Agnipath shadow over Punjab in poll season

The Agnipath model was a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system that was scrapped when the NDA govt introduced it in June 2022.

The grizzled 55-year-old farmer looks much older than he is, but Virsa Singh’s wrinkled visage lights up when he begins to talk about his youngest son, Sepoy Gurtej Singh from 3 Punjab, who was among the 20 Indian soldiers killed in action during the Galwan Valley skirmish with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh.

Sepoy Gurtej Singh’s mother Parkash Kaur with his Vir Chakra. (HT PHOTO)

That was almost four years ago, on June 15, 2020.

Gurtej was only 22 and was awarded