Srinagar: The Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday said the “Agneepath” Scheme offers an opportunity to youth of the country to serve with patriotic spirit by joining the Indian Armed forces.
The Agneepath scheme is a transformational reform for the Armed Forces and the Nation. It aims to bring paradigm changes in the Human Resources (HR) management of the Indian Army, Lt Gen Dwivedi said during a press briefing in Srinagar.
He said, the scheme offers opportunity for youth from across the country, driven by patriotic spirit and desirous of serving the country to serve in the Indian Armed Forces as Agniveers for a short duration of four years.
“On completion of the four year period, Agniveers will go to the society as a disciplined, dynamic, motivated and skilled workforce for employment in other sectors including corporate and industry, CAPFS and DPSUs to pursue their career in jobs of their choice”, he added.
Asked how the scheme would benefit the force in J-K, the army commander said the northern front is a high altitude area and “the younger a soldier, the fitter he will be”.
“With the age, high altitude problems arise which lower fitness. So, this scheme is a good one. This will bring in new blood, new youngsters, and their freshness will create success in us,” he said.
He said the scheme will attract young and ensure they do not tread the wrong path.
This scheme will bring in youth from remote areas, provide them exposure, train them and boost their confidence to do anything they want to, Lt Gen Dwivedi said.
In another question Lt Gen Dwivedi said “The nature and the character of warfare have changed. It is so because the violence has gone into the virtual world. This population will be skilled. This youth will be competent for the new equipment, weapons, new things coming into the virtual or the cyber world, as they will be pre-trained”.
He said the Agniveer after completing the four years training in the Army will become a responsible citizen of the nation. “He will not tolerate the crime against any women folk…and will not allow any crime because of training he has undergone”.
He said this scheme will attract the young and bring them on the right path and ensure they will not turn around again. “When they will be joining us they will be shown the right path.
In another question whether it will help in containing the militancy as the young youth has to join as Agniveer, Lt Gen Dwivedi said, even the young are joining the army. And I am from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre and there are about 25 percent soldiers from here (Kashmir)…whom some of them even confess that they were misled and returned to the right path.
He said there are 50 percent people in India whose age is less than 25 years and we are doing efforts to make these young youth responsible citizens so that they could serve better in the near future for the country. This is whole of nation scheme and when the youth will come out after four years with training they will be a better server for the nation, he added.
Lt Gen Dwivedi said before making available this scheme Indian Army has studied all strategies of the nation’s how these schemes are being introduced there. He said such schemes already exist in America, Russia, China and Israel. He said in Israel everyone is undergoing such training.
“Our motive is to give more and more exposure to the youth regarding the Army and its training”, Lt Gen Dwivedi said.