DHARAMSALA /MANDI: The Agnipath scheme floated by the Central government four months back has emerged as a major issue in the upcoming Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, a state that prides itself in sending thousands of youth to the defence forces every year, and in having the maximum number of Param Vir Chakra recipients.
The new recruitment scheme, which offers four-year short-term contractual jobs below the rank of commissioned officers, has not found favour with the youth of the hill state. The young voters instead seek assurance for a secure career.
“There is now uncertainty in the armed forces as under the Agnipath scheme, only 25% recruits will be retained while the others will have to leave after four years. So where is our job security? We have been preparing for the last two years but no recruitments were done due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now this scheme has been floated, which has dampened our spirits,” Jarnail Singh, a student of Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, said.
Some feel that the Agnipath scheme should be run alongside the normal recruitment process in the Army, Navy and Air Force. “If one wants to try out the defence services for a short period of time and then do something else to earn their livelihood, then the Agnipath scheme will work for them. But it is not the favourable option for those want to pursue a career in the armed forces,” said Amit Kumar, a young resident of Dharamshala.
The resentment among the people over the scheme also became apparent in June this year, when around 300 protesting youth were booked for blocking the Pathankot-Mandi highway near Gaggal airport during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit for a road show in Dharamsala. “The recently-declared result of the recruitment shows that only 325 aspirants got selected out of the 1,800 applicants from Hamirpur, while last year 1,800 candidates got selected out of 2,200 from Palampur. So this scheme is not beneficial for us,” Army aspirant Rahul Singh told this newspaper.
However, Kargil war hero and former chairman of HP Ex-Servicemen Corporation, Brig Khushal Thakur (retd), has a different point of view. “Agnipath will benefit the youth and lead to a younger Army,” he said. According to estimates, there are 1.15 lakh serving personnel in the Indian Army from Himachal Pradesh, while 1.30 lakh are retired defence personnel. Of these, 80% are from Kangra, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Sirmaur districts. Every year, around 5,000 youngsters from the state join the Army.
Tribal areas echo with environment concerns
Environmental issues are dominating the electoral landscape in the tribal regions of Himachal Pradesh, especially Lahaul and Spiti, and Kinnaur, with the voters asking the candidates to clarify their stand on new hydroelectric projects and implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The tribal districts have been reverberating with a ‘No Means No’ campaign against new hydroelectric projects after a series of landslides took place last year. The residents are also demanding that the candidates clarify their stance on the amendment made in the FRA earlier this year, which revoked the condition of getting a no-objection certificate from panchayats for construction of dams. “We have asked the candidates about their stand on the construction of hydropower projects and how they propose to settle the individual and community claims under FRA,” says RS Negi, a retired bureaucrat.
The ‘Veers’ of Hill state
The Agnipath scheme offers four-year short-term contractual jobs below the rank of commissioned officers
State claims to have maximum number of Param Vir Chakra winners
Young voters think that this scheme would affect scores of them who have been preparing to get into defence services for secure career prospects
According to estimates, there are 1.15 lakh serving personnel in the Indian Army from Himachal Pradesh, while 1.30 lakh are retired defence personnel. Of these, 80% are from Kangra, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Sirmaur districts
Every year, around 5,000 youngsters from the state join the Army