Modi’s government recently announced a short-term recruitment scheme in the Indian army seems a capricious move probably driven by the dreams of regional hegemony. As claimed by the Indian ministry of defense, this scheme is primarily aimed at injecting diverse tech-savvy juveniles into the army to make it a bit modern. However, Agnipath is most likely to be part of a larger agenda that raised reasonable concerns of political and religious-based exploitation within India as well as the possibility of the misuse of trained Agniveers for fueling insurgency and anarchy in rival countries.
Protests outburst across India since this new recruiting scheme was advertised. Juvenile are more concerned with the insecurity of the jobs in an era of massive unemployment as the Modi government failed to deliver on the economic front as it promised; therefore has to rely merely on exploiting religious and ethnic diversities to prolong its rule. The protest turned violent as Indian army denied taking back this recruitment scheme, there were fears that protesters may attack the Indian parliament and prime minister’s house. Delhi remains on high alert in this chaotic situation. The Indian government announced a 10% reservation in central government jobs for the Agniveers who had served four years in the Indian army, but this move couldn’t pacify the protesters yet.
The world’s leading western economies that had just started to recover from the destructive effects of the corona pandemic are facing the blows of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that led to increased prices of petroleum products worldwide, especially in Europe. How this scheme Agnipath is going to help India economically is hard to grasp if the move is basically aimed at slashing the growing burden of perks and privileges of permanent employment. Economists view this move as only adding to the existing massive unemployment besides the risk of the falling of the unemployed trained Agniveers in the hands of drug peddlers, crime cartels, and terrorist organizations.
Another question also raised by the former military experts is whether Agniveers will have the same commitment and passion to the army as permanent employees? Job insecurity and fear of unemployment after four years of service would not distress them? Would they be ready to obey the orders despite knowing the future of their employment?
The chaotic situation in the post-advertisement scenario of the short-term recruitment is one aspect of the issue. The other aspects of it like political exploitation domestically and misuse of trained force regionally are more concerning and generate serious apprehensions.
Political pundits are hinting at the possibility of the political exploitation of the Agniveers once they are well trained and unemployed after serving the four years of service. BJP has a history of exploiting anti-Pakistan and religious sentiments. Voices are being raised against the Agnipath scheme within India as well and many consider it as a plan to train the RSS to strengthen the future endeavors of the BJP which is planning to prolong its rule in India by pursuing Hindutva ideology. Former Indian Director General of Military Operations Lieutenant General (retd) Vinod Bhatia termed the Agnipath scheme regressive and unnecessary and viewed that the Agniveers would be risk-averse. Jawhar Sircar, renowned former Indian administrative service officer and prominent public intellectual of India opined that Agnipath add to the Modi’s list of inglorious blunders.
Agnipath certainly cannot be limited to merely shedding some extra burden on the Indian defense budget. Though the Indian army denied taking back the Agnipath despite violent protests across India, the Modi government will ultimately have to kneel before protesters if the situation protracts. Concerns of the unemployed youth are quite compelling in the prevailing mass unemployment and poverty-stricken circumstances of India.
