New Delhi: Chiefs of the three Indian military services arrived at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on Tuesday evening amid an ongoing controversy over the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces.
The scheme is for recruiting ‘Agniveer’ soldiers on four-year contracts without pension, of whom up to 25% may be given regular commission of 15 years thereafter. Announced by Defence Minister Rajanath Singh in the presence of the three service chiefs on June 14, it provides for recruitment of men and women in the age bracket of 17-and-a-half to 21. The Centre later extended the age limit to 23 years for recruitment this year as there has been no recruitment for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The plan is to hire around 45,000 soldiers this year across the three services.
The government, meanwhile, continued defending the scheme, deploying National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, who in an interview to ANI ruled out any possibility of a rollback, in spite of protests. Earlier today, Ajit Doval had said that the regimental system will remain untouched under the scheme. Amid misgivings about the recruitment process, Lt Gen Anil Puri, additional secretary, Department of Military Affairs, asserted that the recruitment process will remain unchanged and the traditional regimentation system in the military will continue.
Addressing a Tri-Service press conference on Sunday, Lt General Anil Puri informed that ‘Agnipath’ is a long pending reform which was even recommended by the Kargil Review Committee. He further mentioned that the recruitment of soldiers under the scheme will increase to over 1.25 lakh in the next 4-5 years. All three previous heads of Defence forces along with the former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) worked for two years on the scheme. They analyzed meticulous details of the scheme, the top military officer said.
Post Your Comments