Rahul Gandhi criticises PM Modi over Agnipath scheme

|HT|

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Agnipath scheme, saying India's security and the future of youth are in danger because of the new experiment in the "PM's laboratory". "60,000 soldiers retire every year, out of which only 3,000 are getting government jobs. What will be the future of thousands of Agniveers retiring on 4-year contracts? With this new experiment in the Prime Minister's laboratory, both the security of the country and the future of the youth are in danger," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi. Under the Agnipath scheme, youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted for a four-year tenure, while 25 per cent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service.

The scheme was unveiled on June 14, following which there were violent protests against it in several states for nearly a week and several opposition parties demanded its rollback.

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 like a preference for Agniveers in central paramilitary forces and defence public sector undertakings upon their retirement.

The Congress and Gandhi have been protesting against the Centre's Agnipath scheme. On Friday, Opposition members, including KC Venugopal and Uttam Kumar Reddy, walked out in protest from a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on defence, alleging they were not allowed to discuss the Agnipath scheme.

Members of Congress and BSP urged committee chairman Jual Oram to allow a discussion on the Agnipath scheme, arguing it has huge implications and required parliamentary scrutiny but were denied the permission.

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