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HP polls: Congress seeks rollback of Agnipath scheme
Head of Congress ex-servicemen cell Dharamveer Rana claimed that the number of the youth joining the army has declined
Key opposition party in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress on Tuesday sought withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme citing a ‘drop’ in defence aspirants in the state.
“Not only the youth of the country are being cheated by the Agnipath Yojana, but the army of the country is also being reduced. At the same time, employment opportunities are also declining due to this scheme,” said head of Congress ex-servicemen cell Dharamveer Rana.
He claimed that the number of the youth joining the army has declined. “There has been a drastic dip in the number of youths joining the army due to the implementation of Agnipath Yojana in Himachal,” he said while addressing the media.
“Under the old ‘Fix Class Vacancy’ scheme, where 4,202 youths were recruited from Himachal in the army, the figure fell to just 400 in the new ‘All India All Class’ scheme. This has not only created huge frustration among the youth, but has also led to a huge reduction in employment opportunity,” he added.
He said Himachal with a population of nearly 70 lakh has the highest number of 1,095 gallantry award winners. “Himachal has 1.2 lakh ex-servicemen, 40,000 serving soldiers, 36,000 widows and 3,600 war widows. In this way, about two lakh people are attached to the defence forces,” he said. He said that in 2018-19, 4,202 youths were recruited from Himachal, while the number was 6,000 from Uttar Pradesh and 5,000 from Punjab.
Rana said that the central government has also cheated the ex-servicemen on the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’. He said the Centre did not implement this scheme as per its definition, and demanded that it should also pay the arrears of ex-servicemen immediately by implementing it properly.
He said that the central government has also played with the sentiments of the disabled soldiers.
