Agnipath: Govt should reconsider scheme, says Hooda

Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday lashed out at the Centre over its “Agnipath” scheme, saying it neither favours the the country nor the youth. He requested the government to reconsider and rationalise it by ensuring permanent jobs to soldiers who complete their four-year term in the armed forces.

The Centre on Tuesday unveiled the ambitious “Agnipath” scheme for recruitment of the youth aged between 17 and a half and 21 in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis. The youth recruited under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’. After the completion of the four-year tenure, 25 per cent of the recruits from each specific batch will be offered regular service.

“It has far-reaching consequences and these have not been fully considered while preparing this scheme. In the long run, the policy would have a detrimental impact on our national security,” Hooda claimed in a statement here.

“It seems the government is compromising with the security of the country with the intention of saving money on salary, pension, gratuity and halving the strength of the armed forces,” the former Haryana chief minister alleged. Hooda claimed that a large number of youth have become overage due to the closure of Army recruitment for the past three years due to the Covid pandemic. – PTI