Corporate leaders including Anand Mahindra, Harsh Goenka, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Sajjan Jindal, Sangita Reddy, and N Chandrasekaran, have extended support to the government’s Agnipath scheme, which seeks to overhaul the decades-old selection process of the armed services.
However, protests have broken out across the country ever since the government announced the scheme, under which youngsters – known as Agniveers – aged between 17.5 and 21 years will be taken in for four years, following which 75% of the recruits will be paid about Rs 12 lakh and let go without pensions, while the rest would go to serve for a full 15 years.
The government has also assured that Agniveers would be preferred for recruitment into the paramilitary forces and government jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet the chiefs of the army, air force, and navy over the issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that some decisions which look unpleasant at first would benefit the country in the long run.
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“Several reforms, several decisions may seem unpleasant temporarily. But, in time, the nation benefits from these reforms,” Modi said at a public meeting in Bengaluru, without specifically referring to the Agnipath scheme.
“Saddened by the violence around the #Agneepath program. When the scheme was mooted last year I stated – & I repeat – the discipline & skills Agniveers gain will make them eminently employable. The Mahindra Group welcomes the opportunity to recruit such trained, capable young people,” Anand Mahindra, the chairperson of the Mahindra Group, tweeted on Monday morning.
Soon, hashtags like #Mahindra, #IndiawithAgniveer were trending on Twitter.
Protesters have, however, said that the existing system guarantees higher salaries and chances of promotion to senior levels along with pensionary benefits.
“Agnipath is not just a great opportunity for the youth to serve the nation’s defence forces but it will also make available a very disciplined and trained youth for the industry, including the Tata Group,” said Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran in a statement.
“The armed forces are very fine institutions and a great training ground. If a person does four years of national service in the armed forces, he or she will finish as a disciplined and a trained professional with a college degree,” internet entrepreneur and investor Sanjeev Bikhchandani also said in a Twitter post.
Agniveers will be a very valued resource in the private sector, Bikhchandani, the founder and executive vice chairman of Info Edge NSE 1.29 %, which owns India’s largest recruitment portal Naukri.com, added.
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“I firmly believe that Agniveers will have a distinct advantage in recruitment in the industrial job market,” said Biocon Executive Chairperson Shaw.
RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka tweeted, “The RPG group, too, welcomes the opportunity to employ the Agniveers. I do hope other corporates will also join us to take this pledge and assure our youths of a future.”
The Agnipath scheme will create a disciplined talent pool, said JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal. “There can be no better place than the Indian Armed Forces to train our youth,” he said.
Apollo Hospitals Group joint managing director Sangita Reddy tweeted, “I firmly believe the discipline and skills that Agniveers will gain will provide market-ready professional solutions for our industry. I sincerely hope our industry will support recruiting such capable young people.”
Potential for jobs
Even as industry leaders promised Agniveers jobs after the end of their four-year stint in the armed forces, some users asked Mahindra to share data on ex-armed forces personnel employed by his company over the years.
On being asked for what positions the Mahindra Group intended to hire Agniveers, Mahindra responded, “Large potential for employment of Agniveers in the corporate sector. With leadership, teamwork and physical training, Agniveers provide market-ready professional solutions to industry, covering the full spectrum from operations to administration & supply chain management.”
Bikhchandani said youngsters in countries such as Israel and Singapore do two years of service in the army after high school and then pursue successful careers outside of the defence forces and government.
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Last week, TVS Motor Company NSE 2.57 % managing director Sudarshan Venu also came out in support of Agnipath, saying it would have a “significant positive impact” and that it was geared towards “nation-building”.
Bikhchandani also said that Agniveers will have “a sense of service and commitment [and will be able to] fit into any one of several careers — whether in the state police forces, the central security forces, or even the private sector.”
Private sector jobs wouldn’t be restricted to security roles, he added.
“Agniveers could be in any of several roles — sales, service, back office, operations,” he said.
Apart from blue- or grey-collar jobs, several could also take up management jobs, he added. (Economic Times)
