Pinarayi Vijayan writes to PM Modi, seeks withdrawal of Agnipath

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to withdraw the Agnipath Army recruitment scheme.
He said military service was the dream job of the youth. “They execute a unique duty to maintain national security. Hence, the government is duty bound to ensure job security, reservation benefits and other emoluments,” he said.

Vijayan said experts in the defence sector had pointed out that the scheme would affect the professionalism of the uniformed job. “The skills gained during the training are meant for long. When such skills gained are used only for a short period, it would affect the national security. The four-year period suggested in the scheme is also a period that has to be used for higher education and gaining other professional skills,” he said.

The CM said the Centre should give a convincing answer to all these issues even as dispelling the concerns raised by the youth who had cleared various stages of the military recruitment process. The DYFI, the youth wing of CPI(M), said the outfit would mobilise youths at the national level against the scheme. DYFI national president A A Rahim, in an article in CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani, said the scheme would churn out thousands of unemployed persons in the country every year.