AERIAL VIEW
The Agnipath scheme is the government’s defence recruitment reform under which around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually, and most will leave service in just four years.
Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.
The new system is only for personnel below officer ranks (those who do not join the forces as commissioned officers). The scheme is not optional, as all personnel below officer rank will be hired only through this route from now on. Under the Agnipath scheme, aspirants between the ages of 17.5 years and 21 years will be eligible to apply.
Editor, Goemkarponn
The violence over the Agniveer or the Agnipath scheme – a short service commission in the Indian army, is uncalled for and must be condemned at every level.
A developing country like India, which is striving hard to upgrade its infrastructure at every level, cannot afford the destruction of its assets in the manner it has been done.
By burning trains, buses and stone-pelting, the youth, supported by brainless people, are not doing any damage to the Government of India or any political party but are only damaging the assets built at the cost of the exchequer.
What is the Agnipath scheme?
The Agnipath scheme is the government’s defence recruitment reform under which around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually, and most will leave service in just four years.
Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.
The new system is only for personnel below officer ranks (those who do not join the forces as commissioned officers). The scheme is not optional, as all personnel below officer rank will be hired only through this route from now on. Under the Agnipath scheme, aspirants between the ages of 17.5 years and 21 years will be eligible to apply.
Why are job aspirants up in arms?
Job security and pension are two major issues being cited by protesters. Under the previous system, troops joined for a 17-year period, which could be extended for some personnel, resulting in a lifelong pension.
The new scheme, however, envisages just a four-year tenure for most, and the Agniveers will not be eligible for pension benefits.
Violence needs to be condemned…
Agreed, there are many discrepancies in the Agnipath scheme, the future of the youth is at stake, and there is no job security; what would be the future of youth who retired after four years? Despite all these issues, we need to condemn such senseless and inhuman violence and those responsible for it. Violence has no place in a democracy, and those that adopt violent means to express themselves cannot and should not be condoned in any manner whatsoever.
India has a glorious tradition of non-violence and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhiji proved to the nation and the world that even the mighty British Empire could be brought to its knees through non-violent means. Why is it then, 75 years after independence, we still have violent protests in various pockets of the country over one government decision?
There are various means to get the demands met. There are courts to hear the pleas and across-the-table negotiations, mass boycott of the recruitment etc., but in no way violence can be justified by the youth.
The need of the hour is to channelise the nation-building activities. The advice to [the] youth is: shun negativity. We are not under foreign rule… Silently, without the need for violence, you can change the government. So please shun negativism. Violence has no place in a democracy.
