Govt keeping 'close watch, doesn't want protest against Agnipath scheme to take shape of farm agitation'

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, June 16

As protests rage through various parts of the country, including Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, by job aspirants against the BJP-led Centre’s short-term recruitment scheme ‘Agnipath’, seeking its withdrawal/roll-back, sources said the Government is keeping a “close watch on the agitation”.

The government “does not want the agitation to take the shape of farmers’ agitation against the new-repealed three laws”, they said on the day the Centre and BJP-ruled states, including UP and Haryana, announced supporting plans for prospective Agniveers, including promises of post-retirement jobs and educational courses to augment employability.

As several veterans and opposition leaders said the Agnipath scheme may “harm the Army’s morale”, BJP’s estranged MP Varun Gandhi wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, questioning its provisions, expressing apprehensions at the scheme leading to disaffection among the youth.

“As 75% of soldiers will become ‘unemployed’ after four years and their total numbers will keep rising every year, it will give rise to more disaffection among the youth,” Gandhi said, questioning the prospects for retired soldiers “when the corporate sector had not shown much interest in hiring even the regular military personnel who retired after 15 years”.

“These soldiers with only six-month basic training may be a cause of disruption to the existing regimental formations,” he said, adding that the low number of regular absorption of ‘Agniveer’ will only result in the waste of training costs.

A day after the Ministry of Education announced a special three-year skill-based bachelor’s degree programme for serving defence personnel, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hailed the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, terming it a “forward-looking initiative”.

Announcing courses developed by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in consultation with the MoD, he said: “The customised programme by NIOS will be relevant to the spirit of Agnipath scheme. This certificate will equip Agniveers with relevant knowledge and skills and enable them to pursue jobs and higher education across India”.

The ministry said the special programme in consultation with the Defence Authorities will enable ‘Agniveers’ who are Class 10 pass to further their education and obtain a Class 12 pass Certificate by developing customised courses that are not only current but very relevant to their area of service.

“The special programme will enable those ‘Agniveers’ who are 10th Class pass to further their education and obtain a 12th Class pass certificate by developing customised courses that are not only current but very relevant to their area of service,” the Education Ministry stated.

The certificates issued to ‘Agniveers’ will be recognised for both employment and higher education purposes all over the country, the statement said, adding that the move will allow the recruits to “gain adequate educational qualifications and skills to take up productive roles in society later in life”.