Military warns no youth taking part in protests will be recruited under Agnipath, which will not be rolled back

NEW DELHI: No youngster taking part in the ongoing violent protests against the Agnipath scheme will be inducted into the armed forces, the military establishment warned on Sunday, stressing there will be no rollback of the new recruitment process that will kick off next week with the training of Agniveers to begin in November-December.
Additional secretary in the defence ministry’s department of military affairs Lt-General Anil Puri blamed “inimical elements and coaching centres” preparing youth for military recruitment for inciting protests against the scheme.

He maintained the various concessions being announced now for the 75% of Agniveers to be demobilised from each batch after four-year tenures, including 10% reservation in the central armed police forces (CAPFs), Assam Rifles, Coast Guard and 16 defence PSUs, were not under duress. “They (the concessions) were planned in advance,” he said.
“The Indian Army’s foundation lies in discipline. There’s no space for arson or vandalism. Every individual will have to give a written pledge or undertaking they were not part of the protests or vandalism. There is no place for indiscipline in the armed forces,” Lt-Gen Puri said. Moreover, the mandatory and time-tested police verification will weed out youngsters named in FIRs and caught on videos and photographs, along with proper Aadhaar verification. “Nobody can join without police verification,” Lt-Gen Puri said.

Youth have hit the streets in at least eight states to protest against the short-term recruitment of all new soldiers, airmen and sailors, with no pension and ex-servicemen benefits under the Agnipath scheme.
Moreover, the intake has been slashed to just 46,000 (40,000 for Army and 3,000 each for IAF and Navy) this year, though it will gradually be increased to 1.25 lakh over the next seven-eight years, as was first reported by TOI.
Amid ongoing protests, defence minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with the military brass for the second consecutive day on Sunday, with the thrust being on swiftly launching the recruitment process to take the agitating youth off the streets.

The Navy will be the first to induct Agniveers, which will include some women as well, with the new recruits to report to its training establishment INS Chilka in Odisha on November 21. “By June 25, we will issue our advertisement for the recruitment. The Agnipath scheme in the Navy will be gender-neutral,” chief of personnel Vice-Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said.
The Army, in turn, will send the formal notification to all recruitment offices on July 1. The Agniveers will be inducted in two batches, with the training of around 25,000 to begin in December and 15,000 in February. “Recruitment rallies will start in the first week of August and continue until November. In all, 83 rallies are planned to cover all states,” adjutant general Lt -Gen CB Ponnappa said.
The notification and registration process for enrolment in the IAF will begin from June 24, with the first batch slated to begin training by end-December, chief of personnel Air Marshal S K Jha said.

Lt-Gen Puri said the Agnipath scheme, which is designed to make the 14-lakh strong armed forces “younger” and “more technology-oriented” for futuristic wars, was a reform pending since 1989. Successive reports, including the Kargil review committee and the Arun Singh committee report, have recommended it.
“Why should Agnipath be rolled back? It is the only progressive step to make the armed forces young. We want an ideal mix of ‘josh’ (youth) and ‘hosh’ (experience),” he said, adding that that scheme is expected to reduce the average age of soldiers from 32 to 24-26 in 6-7 years.
Lt-Gen Puri said the suspension of military recruitment for the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic had provided “a golden opportunity” to usher in the Agnipath scheme. “Khuda (God) and nature gave us an opportunity,” he said.