in violent protests would not qualify for the defence services under the scheme.

On June 19 the federal Home Ministry said it would reserve 10 per cent of vacancies in the paramilitary forces and the Assam Rifles, a unit in the Indian army, for those who have passed out of the army under the scheme, while the Defence Ministry said it would reserve 10 per cent of its vacancies for those who have completed the scheme.

Strike and protests

According to BBC, tens of thousands of job seekers have called for a shutdown in India to protest against the new army hiring plan which has sparked violence.

Some states shut down the internet and suspended train and bus services on June 20.

Protesters are demanding the rollback of the plan to hire soldiers on a fixed four-year term, saying it would shatter their dreams of a secure job.

They have taken to the streets, blocking roads and torching trains.

Several opposition political parties have given their support to the protests. But the government has refused to cancel the plan, though it has been trying to allay the fears of protesters. Demonstrations against the plan began in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced changes to how it would recruit soldiers for the armed forces.

At least one person died, and several others were injured in the southern state of Telangana where protesters clashed with the police recently.

Ahead of the shutdown on June 20, several states announced precautionary restrictions — banning large gatherings, shutting schools and even suspending internet services in some districts. In the state of Jharkhand, school exams have been postponed. And in Bihar, authorities have cancelled 350 trains in the wake of violence.

Courtesy: TRT, BBC

Activists from Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) shout slogans and burn placards with pictures of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest against the government’s new ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme for the army, navy, and air forces, in Chennai on June 20, 2022. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi over Agnipath scheme

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 22 stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the Agnipath scheme. Extending his support to the protesters, he said ‘true patriotism lies in strengthening the army’ and hit out at the prime minister for ‘weakening the army with a new deception’.

“The Chinese army is sitting on the soil of our India. Prime Minister, true patriotism lies in strengthening the army but you are weakening the army with a new deception. In this movement, to save the future of the country, we are with the youth. I am saying again, you have to take back ‘Agneepath’,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

Addressing Congress parliamentarians and legislators on June 22, he also said, “The spine of the country — small and medium industries — has been broken by the Modi government. I say to all those who train in the morning to get into the Army, Navy, and Air Force that the prime minister has broken the spine of the country and this country will not be able to give jobs to its youth.”

Congress has been protesting against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme as well as the questioning of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald Case.

The government introduced the scheme on June 14 under which recruits — ‘Agniveers’ — will serve a four-year tour of duty after which 75 per cent will be retired. The scheme triggered massive protests with several incidents of violence being reported from over 10 states. Protestors set trains on fire, torched vehicles and damaged both private and public properties.

On June 19, top military officials from all three branches — Army, Navy, and Air Force — stressed that the scheme will not be rolled back and offered clarifications and assurances for potential recruits.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times