Amid raging protests throughout the nation, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Saturday wrote to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that the newly introduced ‘Agnipath’ defence recruitment has shattered the goals of many military aspirants, whereas inflicting “great anguish” to them.
“As an institution, the Indian Armed Forces have been a beacon of hope representing the highest standards of professionalism, service, long standing tradition and ethos. However, this recent modification to the basic structure of the army has justifiably caused great anguish among potential recruits from across the country. The hopes and dreams of many young aspirants have been stifled by the controversial ‘contractualization’ of the Armed Forces,” the Rajya Sabha MP acknowledged in his letter.
Highlighting the 5 urgent points with the scheme, Chadha, whereas “we need jawans with peace of mind and job security,” Chadha wrote that an “ill-motivated soldier” will be unable to serve the nation, pondering of how he would assist his household after his 4 years of tenure is over, as per the scheme.
Chadha additional wrote that the proposed scheme “has overlooked issues of inadequate skilling,” stating that the six months of crash course will cut back the effectiveness of the military as they won’t be battle-ready to “face the nation’s greatest security challenges.”
He wrote that in a bid to chop down on the massive expenditure incurred by the federal government to be able to procure extra arms “should not be offset by sacrificing the job security of our jawans.”
The Rajya Sabha MP additional identified that the brand new scheme “negates regimental honour and erodes the quality of our troops” and harassed that it’s the “ethos of the regiment that keep jawans united.”
Saying that no pilot tasks have been tried out earlier than going forward with the scheme, Chadha wrote, “Such pilot schemes, preferably outside of the Armed Forces would have provided an opportunity to deliberate before deciding. A consultative exercise could have followed thereafter to avoid national embarrassment and despair among the youth.”
“…I implore you to roll-back the Agnipath scheme, to stop this ‘trial by fire’ of the youth of the country,” he wrote.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”