Exclusive! 'Agnipath has been in the works since almost 2 years'

Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar speaks exclusively to Asianet News on the Agnipath scheme and urges people who are protesting against the recruitment scheme to first get into the details of the scheme, understand it

Agnipath Scheme Exclusive Interview Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar

Team Newsable

New Delhi, First Published Jun 20, 2022, 4:15 PM IST | Last Updated Jun 20, 2022, 4:15 PM IST

The Agnipath scheme, the new recruitment policy for the armed forces, has been in the works for the last two years and so it is absolutely wrong when some people criticise that the scheme was implemented without discussions and consultations, Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar told Asianet News.

Also Read: Why 'Agniveers' would be valuable for private sector

"This is a scheme that has been in the works for almost two years. This scheme started as an action point of the Kargil committee report. That point was about reducing the age profile of the armed forces. Armed forces should have a younger age profile if they have to be fighting fit. That was the finding of the committee. So towards that, various measures were studied, various schemes were looked at and finally after a lot of deliberation we arrived at this Agnipath scheme," Admiral R Hari Kumar said.

He further said, "Even this scheme was discussed with the Service Headquarters, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Skill Development, Ministry of Education and all the field formations of the Services, right down to the lowest level, to find out the implications of the scheme. We discussed whether it should be retention versus going out, should it be 50 per cent or should it be 60-40 or 65-35. All this has been discussed. It is a very considered decision that has been taken to implement the scheme in this form."

Also Read: The path to Agnipath through historical blunders

On claims that thousands will be left jobless after 4 years

Admiral R Hari Kumar said, "It is not that they will be jobless after four years. Now you are getting an opportunity to experiment whether you like to be in the armed forces, getting an opportunity at an early age to serve for four years, to see whether you like the job and whether you want to continue in service. Today, you have to make a decision whether you want to join for 15-20 years or not. So many people realise after joining that they are not fit for the job. So they have no option but to continue for 15 years. Now, you have an option. There are many people who do not want to continue. So they benefit from this training."

"The training in the armed forces is really good and appreciated by the industry, appreciated everywhere. The quality of training helps develop your personality, your confidence, your ability to handle difficulties, you develop various skills and your ability to give the commitment to a job, work hard... All these things get ingrained in you in four years. So he is a great asset to anyone who gets him into society. So I do not see him as a jobless person. I see him as a well-equipped guy who will be grabbed by people."

Message to people protesting on the streets

The Navy chief said, "It is completely incorrect of them to protest and get violent on the streets. It is not going to solve any problem for them. They must get into the details of the scheme, understand it. It is going to provide them with more opportunities. They should see it from the point of view of the great benefit they will get out of it. It is a scheme in which we are looking at putting the best youth to defend our borders, to serve on our ships, to operate our aircraft and so on."

"We are looking at getting the most tech-savvy gen-next sort of youth into the military. We want to have a lean and more technologically-capable military. So all these benefits will come as this thing progresses," he said.

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