The Asom Jatiya Parishad urged the Center not to go ahead with the Agneepath scheme without discussion, saying that the problem of militancy in the Northeast is in a dangerous form. This year alone, more than two hundred and fifty youths have joined the banned insurgent group ULFA. In such a situation, there is a fear that if employment is not found at the end of four years of service, then some Agniveer will join the militant organizations.
New Delhi: An Assam political party has warned the central government that soldiers from the Northeast may turn out to be part of extremist groups out of desperation after retiring from their four-year service under the Agneepath scheme.
According to The New Indian Express, the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) said that the Agneepath scheme would eventually hand over the armed forces to non-pensioned irregular forces and would endanger the country’s security.
AJP President Lurinjyoti Gogoi said on Tuesday, “The problem of militancy is in the Northeast in a dangerous form. This year alone, over 250 youths have joined the banned insurgent group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). We fear that some Agniveers will join militant outfits if they do not get employment at the end of four years of service.
He said it was imperative that the armed forces be reformed but their use for political reasons, exploitation of military personnel and compromising on the security of the country should be opposed.
Gogoi criticized the BJP-led central government for coming out with the Agneepath scheme without discussing it in Parliament or any other forum. He said that it is politically motivated.
He said BJP national president JP Nadda had said in April that the construction of party’s district offices in all 512 districts of the country would be completed in the next four years. Gogoi said, “It will be really unfortunate if the BJP has chalked out the Agneepath scheme to appoint as security guards in its offices and the offices of its patron corporate houses.”
This team, formed two years ago, said that there should be discussion and debate on this plan at various levels. The party told the Center not to proceed with this till then. Let us tell you that there have been some protests in the Northeast against this plan.
On June 14, the Central Government, in a radical change in the decades-old defense recruitment process, had announced a scheme called Agneepath for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and Air Force, under which the recruitment of soldiers was only on contract basis for a short period of four years. But will be done.
Under the scheme, about 46,000 soldiers will be recruited in the three services this year. Under the scheme, youth in the age group of 17.5 years to 21 years will be recruited in the army for four years and 25 percent of them will be kept in the army for the next 15 years.
However, later the government increased the maximum age limit for recruitment to 23 years in 2022. The recruits recruited under this new scheme will be called ‘Agniveer’.
It is to be known that in the first year of employment under the Agneepath scheme, the monthly salary of an ‘Agniveer’ will be Rs 30,000, but only Rs 21,000 will come in hand. Every month 9,000 rupees will go to a fund of the government, in which the government will also put the same amount on its behalf.
After this, the monthly salary in the second, third and fourth year will be Rs 33,000, Rs 36,500 and Rs 40,000. Each ‘Agniveer’ will get an amount of Rs 11.71 lakh as ‘Service Fund Package’ and will be exempted from income tax.
Youth in various states of the country, especially in North India, have staged a lot of protests against the scheme.
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Categories: North East, Politics