Rajnath Singh calls a meeting on Agnipath, effort to address objections

New Delhi: Amid intensifying stir in the country and calls by veterans and aspirants to relook at the Agnipath scheme, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has called a meeting with Service Chiefs and officials of the ministry on Saturday.
The minister will carry out a review of the scheme in the light of the situation arising in the country, sources said.
Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande is scheduled to be the Chief Guest and Reviewing Officer in the Combined Graduation Parade at Air Force Academy, Dundigal, Hyderabad, however, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhary and Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar will be in the national capital to attend the meeting along with officials of the Department of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Defence, sources said.
The three Service Chiefs and the entire government machinery mounted a defence in favor of the scheme by saying that Agniveers will be absorbed by other central as well as state government departments, but the appeals do not seem to have worked.
Scores of aspirants plan to march into the national capital on June 20 to protest the newly launched scheme of recruitment by the government.
UNI has come to know that a major protest has been planned in Haryana’s Rohtak at 12 noon on Saturday.
“Four years is too little a time to assess our skills and there is no guarantee that we will be absorbed elsewhere. In the absence of a job guarantee, we shall not be married anywhere. As Agniveers, people will consider that we are as good as jobless,” a defence aspirant told UNI.
Defence aspirants also fear that after completing four years as Agniveers in the forces, they will not be respected and their near and dear ones will believe that it was due to their shortcomings that they could not earn a full tenure in the forces.
Meanwhile, violence raged across seven states against the new recruitment scheme for the armed forces despite repeated attempts by the government to address issues surrounding the Agnipath scheme.
Inviting the youth of the country to join Indian Armed Forces and serve the nation through Agnipath, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh himself said that the relaxation of age provided by the government indicates that it cares for our youth. (UNI)