Bharat Bandh Against ‘Agnipath’ – Burning Issues

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What’s happening?

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) have sounded high alert amid calls for Bharat Bandh on Monday over the Centre’s new short-term recruitment policy for the defence forces, Agnipath.
The RPF’s senior officers have issued an internal communication statement asking all units to deal with rioters strictly.
The policemen have been asked to book rioters under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The police have been asked to collect digital evidence against rioters via mobile phones, video-recording devices, and CCTVs.
Based on video evidence, suspects will be zeroed down.
The police officials have been asked to wear proper protective gear and be ready to lead from the front if the situation goes out of control.

Youth have hit the streets in at least eight states to protest against the short-term recruitment of all new soldiers, airmen and sailors, with no pension and ex-servicemen benefits under the Agnipath scheme.
Moreover, the intake has been slashed to just 46,000 (40,000 for Army and 3,000 each for IAF and Navy) this year, though it will gradually be increased to 1.25 lakh over the next seven-eight years.

Internet services will remain snapped in 20 districts of Bihar on Monday.
Security has been tightened in and around all vulnerable military establishments and central government offices based in Punjab.
The Gautam Buddh Nagar Police said CrPC Section 144, which prohibits assembly of four or more people, was imposed in the district.
So far, 225 people have been booked and 15 arrested in connection with the violent protest at the Jewar toll plaza on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida on Friday.
Railways have cancelled seven trains originating from various cities of Bihar and West Bengal amid the ongoing protests over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme.
Ten other trains originating from Bihar and Bengal have also been rescheduled.
Schools in Jharkhand will remain closed on Monday amid calls for Bharat Bandh.

Additional secretary in the defence ministry’s department of military affairs Lt-General Anil Puri blamed “inimical elements and coaching centres” preparing youth for military recruitment for inciting protests against the scheme.
He maintained the various concessions being announced now for the 75% of Agniveers to be demobilised from each batch after four-year tenures,
Including 10% reservation in the central armed police forces, Assam Rifles, Coast Guard and 16 defence PSUs, were not under duress.
“They (the concessions) were planned in advance,” he said.

“The Indian Army’s foundation lies in discipline. There’s no space for arson or vandalism.
Every individual will have to give a written pledge or undertaking they were not part of the protests or vandalism.
There is no place for indiscipline in the armed forces,” Lt-Gen Puri said.
Moreover, the mandatory and time-tested police verification will weed out youngsters named in FIRS and caught on videos and photographs, along with proper Aadhaar verification. “Nobody can join without police verification,” Lt-Gen Puri said.

The Navy will be the first to induct Agniveers, which will include some women as well, with the new recruits to report to its training establishment INS Chilka in Odisha on November
“By June 25, we will issue our advertisement for the recruitment.
The Agnipath scheme in the Navy will be gender-neutral,” chief of personnel Vice-Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said.
The Army, in turn, will send the formal notification to all recruitment offices on July 1.
The Agniveers will be inducted in two batches, with the training of around 25,000 to begin in December and 15,000 in February.
“Recruitment rallies will start in the first week of August and continue until November. In all, 83 rallies are planned to cover all states,” adjutant general Lt -Gen CB Ponnappa said.

At the beginning, little effort was made by Gol and armed forces to create a conducive environment for making Agnipath acceptable.
In this vacuum, many alarmist theories took hold – that armed forces will become weaker, exiting Agniveers will be a social threat.
To make pension reduction the main focus was wrong.
Pension burdens must be reduced.
But the USP of Agnipath should have been making armed forces qualitatively better and empowering young Indians.
Some of this was communicated later but it should have been the initial focus. Much more needs to be done on this.

Many candidates had already entered the selection process in response to advertisements published in 2019 and 2020, before Covid stopped the process.
These candidates are stuck at different stages as per the erstwhile process and as per earlier terms and conditions.
The age relaxation of 2 years alone isn’t enough. It’s not fair to apply Agnipath to these aspirants.
They should be recruited via the earlier process.
And, in parallel, an Agniveer recruitment scheme should be announced.
There are enough vacancies to accommodate this.
Such a step will reduce trust deficit with Gol, take away a major cause of protests and prevent future litigations.

Gol must clearly spell out the method of retention of 25% Agniveers.
This is necessary so that young Indians who opt for Agnipath do so as informed citizens.
This will increase the trust quotient.

Much of the criticism of Agnipath is coming from those who are not considering armed forces’ past experience.
Till 1977 soldiers were enlisted only for 7 years, which was then changed to 17 years.
So, all major wars fought by the army were won by soldiers on 7-year terms of duty.

Q) What is ‘Sandhayak’, which was recently launched by the Indian Navy?