The defence ministry and the home ministry on Saturday rushed to announce separate 10 per cent job reservations for Agnipath recruits who get demobilised after four years, amid violent protests countrywide against the new armed forces recruitment scheme.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh announced a 10 per cent quota for retired Agniveers in his ministry and defence PSUs.
The Union home ministry under Amit Shah promised similar reservation in the central paramilitary forces, with sources explaining that this was in addition to the existing 10 per cent quota for ex-servicemen in the paramilitary forces.
These announcements come amid violent protests for a fourth straight day, with mobs torching Taregna railway station in Bihar, allegedly exchanging bullets with police, and vandalising Ludhiana station in Punjab. The agitation spread to the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, with army job aspirants doing push-ups on roads at some places to register their protest, PTI reported.
The protesters want a rollback of the Agnipath scheme, also called Tour of Duty, under which three-fourths of the recruits are to be demobbed after four years of service without pension or a range of other benefits.
If the armed forces recruit 46,000 Agniveers every year — going by the figure the government has quoted for this year — some 34,500 Agniveers will be demobbed every year. Government sources could not clarify immediately how many would be covered under the new job quotas announced on Saturday.
Rajnath tweeted: “The 10 per cent reservation will be implemented in the Indian Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings. This reservation would be in addition to existing reservation for ex-servicemen.”
The home ministry also announced a three-year age relaxation for the Agniveers who join the paramilitary forces after demobilisation. The upper age limit for others for recruitment to the post of constable in a paramilitary force is 23.
For the first batch of demobbed Agniveers who join the paramilitary forces, the age relaxation is five years — consistent with the two-year age relief given to this year’s Agnipath recruits on the ground of the two-year freeze on armed forces recruitments during the pandemic.
Congress leader P. Chidambaram tweeted: “The piecemeal concessions to the Agnipath scheme announced by the government prove our point that the scheme was ill-thought and poorly conceived.”
Major General Yash Mor (retd) said such reservations would not make any difference.
“The government needs to put the scheme on hold and start the recruitment under the old model as lakhs of youngsters have been waiting for recruitment (after clearing some of the tests) over the past two years,” he told The Telegraph.
“First, the government needs to show empathy and restart the process of recruitment for those who have been unfairly treated for the last two years. This ‘brilliant scheme’ (Agnipath) can be launched later with amendments.”
He asked why the government had not consulted the stakeholders before announcing the scheme.
Many military veterans have expressed fear that the short tenure would “sound the death knell for the armed forces” by affecting the military’s ethos, professionalism and morale.
The government had made the first amendment to the Agnipath scheme on Thursday, following two days of protest, raising the upper age limit from 21 years to 23 for this year.
Government sources have said the scheme’s objective is to cut the armed forces’ ballooning salary and pension bills.
On Friday, apparently prodded by the government, the three service chiefs had defended the scheme, saying it gave youths an opportunity to serve the nation and would equip them with skills for subsequent employment.
Former Major General Birender Dhanoa tweeted: “The General who has worked hands on Tour of Duty should not try and give extra spin on the benefits, but focus on how the military effectiveness increases with this form of recruitment. In uniform one should be a straight talker, not a spin doctor.”
