KTR calls on Centre to review Agnipath scheme

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president KT Rama Rao on Friday said the 'Agnipath' scheme is killing the aspirations of millions of youth who want to join the armed forces and demanded Centre to review the controversial scheme.

Attacking the Union government, the TRS leader said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre has taken a unilateral decision on the Agnipath scheme without any consultation. "The farmers weren't consulted before introducing farm laws, traders weren't consulted before bringing GST, citizens of the nation were neglected during demonetization, and the minorities were ignored when Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was proposed," KTR said.

The leader targeted the Centre, saying the BJP government has played with the lives of farmers with draconian farm laws and is now adversely affecting the soldiers with schemes like Agnipath.
The Union government should take complete responsibility for the protests taking place across the nation, Rao said.

The Centre has reduced the army from 'one rank-one pension' to 'no rank no pension'. He stated that this is a scheme that is pushing the national security and future of youth into danger, which is a threat to the nation.

KTR mentioned that the agitations across the country against this controversial scheme show how intense the unemployment problem in India is. He also added that the youth of the nation is not happy with the Union government and its policies.

"The BJP at the Centre is trying to privatize the military of the country which shows their inefficiency in governance," he said.
He further said that 75 per cent of the youth who join the army through the Agnipath scheme will become unemployed at the end of the fourth year.

What would happen to the youth who finish a four years career in the army and come out? he questioned.
Rao said the Centre has failed miserably in providing employment opportunities to the army officials who served for many years risking their lives for the safety and security of the country.

He further trashed the words of the Union government which stated that the youth after completing four years will get jobs in private firms. He added that no citizen in the country would believe the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he failed to deliver his promise of two crore jobs every year in the country.
This scheme will majorly affect the youth coming from rural areas who aspire to join the army, KTR said.

He also stated that this controversial scheme will disturb the organizational culture, traditions, and values that have kept the Indian Army at the highest pedestal for decades.
The Centre's decision is negatively affecting the spirit of the armed forces by taking such decisions at a time when the neighbouring countries are posing a threat to the security of the country, he added.
Setting aside national security, BJP is keen on financial elements, he alleged.

Calling the Centre's move on Agnipath schemes a "cheap attempt" Rao said the BJP government made this to save the pension money which is given to the retired officers.
He later asked PM Modi to respond to these protests and also make his stand public to clear the doubts of the unemployed youth.
Meanwhile, the TRS leader conveyed his condolences to the youth who died in the protests at the Secunderabad Railway station today and said that the Union government should take complete responsibility for this death.

Notably, Agnipath Scheme was launched by the government, on June 14, in an effort to bring a change in the recruitment process of the Armed Forces. With the new military recruitment scheme facing a backlash by Opposition, the Centre has decided to bring a change in the upper age limit for recruiting Agniveers.

Granting a one-time waiver, the Centre on June 16, 2022, announced that the Agniveer upper age limit for recruitments via Agnipath Scheme has been extended to 23 years from 21 years.
The scheme is called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers. Agnipath allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces for a period of four years. (ANI)