India: ‘Agnipath’ golden chance for youth to serve the nation

Srinagar: Northern Army Commander, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, on Wednesday highlighted the importance of the ‘Agnipath’ scheme and briefed the media on various facets of the plan.

Addressing a press conference at the 15 Corps headquarters here, Dwivedi said the scheme will reform the human resource management system of not only the Indian Army, but also of the Northern Command and will have a positive impact on the operational preparedness as well.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Agnipath recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the armed forces. Soldiers recruited under the scheme will be inducted into the armed forces as ‘Agniveers’.

The ‘Agnipath’ model will foresee the recruitment of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) in army, air force and navy for four years, including six months of training.

Dwivedi explained that the scheme will boost the physical fitness standards and provide a golden opportunity to the youth to serve the nation by serving in the armed forces.

“The Northern front is a high-altitude area. At high altitudes, the deployed Jawans are considered very fit, but with age high-altitude problems impact their physical fitness. Keeping that in view, Agnipath is a good scheme to pump young blood and freshness into the forces,” he said.

Dwivedi said India is a big civilisation and years of training with the army will help inculcate moral values and ethos in the youth to contribute positively towards the society.

“We have to see whether the glass is half empty or half full... If we just focus on the empty glass, we will see only negativity but if we see at the half full glass, we will find positivity. India is a big civilisation; if a Jawan trains for four years, he will always go towards positivity and become a responsible citizen.

“For example, if there is a crime taking place somewhere, people ignore and move on, but I want to assure you that when an Agniveer is walking on the road and sees injustice happening with somebody, he will move forward to stop it,” Dwivedi said.

Also, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that his ministry has decided to give priority to ‘Agniveers’ who have completed four years under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme in the recruitment of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles.

Shah said a “detailed planning” work has been started in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Following the decision.

Shah took Twitter to make the announcement while welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme, which aims to transform armed forces.

In Patna, massive protests erupted in several districts of Bihar to protest against the scheme.

A protest was organised in Muzaffarpur city with thousands of job aspirants who have passed the physical examination in the past, opposing the move.

“We have passed the physical examination and are waiting for the written examination. Now, the Centre has said that recruitment will take place only for four years. The Centre is playing with the future of the youths. What will we do after four years,” said an agitating job aspirant Rajnish Kumar from Muzaffarpur.

The agitating students claimed that they have prepared for the last five years to clear the physical examination and now the Centre is offering jobs only for four years.

In Buxar, the agitating students blocked the Patna-New Delhi main railway track for more than two hours.