Congress vows to scrap ‘Agnipath’, revert to old military recruitment system if voted to power in LS polls – India TV

Stepping up its assault on the Centre over the ‘Agnipath’ military recruitment scheme, Congress on Monday (February 26) vowed to scrap it and reintroduce the old recruitment system if voted to power on the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The get together claimed that “gross injustice” was being carried out to the kids. The get together additionally demanded that appointment be given to the about two lakh children who had cleared the recruitment course of however weren’t given becoming a member of letters because the ‘Agnipath’ scheme was launched in 2022.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday and sought common employment in the armed forces whereas additionally urging her to guarantee “justice” for them.

What did Kharge inform the President?

“The way forward for almost two lakh younger women and men has develop into unsure due to the scrapping of the common recruitment course of in the armed forces,” Kharge mentioned in the letter to the President who’s the supreme commander of the armed forces.

“There are many well-known issues with the Agnipath scheme. Former Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane has written that the Army was ‘taken by surprise’ by Agnipath and that ‘for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue’,” he added.

Describing the scheme as “discriminatory” amongst jawans, Kharge mentioned that majority of Agniveers will likely be launched into an “unsure job market” after 4 years of service.

“The scheme is discriminatory among our jawans by creating parallel cadres of soldiers who are expected to work on similar tasks, but with very different emoluments, benefits and prospects. The majority of Agniveers will be released into an uncertain job market after four years of service, which some have argued could affect social stability,” Kharge mentioned.

Rahul Gandhi reacts

Tagging Kharge’s letter, Rahul Gandhi mentioned on X, “We are with the military candidates, who’re stuffed with patriotism and bravado, in the combat for justice”.

Sachin Pilot holds press convention

Addressing a press convention on the get together headquarters, Congress chief Sachin Pilot mentioned that there was no demand for such a scheme and it’ll not profit anyone in the long run.

“In the long term, this scheme will not benefit anybody except saving some money for the government of India. We in the Congress party feel that we should go back to the old recruitment system,” Pilot mentioned.

If some adjustments are to be launched to modernise the armed forces, that could be very a lot attainable in the present setup, however to utterly eradicate the old system will not be proper, he added.

“It is closing avenues of employment. I think it has been done in an ad-hoc fashion, without much thought to the future prospects of how the Army would function. We in the Congress believe that the Agnipath programme is not a positive development and we will certainly go back to the old recruitment system when people vote us back,” Pilot mentioned.

The ‘Agnipath’ scheme gives for recruiting children in the age bracket of 17 years and a half to 21 years for a four-year interval, with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 extra years.

(With PTI inputs)

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