Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Anshul Vipat
The fact that the core push behind the disapproval is the lack of job security that is expected out of being employed in the defence forces should not be reason enough to roll back a scheme that is bound to provide multi-fold benefits to not only the defence forces but also to the country as a whole.
The Agneepath scheme that aimed to bring youthfulness in the Indian defence forces has led to severe agitation across states in India. As would be expected, any new intervention in a sector as dyed in the wool as the defence sector of a nation would be taken with more than just a pinch of salt. However, among all this the question that needs to be addressed is that are the protests catering to issues of job security, serving the armed forces for just 4 years and the lack of employment guarantee post said tenure even credible or justified?
A C-Voter IndiaTracker survey (Agneepath Protests Snap Poll) conducted to analyse the views of people around the scheme, a very clear picture of the majority being against the scheme was observed.
Q1: Do you think the government should withdraw the Agneepath scheme?
Q2: Do you think the government has failed to communicate the benefits of Agneepath to young Indians?
However, the contradiction to note here is that while many felt the benefits were not communicated properly, a major proportion hoped that the scheme would be called back i.e., without even understanding the scheme, many were a part of the protests against the scheme.
Since there hasn’t been any recruitment in the defence forces from the past two years, it’ll be useful to compare the statistics from 2018 and 2019. As per the World Bank data, India’s labour force in 2018 was 473,422,438 and that in 2019 was 482,700,285 which makes it an increase of around 1.96%. In these years, Indians recruited into the Indian army were around 53,431 and 80,572 in 2018 and 2019 respectively which was an increase of roughly 50%. What this essentially meant was that during that period, there was an unparalleled increase in the admits in the Indian army vis-a-vis the labour force. Further, this also means the increased needs of funds for all these entrants in the long term in the form of pension requirements.
Now, with the Agneepath scheme in place, there are dual benefits that can be hoped to be achieved. Firstly, the average age in the army is aimed to be lowered, thus making the forces more efficient while inducing young blood into the forces. This is bound to up the dynamism significantly. Further, hoping to recruit only 46,000 Agniveers out of which only 25% will retain their positions in the forces, not only the pension budgets will drop but also the 11.7 lakhs given to the remaining 75% will lead to them setting new courses for their lives. The hopeful reduction in these budgets can be directed towards military technology, increasing cyber capabilities, among other avenues.
Hence, what needs to be understood is the main reason behind the protests. The fact that the core push behind the disapproval is the lack of job security that is expected out of being employed in the defence forces should not be reason enough to roll back a scheme that is bound to provide multi-fold benefits to not only the defence forces but also to the country as a whole. Additionally, in a field as crucial as the defence of a country, there should in fact be a mechanism wherein entry is difficult and those once in, should be put under rigorous checks to ensure they remain fit to fight for the country. Lastly, the fact this is a common practice in many other nations and the common agreement over the same should be an indicator of its effectiveness.
