Are two types of soldiers being made in the country through the Agnipath scheme? One soldier who will get pension and will also get the rank of a martyr. And on one side, improper pension and if battle casualty, then not the status of a martyr. After just six months of training, deployment on the border. This is probation period in corporate office In the name of compensation, the Agniveer will not get government compensation, only insurance money will be received. For saving money, is the government demonetizing national security? Why senior army officers are against Agnipath now? And like demonetization, government is busy in justifying the scheme These questions have been raised in the Parliament and outside the Parliament in the last week. On 18th January, 2024, on the LOC of J&K, Agniveer Ajay Kumar is killed in a landmine blast 6 months have passed since the incident, Rahul Gandhi accused the government last week that Ajay Kumar family did not receive compensation yet Rajnath Singh said that Rahul Gandhi is making false statements, as 1 crore rupees is given to Agniveer family Rahul Gandhi in response released a video in which he showed statement of martyr Ajay Kumar's father in which he says that claim by Rajnath Singh that centre is giving 1 crore is wrong He says state and insurance money has been received The issue of Agniveer is now becoming a political issue. People are angry about this issue in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. But this is not just about money. The Agniveer scheme is also being questioned as to whether it is a surgical strike on the army? It is a formula to weaken the army which is being deliberately imposed on the forces? We have to understand it. Retired Army Chief General Naravane has in his soon to be released autobiography, I don't know when it will be released because it has been unofficially banned. In autobiography Four Stars of Destiny he had mentioned that in early 2020, he had pitched a scheme called Tour of Duty to the government. That is, a short-term tenure soldier induction program. But within a few months, the government brought a scheme and implemented it, whose scope was many times greater than the suggestion. He wrote that the army was quite surprised by this but the Navy and Air Force were completely shocked by this scheme. For them, this was like a big bolt from the blue. What is Agnipath, this Masterstroke? There are many different posts in the military. Basically, the most number is of PBOR. personnel below officer rank - sepoy, naik, Lance naik,, Subedar, Subedar Major These are the backbone of the military These are the foot soldiers of the military in most numbers In Agnipath scheme, recruitment process is changed Earlier, PBOR used to do active duty for 17 years and recruitment in emergency cases could be done During the job, you would get a salary, health insurance for yourself and your family, after retirement, you would get a life-long pension and canteen facility If unfortunate death during operations, then the families were given pension, aid and health, education, canteen benefits. You are fighting for the country, we will take care of your family. Don't worry. But in this whole system, the government and the army had to face a big problem. The same problem that every big corporate has to face today. Salary expenses How did the company try to solve this problem? Automate everything. Automation, where possible, reduce hiring. The government may have taken inspiration from this and launched the Agniveer scheme. In both cases, the young India is being divided. Jobs are being reduced. By the way if you are concerned about your future then AI can help This unique AI and chatGPT masterclass can help a lot Link is in description. This is otherwise a paid masterclass, but they are our sponsor so for first 1000 people who click will get this masterclass for free With AI, you can do smart job hunting, make unique highly appealing resumes, solve complex data Take your personal brand to next level Whether you're a tech or non tech person, this workshop is beneficial for everyone We have benefited from this workshop You can now see a usage of AI in our episodes. Almost 10 lakh people have experienced this workshop, attended it. I have given the link in the description below. First, it is absolutely free for 1000 viewers. Anyways, back to the story. Almost 55% of the army's budget is being spent on salary and pensions. And the reason for this is that the pension budget allocation, which was 18% in 2013-14 has now increased to 23% of army budget in 2023-2024. As a result, the impact is on expenditure in new technology... it is not increasing While China spends 40% on military modernization, we are only able to spend 25%. Along with this, the average age of the Indian military has increased a lot compared to the military of other countries. In the military, the average age of PBOR is around 32 In other countries, this number is around 25. So, there is a problem. Just like there was a problem of black money in our economy, but like demonetization agnipath was brought hastily without detailed discussion Slowly, like demonetization, the truth of Agnipath is also coming out Under Agnipath, after recruitment, you will be given a job for only 4 years. and then 75% of the recruits will be dismissed from the army. To be very blunt, they will be ousted and 25% will be given 15 year tenure On average, one Agniveer will get 40,000 rupees per month. At the end of 4 years, nearly 12 lakhs will be given as surveillance package. Which is called as Seva Nidhi. by the way, half of the money will be deducted from Agniveer salary and half will be matched by the government. You will get a skill certificate which can get special and priority in state police and central armed police forces But after announcement of the scheme, protests started at a large level in states like Bihar, UP, Haryana and many other states. And many children stopped preparing for the army. Why? Let's understand. The biggest reason for the anger against Agniveer is that the Agniveer who was released will not get any pension. This was the masterstroke of the government. After serving the country, talk big, ask for votes in the name of the martyrs of Pulwama and then remove the expense of pension. Along with pension, there are many other things which will not be given to Agniveers. Gratuity, Dearness Allowance, Leave Encashment, Army Canteen, Health Insurance for the family of the soldier. So, on 1st July, Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of Agni Veer Ajay Singh and said that he has not received the compensation of pension from the Centre and Army. Rajnath Singh stood up and said that Rahul Gandhi is misleading the parliament Agniveer gets 1 crore rupees ... now who is telling the truth and who is misleading? Ajay Singh family said that 6 months have passed and centre's compensation is not received They have received Rs 98 lakhs but they have clarified that it's insurance money. Rs 48 lakhs is Army Insurance and the remaining Rs 50 lakhs is ICICI Bank's insurance. So yes, they have received the money but this is not compensation money. This is an insurance scheme. Insurance and compensation are not the same thing. Some people are saying that if you get some money, why are you shouting so much? It's not about money. It's about respect. It's about the government. Insurance is not a help. If Agniveer is killed in the line of duty, his family is given compensation or what is called ex gratia payment. Along with this, there are some other benefits. In total, a sum of around Rs.67 lakhs This 67 lakhs has not reached the family even after 6 months of death. Army wrote an open letter and said that they will expeditiously disburse the money, they are waiting for police verification. After which they will pay the ex-gratia payment. But look at this report published in Indian Express on 5th July. SSP of Khanaa Municipal, Amneet Kondal, said that he did not receive any request for police verification, so how will he verify? After Rahul Gandhi's speech and after Agniveer's family's statements, the Army tweeted and said that a total of 1.65 crore amount will be given 89 lakh already given but 67 lakh has is remaining Police investigation will be done soon and the money will be given. But this is being repeated again and again. Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Sakshi has also said that there is no paperwork pending Just that battle casualty certificate is not yet granted which was requested on 11th March, 2024 It has been 6 months since the family of Agniveer Ajay Singh has not been given a compensation. No paperwork is pending.
Rahul Gandhi was right. No compensation has been given. Rajnath Singh should give the answer that the help amount, 1 crore he was talking about was he talking about the insurance money or the ex gratia payment? even after 6 months, how is it that simple paperwork not done? Even after the martyrdom, why is there a political debate about ex gratia? But perhaps, more important than this, families will not get health insurance, pension, education, scholarship, army, canteen, etc. Government's skill certificate is a piece of paper that will not be of much use. Because the youth are saying that the government is preparing to give them a security guard certificate. Government is saying that it is not like that. We will give quota to ex-Agniveer in other government posts. But even in today's date, for an ex-serviceman, the government has such a scheme to get reservation in government jobs. Usually a serviceman retires at the age of 38 and he has a problem adjusting to the civilian life after 17 years of service. To make it easier, in the group C post, group D post, Central Paramilitary Forces, Central Armed Police there is a 10-20% ex-serviceman reservation quota. But the number of ex-servicemen is not more than 1-2%. When after 17 year service, soldier cannot get quota then how can agniveer believe that after 4 year service they will get quota? Ex-Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat himself had said in February 2020 in front of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence that It is not giving dignity to the man that ex serviceman has to go for job hunting These are the words of Bipin Rawat. Even Agniveer won't be able to get this dignity If full service soldiers don't get it, how will Agniveer get it? And today's youth who are protesting against Agniveer, they also know this very well. This decision has had an impact on BJP electorally. In Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar. There is anger related to Agniveer. Modi must have thought of something. People are defending it. How they are defending him and how it is harming the army The government has repeatedly said that this scheme will make the military future ready and youthful. But unfortunately, many military experts, even retired senior officers, say that Agnipath scheme is harming the army. Let's see how.
No. 1, Lack of training Earlier the PBOR soldiers were trained for 2-3 years. And now, agniveer PBOR soldier is trained for 6-8 months Retired Major General Amrit Pal Singh has stated that training cannot be fast forwarded. He has said that definitely after this type of training, Agniveer will be a burden on other troops and will land on the ground And until the experience comes the 4 years are over, the whole process will have to be restarted. Second point, Navy and Air Force. Now, this is even more difficult for Navy and Air Force, this Agniveer scheme, because their weapon systems are even more complicated. And, by the way, going to Navy is not an easy task. Retired Admiral Arun Prakash says that Navy or Air Force requires at least 5-6 years of training Before a soldier is able to understand and operate the complicated and lethal weapon system and complex machinery. In such a scenario, the best case scenario is that after 4 years, an Agniveer can only become a partially trained sailor. Now you think, 4 years are less and in 4 years they are out And this was also said by the retired Army Chief General Naravane Because he pitched the short term service model for the army, but the government comes back and puts the masterstroke on everyone. Third point, retention rate. General Naravane had also proposed 25% to be ousted, and retain 75% But the government has put up its own maths and has removed 75% This creates a competition between the Agniveer Now, in this, regimental camaraderie, the one thing that one soldier will be there to give his life for another soldier, this brotherhood gone to well And it's not just a matter of theory. The Army has conducted an internal survey in the last few weeks. It is evaluating the Agniveer scheme. It is being found that there is a lack of cohesiveness and camaraderie in the Agniveer. There is no collaboration but a tendency of competition and a trust deficit There can't be anything more dangerous that someone is bleeding in battle and one says, you die because at least I will be retained That's why, Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, former director general of military operations has tweeted and called it death knell for armed forces he has asked a very simple question Before implementing such a big masterstroke, was testing phase done or not? Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia has also said that such a policy can lead to militarization of society. Just think, 40,000 youths are being expelled from the army. They are trained, semi-trained. Now they come back to the civilian line in anger They know how to handle weapons, use their brains, martial arts, and defend themselves, what will they do? This can create a lot of danger at the societal level, that such angry agniveer don't do unlawful activities and on top of that, it can also happen that they get attracted to the international private military companies like Wagner Group and they think of becoming mercenaries. This sounds like a far-fetched thing to hear, but it has to be discussed right now if we have to stop this. Rajnath Singh has said that many experts, many people, many generals have been talked to before bringing this scheme. And after that, the Agni Veer scheme was brought. But there, General Naravane is writing in his book that it is a bolt from the blue. Why did he write this? Is he lying? Why are so many senior officers publicly criticizing the scheme? Rajnath Singh has to answer... What was the consultative phase? Who were the people who were consulted to bring this Agniveer scheme? Or else the situation is the same. Like GST implementation, demonetisation. The scheme was introduced overnight without talking to anyone. Today, the government is trying to suppress GST collections. It is saying that we will not publish the numbers The name of demonetization has been erased from the government pamphlets. General Naravane's autobiography, Four Stars of Destiny, which was going to be released in the beginning of 2024, has now been postponed. It is written currently unavailable. Amazon is saying that we don't know when this book will be released again. the common sense question is that if the government was to save money, they should have said it clearly Why was this masterstroke scheme brought in the name of modernization? Because then would have to admit that there is no money in the treasury And then would have to say that yes, reduce the money that is being spent on other projects. The money is not getting reduced in building the parliament complex, but the money is getting less for army The situation is so bad that General GD Bakshi, who has been shouting for the government for years, and defends the government, has also come and said that AgniVeer is not a good scheme. It seems that Rajnath Singh has not consulted him either. On the other hand, Rajnath Singh says that there are other countries like America, where there is a model like Agnipath. But forgot to mention that if a US citizen has served for a few years, the US government gives complete college scholarship which is very expensive. And if after a few years of tour of duty, he decides to continue in the army, the US military programs happily retain that soldier. And if he meets the required standards. In Agnipath cohort, 75% will be dismissed whether it is their fault or not. In the US, if a short-term soldier dies in active duty, his family is given full benefits which a regular soldier gets. There, two types of soldiers not made. So, how can we improve the situation in Agnipath so that the situation is a little better? The internal review done in the Army, based on the sources of Indian Express, suggestions are that the 25% retention rate should be increased to 60-70% For technical and specialist soldier, at least 75% retention rate should be done. This will help to build trust and skill between Agniveer. And due to COVID when recruitment could not happen, will be able to fill the 50-60 thousand With higher retention rate, at least manpower shortage in the army, in the forces will be reduced. And not 4 years of service, but it should be increased to 7 years so they get good training, ex servicemen status and gratuity If these changes are made, then money may not be saved maybe that is why government is defending current policy But reducing the readiness and quality of the army, making the soldiers insecure and saving money is never a good shortcut. That's why a fundamental solution is that the government should focus on holistic economic growth, focus on the industrial base. If there is healthy economic growth, you will get more money, which you can invest it on defense. If China's military budget is 3 times higher, then 55% modernization cannot be matched You will have to increase your overall defense budget, the government will focus a little on it, But the government will not talk about this. If the government listens to the army's suggestions, comes under the pressure of the opposition and improves the martyr compensation policy, then maybe the Agniveer scheme can be improved But the consultation process is not known to Govt. It is difficult to work by talking to people, building a consensus, and doing a case analysis. So, after the protest, the upper age limit 21 to 23 was also done after the protest. Because you did all these things without thinking. The way you implemented GST, the way you implemented Farm Law, the way you demonetized, the same way Agni Veer is a masterstroke But if the government does not spare institutions like the army, if it compromises to save money, compromises on security then earlier the government was only cutting the pockets of the poor, now it seems that it is cutting the pockets of the martyrs But worse is, if the government starts doing this even in the matter of national security and starts lying that it is for modernization then there is nothing more tragic than this.