NEW DELHI: Contending that the Indian Air Force receiving 7.5 lakh applications under the Agnipath scheme was not indicative of its popularity, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said the "right conclusion" to be drawn from it is that the unemployment situation is so extreme that desperate youths are willing to take any job.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday said it has received 7.5 lakh applications under the short-term military recruitment scheme Agnipath. The registration process under the scheme began on June 24 and ended on Tuesday.
"Fact: 7,50,000 applicants for 3000 posts in IAF under the Agniveer scheme. Wrong conclusion: the Agniveer scheme is popular among the youth. Right conclusion: the unemployment situation is so extreme that desperate youth are willing to take any job," Chidambaram said in a tweet.
After the scheme was unveiled on June 14, violent protests against it rocked several states for nearly a week and various opposition parties demanded its withdrawal.
Under the Agnipath scheme, those aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years will be inducted into the armed forces for a four-year tenure and 25 per cent of them will be inducted for regular service subsequently.
The government had, on June 16, increased the upper-age limit for recruitment under the scheme to 23 years from 21 for the year 2022 and subsequently, announced a slew of placatory steps such as a preference for "Agniveers" in central paramilitary forces and defence public sector undertakings on their retirement.