Many military officers, mainly veterans, are highly critical of the implementation of the Agnipath Scheme.
Veterans in the military have always voiced against the new Agneepath Scheme as it was “unworkable”. They say that it degrades the quality and competence of the military.
Interactions with Veterans for Agnipath Scheme
Numerous military headquarters have assigned the three stared recruits with the duty of convincing the veterans of the legitimacy of the scheme. One such meeting was held in New Delhi a week ago where military veterans were invited.
One more such meeting is to be held at Western Army Headquarters in Chandi mandir. This will include the cities of Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Manali. All three of these cities are home to several veterans.
Three stared former Indian Air Force officials stated that “The services’ effort, prompted by the government, is to stimulate a wider consensus over Agnipath, about which even serving officers are skeptical.” He also mentioned that the officers in disagreement are unable to voice it.
The IAF officer further stated that now was not the time to hold such interactions. These were needed months before the announcement of the scheme. Holding the interactions now is only to defend the military’s narrative.
Agnipath Scheme was Rejected previously
Lieutenant General Anil Puri, acting head of the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA), told the Wire that the scheme has been previously rejected. DMA formulated the scheme in the first place and the scheme was put down over two years across 250 meetings. These meetings were attended by officials from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the three services, and the assorted government departments.
It was the fault of the DMA to not consider the recruits who will be impacted by Agniveer or the veterans per se. Doing it now is too late and so the scheme is facing protests all across the nation.
The approach of Veterans toward Agniveers
Brigadier Advitya Madan stated, “No wise commanding officer will use these Agniveers for real soldiering when it is a matter of life and death.” Madan states that the scheme does not allow the maintenance of high professional standards.
“No operationally committed unit can sustain a high wastage rate of 75%, which will be a regular feature under the Agnipath scheme, and yet maintain high professional standards,” he says.
Madan is a former Punjab Regiment officer and has worked for the United Nations as well.
The officer shared an apparent joke which also shows the graveness of the situation for the Agniveers.
The story involves a major who asks one of his senior Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) to gather a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) to take out a group of people terrorists under short notice. The Senior JCO responds by saying if the mission is based on hard intel he would gather a group of permanent soldiers or else he would make a team of Agniveers.
This shows how much the senior officers and veterans lack confidence over the Agniveers. This is born on the basis that they get only six months of training before recruitment.
Skepticism towards Agniveers
Former Major General Amrit Pal Singh stated, “It is anticipated that few if any, units will entrust even basic tasks like KOTE or armory duty to Agniveers, as these need handling by more experienced jawans with two or three years of training and supervision.”
Singh is a defense analyst now. He further states that the Agniveers will be doubted before handling ammunitions and other things such as infantry, in battalions and regiments. They will also be kept an eye on while issuing weapons and managing stuff like the radio, fuel, ration, and night vision goggles.
