The Opposition on Monday demanded a rollback or Parliament scrutiny of the Agnipath scheme launched last month for recruiting aspirants for the armed forces. Some Opposition members also submitted a memorandum to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter.
However, in an embarrassment to the Congress, its MP Manish Tewari reportedly did not sign the memorandum as he has all along backed the scheme despite his party criticising it.
These developments came days ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament commencing July 18. The Opposition expressed its reservations regarding the new recruitment policy here during a meeting of parliament consultative committee on defence.
Rajnath chaired the meeting where the members were briefed about the Agnipath scheme launched on June 14. Twelve MPs attended the meeting including Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy(TMC), Supriya Sule(NCP), Rajni Patil, Shakti Singh Gohil, and Manish Tewari(Congress), AD Singh(RJD) and Ranjanben Bhatt and Ram Bhai Mokhariya (BJP).
The scheme termed as “transformative” led to mass protests in several states. The government, however, refused to roll back the scheme and said it was aimed at having youthful, fit and technology savvy armed forces capable of fighting modern day war. The memorandum or letter submitted to Rajnath was signed by six MPs including Shaktisinh Gohil(Congress), Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Sougata Roy(TMC), Supriya Sule(NCP), Rajni Patil(Congress) and AD Singh(RJD).
The Congress said that Tewari's views on the Agnipath scheme are his personal and do not reflect the party's opinion. While Rajnath said it was a “very good meeting,” the Opposition was apprehensive about the after affects of the Agnipath. Even though more than seven lakh aspirants have applied for the IAF in the last few days, the Opposition said it was due to rising unemployment and no other job avenues for the youth. The Opposition members also did not favour a four year stint for the Agniveers and wanted the tenure to be longer to achieve operational readiness.
The government was also criticised for involving the armed forces officers in politics as many senior officers were holding press conferences to highlight the salient features of Agnipath.
The Opposition members said politicians should have addressed such media briefings. They wanted the standing committee of parliament to scrutinise the Agnipath scheme.
Army Chief Manoj Pande and Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar besides other senior officials were also present at the consultative committee meeting. Meanwhile, the IAF has closed its registration and will conduct online examination from July 24.
The Army and the Navy registration are on. The Army will hold recruitment rallies from August all over the country while the Navy is planning to start the training of new inductees in November. More than 10,000 women have applied under the Agnipath scheme and the Service has earmarked 20 per cent of the vacancies for women in various wings. Nearly 46,000 jawans or Agniveers will be inducted this year including 40,000 for the Army and 3,000 each for the IAF and the Navy.