Air Marshal Manavendra Singh rebuts retired armed officials’ criticism on Agnipath scheme

Bengaluru: Air Marshal Manavendra Singh on Wednesday said the Indian armed forces will not compromise with the quality of training imparted to the selected Agniveers under the newly launched Agnipath scheme for four years.
“I would like to reassure you that this (Agnipath scheme) will work. The quality (of recruited cadets under Agnipath scheme) will not be compromised,” Air Marshal Singh told reporters replying to an UNI query on several defence experts questioning the benefits of the scheme.
One of the critics was Lieutenant General (retired) PR Shankar who wrote in his blog that the Tour of Duty proposal (scheme) expects a superman from a kindergarten student.
He did not stop there. He logged on to his Twitter handle and said that the scheme might be producing Abhimanyu who would not be able to get out of the Chakravyuh and after four years of the Tour of Duty, Arjuns will not be available for the next Mahabharata.
“We might be producing an Abhimanyu but he will not get out of the Chakravyuh. After five years of tour of duty, Arjuns will not be available in our next Mahabharata. The cutting edge units will not be able to fight. There are no runners up in war,” he said.
Further fending off critical remarks of retired army officials as Lt Gen Shankar, Air Marshal Singh said, “In the fast-changing world there cannot be just one way of doing things and insist upon doing things that they had been doing for the past 100 or 200 years.”
“There is no reason to believe that there isn’t just one way of doing things. Let’s give it (Agnipath scheme) a try. And I have a really strong belief that it will succeed very well. It will be very well received by the youth of this country and we will benefit from it,” he said.
Air Marshal Singh also said everyone is free to voice their opinion in a democratic setup, but the defence establishment has the potential of training people of all kinds of specialisations.
On Tuesday, Raksha Mantru Rajnath Singh had announced the Agnipath scheme imparting four-year military training to youth from the ages 17.5 years to 21 years.
Replying to the criticism of 75 percent of the Agniveers becoming jobless after four years after not making it to the next level, Air Marshal Singh said the Union Home Ministry has decided to give priority to those who have completed four years under this scheme for recruitment into CAPFs and Assam Rifles.
Reading out the messages he received on his mobile phone, Air Marshal Singh said that the “‘Agnipath Yojana’ is a visionary and welcome decision of Shri Narendra Modi for the bright future of the youth. In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided today to give priority to Agniveers who have completed four years under this scheme for recruitment into CAPFs and Assam Rifles.
The Union Home Minister’s Office said “With this decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the youth trained under the ‘Agnipath Yojana’ will be able to contribute to the service and security of the Nation. The preparation of a detailed plan has been started based on today’s decision. (UNI)

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