Agniveer scheme dealt blow to youth of Haryana: Congress MP Deepender Hooda

New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Congress MP Deepender Hooda on Sunday said that entire Haryana is demanding that the Centre withdraw the Agniveer scheme.
The Congress MP said that the scheme has dealt a blow to Haryana where a lot of Youths aspire to join India's defence forces.
"Haryana is demanding that the government withdraw the Agniveer scheme. For 75 years, every countryman was proud of the country's army, that they have always done the work of keeping the country's flag high," Hooda told reporters here.
"In 1971, Pakistan was divided into two parts. We made Pakistan bow in the Kargil war. This was done by the army appointed through permanent recruitment. I want to ask the government, whose demand was it to remove permanent recruitment?" he added.
He said that especially a state like Haryana has suffered a "big loss" due to the Agniveer scheme.
"In Haryana, there used to be a confirmed recruitment of 5,500 every year. But now only 950 Agniveers are being recruited there out of which only 200 will be confirmed," he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the Narendra Modi government brought the 'Agniveer' scheme with the intention to spend the defence budget for the benefit of a big business house, instead of emoluments paid to the soldiers.
He said that an Agniveer will not get a salary and pension on par with a regular army soldier nor will he get access to the canteen
The Agniveer Scheme was announced in June 2022 for recruitment in the armed forces. The scheme is meant only for recruiting soldiers and not officers in the forces. The soldiers recruited under this Agneepath scheme are known as Agniveers.
Under the scheme, the three services are recruiting youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 years for four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
For 2022, the upper age limit was extended to 23 years. (ANI)