Omkar Dattatray
The NDA government headed by BJP has done nothing to provide employment to the teeming millions even though the BJP had promised to provide jobs to the youth in its manifesto called as the Sanklap Patra. The party had pledged to give employment to unemployed on a very large scale but has failed in addressing the problem of unemployment staring the youth. Now BJP has formulated a novel scheme to come to the rescue of the youth and absorb the unemployed youth in the three services. The centre government has launched the scheme of Agnipath to provide some succor to the youth. In the mad rush of coming to power in the third consecutive term, the BJP has announced its scheme of absorbing the young boys in the armed services. The scheme called Agnipath envisages providing employment to the youth for only four years and initially the youth between age-group of 17 to 21 years were made eligible to be recruited in the three services. After pressure from the agitating youth the eligible age was increased to 23 years. Providing employment for only four years is not understandable and it amounts to a cruel joke with the unemployed youth and as such the scheme of Agnipath is unacceptable to the majority of the youth. Right from the day one of its launch of Agnipath scheme there have been protests against this scheme and the protesting youth demanding the cancellation of the scheme as it does not fulfill its job aspirations and therefore the protesting youth throughout the country demand taking back of the scheme in the best interests of the country. There have been uncontrolled protests in different states of the country against the scheme called Agnipath. The youth are within their democratic right to protest against the scheme as difference of opinion and protest and demonstration are the soul of the democracy. Therefore the youth of the country have the democratic right to protest against the scheme of Agnipath. But the people have the right of peaceful protest against any decision of the government if they feel it against their interests. However at the same time it is the responsibility of the people and the political parties to guard that the protest does not become unruly and does not turn into violence. The youth are protesting across the country against scheme of Agnipath but unfortunately the protests are turning into violence and the agitating youth are busy in damaging public property and are burning trains, trucks and other properties which is against the country and democracy does not allow such protests. The violence of the agitating youth has caused enormous economic loss to the country and it is very unbecoming and disturbing and this should not be allowed under the guise of the right of protest. The different state governments should be hard with the violence creators and should not allow them to damage and burn the government properties and the trains which in fact is a loss to us all and therefore the protesting youth should realize that they have the right of peaceful protest and therefore no violence should be resorted to under the guise of protest and the political parties should abstain from politicizing on the scheme of Agnipath for their vested and selfish interests. The people and the youth like the government job for the sense of the job security but so far as Agnipath is concerned there is no job longevity and security as the appointees are entitled to work only for the four years of their youthful life and after that they will get retirement and there is also no provision of any pension for these posts an d therefore there is no security of an y income after the retirement and so are the youth in protest against the scheme of Agnipath. The country has seen and experienced much violence and protests by the farmers against the BJP government on the controversial three farm laws and after tolerating much and long protest for years the government had to repeal the three farm laws in the interest of the farmers. So for, as the gravity of the protests by the youth on the scheme of Agnipath across the length and breadth of the country is concerned it seems that the government which is insensitive and indifferent to the woes of the protesting youth will have finally to fall in line and cancel the scheme of Agnipath. Therefore before it is too late the government t should give up its ego and order the cancellation of the scheme of Agnipath before it will do more harm to the youth and the country. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the RJD has rightly demanded the cancellation of the Agnipath scheme in the interest of the peace and also in the in the interest of the protesting youth. The centre government should not maintain its rigid stand and announce the cancellation of the scheme in the interest of the youth. There is genuine apprehension in the country that after retirement of the employed youth they will become rowdy and will become gangsters and may indulge in anti social activities and thus will prove harmful and detrimental to the country. Though the government under pressure has announced that 10 percent reservation in central forces and Assam Rifles will be given to the retired youth. The home ministry has also announced that the age relaxation of the five years for the first batch and for others three years of age relaxation will b e given to the retired employees. But these half-hearted and adhoc measure are not going to make any difference to the protesting youth and therefore the centre government should think of some drastic measure so that the youth of the country will be satisfied and they will end their agitation which has caused enormous loss to the country. The Agnipath scheme seems to be a laughing stock and as such should be cancelled in the interest of the protesting youth There is no sense of security to the employed youth under the scheme as they are entitled to work only for the meager four years which amounts to a big deceit with the youth and the BJP will have to pay heavily for this scheme which it calls as the historical and modern. The fact that there is no provision of pension to the employed youth makes this scheme very unattractive and devoid of any social security. Thus the Agnipath scheme is a big deceit with the unemployed youth of the country. It amounts to playing with the sentiments of the unemployed youth. The centre government should realize the gravity of the situation and order the cancellation of the Agnipath scheme in the best interests of the youth. It is not for nothing that the youth are up in arms against the Agnipath scheme of the government and they demand roll back of the scheme for their interest. The protesting youth should guard against the politicizing of the scheme and they should not become pawns in the hand s of the politicians and they should ensure that there is no politicking on the Agnipath scheme as this country has seen much politics in the recent past over the farmers agitation and now there should be no politics on the issue of Agnipath scheme. Since the protest has turned into violence and the protesters are indulging in burning spree of the trains, buses and public properties and this is very unfortunate. The violence has caused enormous loss to the public property as hundreds of crores of loss has been caused to the country by the violent protesting youth. The protesting youth should know that violence has no place in our democracy and all things should be resolved through dialogue and reconciliation as violence is alien to democracy. Therefore the violence should at once stop and pave way for peaceful agitation so that the genuine demand of the protesting youth will be addressed. To conclude it can be said that the Agnipath scheme has been launched without trail and it proves to be damp squib ab initio and as such deserves to be annulled in the interest of the youth and the country.
(The author is a Columnist and Social Activist).
