Protestors identified; Youths take up Agnipath, registration crosses lakhs

NEW DELHI: As the protests against the Agnipath scheme continue, the forces are moving ahead with the project swiftly. According to military sources, the registration numbers hint that the youths of the country have taken a favourable stance towards the scheme.

Within six days, more than two lakh people have registered to the air force alone. When the Agnipath scheme was unveiled by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the chiefs of three forces on June 14, a lot of huge protests had erupted across the country. The protests, which caused vast loss, were not planned by any political party or organization. However, the police and intelligence agencies have found out the involvement of coaching centres in the protests.

The government machinery also came forward with an explanation without attempting to suppress the protests. The Department of Military Affairs came forward with facts to convince the unemployed youth of the country. The top officials of the three forces led by Department of Military Affairs Additional Secretary Lieutenant General Anil Puri met with the media, on June 19 and June 21.

The army officials explained that the youth went into protests due to ignorance and a high degree of motivation. The forces and the government were able to find those with vested interests. The violent agitation led by the coaching institutions was brought out and the owners of the institutions behind the curtain were nabbed. With this, the army officials demanded to end the protests as soon as possible.

Forces explain advantages

The youths were inspired towards the project by the promise that their education would not be interrupted during the training period and that they would receive a large amount of modern technological know-how following the training conducted in various ways. The forces were able to explain about the scheme citing benefits and assets that an Agniveer shall receive within the age of 21 years. According to recruitment registration, it is clear that the youth have been largely motivated by the job offers guaranteed in central defence PSUs, various paramilitary forces and states as well as from big corporates like Tata and Mahindra.

One of the reasons for the protests to subside was the raising of the upper age limit for the selection of Agniveers from 21 to 23, as there had been no recruitment to the forces in the past two years.