Congress holds ‘Satyagraha’ in support of Agnipath protests

New Delhi: Congress MPs and leaders sat on a ‘Satyagraha’ at Jantar Mantar here on Sunday in solidarity with the youths protesting the Centre’s newly announced Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces.

Congress leaders and supporters criticised the BJP-led central government and said that the Agnipath scheme is not beneficial for the country’s youth and also jeopardises national security. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party leaders Jai Ram Ramesh, Rajiv Shukla, Sachin Pilot, Salman Khurshid and Alka Lamba took part in the ‘Satyagraha’.

“The scheme should be rolled back,” Pilot told PTI on the sidelines of the ‘Satyagraha’. Appealing to the protesting youths not to resort to violence, he said, “Protesting the scheme is their right but it should be done in a peaceful way. There should be no violence.”

Youths in several parts of the country have been protesting against the contentious defence recruitment scheme. Over the past few days, incidents of protesters vandalising railway stations, setting trains on fire and blocking roads and railway tracks have been reported from different cities and towns. Heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces was seen at the protest site. The entry and exit points to Jantar Mantar were blocked.

The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths in the age bracket of 17-andhalf to 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022. The personnel to be recruited under the new scheme will be known as Agniveers. A major objective of the scheme is to bring down the average age of military personnel and cut ballooning salary and pension bills.

With false hope of jobs PM has forced youth on ‘Agni path’: Rahul

Amid widespread protests against the new military recruitment scheme, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said by repeatedly giving false hope of jobs, he has forced the youth to walk on ‘Agni path’ of unemployment. He also said 16 crore jobs were to be given in eight years, but the youth only got knowledge on “frying pakoras”.

His attack came on a day Congress MPs and top leaders, including general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sat on a ‘Satyagraha’ at the Jantar Mantar in solidarity with the youths protesting against the Agnipath scheme.

“By repeatedly giving false hope of jobs, the prime minister has forced the youth of the country to walk on the ‘Agni path’ of unemployment,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. “In 8 years, 16 crore jobs were to be given but the youth only got knowledge on frying pakoras,” the former Congress chief said.

Only the PM is responsible for this condition of the country, he added. Gandhi appealed to party leaders and workers not to celebrate his birthday on Sunday. In a message to them, he said Saturday night that the youngsters of the country were anguished and protesting on the streets and the Congress workers should stand with them.

The Centre on Saturday announced several incentives for Agnipath retirees.

***

Army job aspirants reveal why they are frustrated with scheme

Patna: Angry job aspirants, who have hit the streets in Bihar to protest against the Centre’s newly introduced ‘Agnipath’ scheme, said their dreams of joining the armed forces have been shattered with the announcement of the shortterm contractual recruitment programme and urged the government to realise why job seekers are frustrated with it.

The Centre must understand the pain that the unemployed youths of the country are going through, said Vikas Ranjan, one of the hundreds of job aspirants who have been demonstrating against the scheme. Ranjan, a graduate of Patna College, also alleged that the short-term contractual employment programme is “nothing but a design to destroy permanent jobs in the armed forces”.

“When Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ (self reliant India), will this Agnipath help army job aspirants to become self-reliant? Protests are taking place not only in Bihar but almost in all states of the country,” Ranjan, who has been preparing for the competitive exams for the last seven months, told PTI.

The government had on June 14 unveiled the “transformative” scheme –’Agnipath’– for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force largely on a four-year contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old select