Nagpur: An ambitious scheme called 'Agnipath' has been recently announced by the Union Ministry of Defense. However, the announcement of the scheme has sparked violent protests in many parts of the country. Union Minister and former Army Chief General VK Singh, on Friday, alleged that the scheme is being deliberately misused by the opposition parties. However, he backed the government saying that unemployment issues will be resolved through this scheme.
"The government has just launched the scheme and has not implemented it yet, how is this protest fair? The opposition parties are making the scheme a political issue and they are also provoking the citizens to protest even when the scheme has not been explained by the government yet. Also, the army was never a medium of employment moreover, the remaining 75 percent will be provided with a good financial package as well as the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have announced that young people who have completed four years of service will be given priority in-state jobs, so I do not think there is a need to protest.
Some people were also saying that trained candidates under the 75% block can be manipulated against the country but people should know that an Army-trained person would never do anything against the country and even though the candidates will be trained for 6 months, that does not mean that trained people are not good enough, in 1961, during the emergency commission, candidates were trained for 3 months, did the officers perform badly?" said Singh. He also hoped that the country's defense sector would be strengthened as the selected 25 percent of the youth would have the opportunity to work in the army.
