Former Union minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) receiving 7.5 lakh applications under the Agnipath scheme was not indicative of its popularity and that the “right conclusion” to be drawn from it.
The unemployment rate is so severe that desperate young people are desperately looking for any job to earn their bread and butter.
The short-term military recruitment programme Agnipath has received 7.5 lakh applications, the Indian Air Force (IAF) informed on Tuesday. The scheme’s registration period started on June 24 and ended on July 5.
“The Agniveer programme received 7,50,000 applications for the 3000 open positions in the IAF. It is a false interpretation that young people like the Agniveer scheme. The unemployment rate is so high that young people are eager to accept any work and it is the correct conclusion,” tweeted Chidambaram.
Under the Agniveer programme, people between the ages of 17 and 21 will be enlisted for a four-year period in the armed services, with 25% of them then being enlisted for regular service.
Several states witnessed violent protests against the scheme for nearly a week after it was announced on June 14, with several Opposition parties demanding its withdrawal.
The government later announced a number of measures, including a preference for “Agniveers” in central paramilitary forces and defence public sector undertakings upon retirement, and a relaxation in the upper age limit for enlistment under the scheme from 21 to 23 for the year 2022, in view of the violent protests.