Congress Vows to Scrap Agnipath, Restore Old Recruitment Scheme If Voted To Power

Once again targeting the Union government over the ‘Agnipath’ military recruitment scheme, the Congress on Monday called it “gross injustice” to youngsters. The party further promised it would scrap the ‘Agnipath’ scheme and restore the old system of armed services recruitment if it is voted back to power.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, pointing out the “gross injustice” done to the youngsters seeking regular employment in the armed forces due to the “Agnipath” scheme, urging her to ensure justice for them.

The future of nearly two lakh young men and women has become uncertain due to the scrapping of the regular recruitment process in the armed forces, Kharge noted in his letter to the president.

“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.”

“Furthermore, 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,” the Congress chief wrote.

Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot, while addressing a press conference in Delhi, also said there was “no demand” for such a scheme.

“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 said.

If some changes are to be introduced to modernise the armed forces, that is very much possible in the current setup, but to completely eradicate the old system is not right, the Congress general secretary 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 party 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 stated.

Congress leader Deepender Hooda also slammed Centre over the scheme and said the party demands its rollback and a return to the old recruitment process.

In June 2022, the Central government introduced out the “Agnipath” recruitment scheme for short-term induction of personnel into the armed forces, with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services.

The scheme provides for recruiting youngsters in the age bracket of 17 years and a half to 21 years for four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years.

(With PTI inputs)