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Raising his voice against the Agnipath Scheme, Congress leader Sachin Pilot expressed concerns about the future of armed forces personnel retiring after four years of service and said that the scheme was implemented in a "hurry."
In June 2022, the government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme for short-term induction of personnel into the armed forces, intending to bring down the age profile of the three services. "Completely stopping the previous process of recruitment in the Army and conducting all the recruitments only through Agnipath, keeping only 25 per cent of the total recruitments after 4 years and retiring the whole 75 per cent is not at all a positive step for the Army... We believe that this scheme was implemented in a hurry," Pilot said. He further said that "there were approximately 1,75,000 applicants who qualified in written, medical and all the phases of the exam and then their joining was denied." The Agnipath scheme provides for recruiting youths between the age bracket of 17-and-a-half years and 21 years for four years, with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Earlier, he also mentioned that Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter to the president of India highlighting the "injustice" done to the youth of India. "There is no match for the Indian armed forces' valour and hard work. We are one of the finest fighting forces in the world. Our Army and defence forces are second to none. But their valour, strength, dedication to the nation should be regarded and respected for future generations...I think the Government did this in haste and we oppose it. Party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to the President," added Pilot. Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu highlighting the "gross injustice" done to the country's youths seeking regular employment in the armed forces due to the Agnipath scheme and urged her to ensure justice for them being the supreme commander of Armed forces. Almost two lakh young men and women were informed that they had been accepted into the three armed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, said Kharge in his letter. Until 31 May 2022, they believed that they had fulfilled their dreams and were awaiting only their joining letters. On that day, their dreams were shattered by the Government of India's decision to end this recruitment process and replace it with the Agnipath Scheme, added the letter. (ANI)
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