The Party said that any dilution in the service conditions of defence personnel, including their discipline will only harm the security and sovereignty of the country
TFM Desk
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India issued a statement on Thursday against the Union government’s move to introduce a new ‘Agnipath’ scheme in the name of making the Indian Army leaner and younger.
The Party said that any dilution in the service conditions of defence personnel, including their discipline will only harm the security and sovereignty of the country. Contract appointment and short-term employment after imparting full-fledged training at the cost of the exchequer will not only affect the quality of the services but also will harm the future of the trained personnel who will find it very difficult to get a suitable job, it added.
The party warned the government against tinkering with the present set up of recruitment, promotion, etc, in the defence services.
It demanded that the ‘Agnipath’ scheme should be immediately withdrawn and the government fill the existing vacancies by following the established procedures.
It may be noted that the Union Cabinet had on Tuesday approved the AGNIPATH scheme for recruitment of Indian youth to serve in the Armed Forces. The youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
According to the union home ministry, the AGNIPATH scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society.
As for the Armed Forces, it will enhance the youthful profile of the Armed Forces and provide a fresh lease of ‘Josh’ and ‘Jazba’ whilst at the same time bring about a transformational shift towards a more tech savvy Armed Forces – which is indeed the need of the hour, official source said.