BJP Rajya Sabha MP defends Agnipath scheme, says party will accept opposition challenge

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Surendra Nagar and party’s prominent OBC rural face on Friday raised a stout defence of Centre’s Agnipath scheme, saying it was oriented to India’s challenging vision of “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” and which provides additional job option to youths, especially in villages and country’s hinterlands stirring with human energy.

Picking up the gauntlet thrown by the opposition parties, especially Congress, of raising the scheme during the upcoming winter session of Parliament,” Nagar said the BJP and the Government will respond to any queries to their satisfaction, while urging them not to indulge in nit picking and polemics merely for a spectacle and polemical debate.

“The scheme has emanated from the crucible of inter se discussions among country’s top Defence brass, and government with an eye to empower the youth with an opportunity with a vision to construct a new and vibrant India,” Nagar said.

He said the scheme also fulfils Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Vocal for Local” as the scheme opens a vista of option to local youth at multiple centres in the countryside, especially in far-flung border States and UTs, especially Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and North-East, Bihar and Rajasthan.

The scheme presents an opportunity to hitherto comparatively backward sections of society, especially Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) “Adivasis” (tribals), etc.

“It is not clear why the opposition parties are always in a trigger mode to countermand each and every progressive and out-of-box thinking of the government. Over the years the citizens acclimatised to a culture of status-quo mind set with an ulterior motive”.

The scheme does not in any way affect the conventional process of recruitment in Defence forces.

“Friends, give up the stick-in-mud policy in the face of youth who are raring to go, to experiment and change for better,” Nagar said while appealing to opponents to exercise patience, and to give the scheme a chance.

Listing out concrete benefits of the scheme, he said the government has increased the upper age limit to 23 years. It provides a Seva Nidhi exit of corpus of more than Rs 11 lakh, government funding and bank loan provision for the “Agniveers” who would wish to start a venture after the job period.

Also, 25 percent of the Agniveers will be absorbed in regular Defence service.

He further said that Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana governments have also announced to give Agniveers preference in appointment to their police force.

Modern warfare involves multidisciplinary approaches including high-tech applications in a rapidly evolving trajectory of nature, scope and dimension in strategies.

The Agniveers will be highly trained in multi-task mode, and would be enhanced personality after they complete their job at an age when youth generally enter job market.