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Updated: June 20, 2022 1:38 p.m. STI
New Delhi [India]Jun 20 (ANI): Lok Sabha MP and Congress Leader Manish Tewari on Monday backed protesters’ concerns over the ‘Agnipath Scheme’, a recruitment program aimed at inducting young people into the military.
He said the program is the result of a “rough calculation” of the impact of new recruiting paradigms.
Taking to Twitter on Monday, Tewari wrote: “As an MP from a rural constituency, I share the concerns/fears of young people’s desires to join the armed forces. the employers’ army shows that the problem is not insurmountable if retirees switch to CAPF/SPF.”
About four days ago, the Congressman sympathized with young people who are concerned about Agnipath’s recruitment process.
“I sympathize with the young people who are worried about Agnipath’s recruitment process. The reality is that India needs a younger armed force with a leaner human footprint, tech savvy and armed with weapons state-of-the-art. The Union Armed Forces should not be a job guarantee scheme,” he said in a tweet.
The country’s top military leaders stressed on Sunday that the main motive for implementing the Agnipath program was to bring more young people into the forces. Lt. Gen. Anil Puri, Additional Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs, speaking on the Agnipath project, at a press conference, said, “This reform has been pending for a long time.”
Lt. Gen. Puri said: “The announcements regarding bookings for the ‘Agniveers announced by the various ministries and departments were pre-planned and not in reaction to the arson attack which occurred after the program was announced. Agnipath.”
He said Agniveers would receive compensation of one million rupees if he sacrificed his life in the service of the nation. Lt. Gen. Puri said, “The ‘Agniveers would receive the same allowance in areas like Siachen and other areas that apply to regular soldiers currently serving.”
He said, “In the next 4-5 years, the recruitment of soldiers will be 50,000-60,000 and will increase to 90,000 – 1 lakh thereafter.” He said the process of recruiting 46,000 Agniveers has started analyzing the program and building the capacity of the infrastructure.
Air Marshal Suraj Jha, Air Officer, said the IAF will begin recruitment under Agniveers under the Agnipath program from June 24. Air Marshal Jha said the first group would be enrolled by December and training would begin by December 30. (ANI)
