Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Saturday wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging him to rollback the Agnipath recruitment scheme.
This recent modification to the basic structure of the Army has justifiably caused great anguish among potential recruits from across the country, the AAP leader said in the letter.
"The hopes and dreams of many young aspirants have been stifled by the controversial 'contractualization' of the armed forces. Within the past two days, we have witnessed with great despair insufficient attempts at last-minute tinkering by the Union government such as increasing the age limit," the letter reads.
Demanding the immediate rollback of 'Agnipath' and the resumption of the regular recruitment process for the current year, the Rajya Sabha MP has highlighted five issues in the letter.
Firstly, we need jawans with peace of mind and job security. The Union government has failed to comprehend that a jawan supports not only himself but his family, he said in the letter.
Secondly, the scheme has overlooked issues of inadequate skilling, he added.Thirdly, Chadha said that the Union government's financial obligations towards the defence pension bill should not be offset by sacrificing the job security of our jawans.
Fourthly, the scheme negates regimental honour and erodes the quality of our troops. Fifth, such experiments should not be imposed en masse. This scheme has been implemented without running any pilot schemes, Chadha said in the letter.