The Left parties on Thursday demanded that the Agnipath scheme be scrapped and be taken up in Parliament for discussion, alleging that it does a “disservice” to India’s national interests.
The government had unveiled the scheme on Tuesday saying it will overhaul the decades-old selection process to bring in fitter and younger troops to tackle future security challenges facing the nation.
Around 46,000 soldiers will be recruited this year between the ages of 17 and a half years and 21 years into the Army, Navy and the Air Force.
“The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly disapproves the ‘Agnipath’ scheme that does disservice to India’s national interests. Professional armed forces cannot be raised by recruiting ‘soldiers on contract’ for a period of four years. This scheme, to save pension money, severely compromises the quality and efficiency of our professional armed forces,” CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.
He further said that for the last two years there has been no recruitment in the Indian Army and instead of recruiting regular soldiers into the armed forces, this scheme leaves such contract soldiers with no other prospects of employment after four years.
“This creates a dangerous situation where they may end up serving private militias. This has hazardous implications for our social fabric already under severe strain. It is criminal to call upon our youth to be prepared to make the supreme sacrifice without the minimum protection of job security. The spontaneous protests in various parts of the country, reflects the anger against this scheme.
“The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that this ‘Agnipath’ scheme be scrapped forthwith and regular recruitment into the armed forces be undertaken urgently,” Yechury said.
CPI MP Binoy Viswam too opposed the scheme and sought its withdrawal.
“It is contractualisation in Indian military, exploitation of youth through low wages, back door entry for RSS, part of militarisation, betrayal of unemployed. Military Recruitment is not kitchen recipe of BJP. Need discussion in parliament,” he tweeted.
CPI general secretary D Raja tweeted, “Finding jobs has become literally a ‘Path of Fire’ under Modi. Govt is trying to hoodwink the restive youth by #AgnipathScheme. It’ll make our army contract based & jeopardise the future of our youth.
“It should be withdrawn immediately! Youth deserve proper, secure jobs!”
In a separate statement, the CPI said that any dilution in the service conditions of defence personnel, including their discipline will only harm the security and sovereignty of the country.
“Contract appointment and short-term employment after imparting full-fledged training at the cost of the exchequer will not only affect the quality of the services but also will harm the future of the trained personnel who will find it very difficult to get a suitable job.
“The party warns the government against tinkering with the present set up of recruitment, promotion, etc, in the defence services. The party demands that the ‘Agnipath’ scheme should be immediately withdrawn and the government fill the existing vacancies by following the established procedures,” the statement said.
