INTERVIEW WITH EX COLONEL AMIT KUMAR
1. You have challenged the scheme in the Delhi High Court. What are your prayers before the court?
Ans: Quash the scheme and do not implement it with retrospective effect.
2. Does the Agnipath scheme mean an end to the normal recruitment process in the armed forces?
Ans: Yes.
2. Is the scheme intended to drastically cut down the defence budget? If so, will it affect operational preparedness?
Ans: This is where the government is not clearing the air. But if you see the ground realities and the fact that pay, allowances and pensions are part of the defence budget the answer is, yes.
And it is being justified on the ground that it will create a new reformed forces with new tech-savvy operations, preparations and equipment. This is actually misleading.
3. Has the government done any assessment of the costs involved in maintaining a similar civilian set up before cutting down the defence budget. Is it fair?
Ans: It’s all baseless. They are just taking advantage of the non-availability of freedom of expression to soldiers. See the changes in the forces. Qualitative requirements (QR) for CDS (Chief of Defence Staff) have been diluted.
The Agnipath file is declared a secret, making a mockery of national security because they know there is no research at the ground level.
Both General (Manoj) Pande and General (Anil) Puri, holding COAS and office of CDS respectively, are from the Engineers Regiment, non-fighting arms. Rest, the tradition of following orders is going on. At ground level, those between Lance Naik to Colonel-rank officers will suffer.
4. The government is saying that this scheme will reduce the average age of the fighting force? Is this true?
Ans: False. The unit recruitment procedure remains the same then how will the force become younger? The only change is 4 years.
5. The government has also argued that it will provide jobs to unemployed youth, and provide a pool of retired army personnel to draw upon for the country’s security. What are your views?
Ans: They will not be adequately trained with any sophisticated equipment and weapons that we have. What training are they talking about? It’s all in the air. There are no answers. Also, there is no assurance, only a presumption, that these people will get jobs. There are so many ex-servicemen. The government can check how many of them have got jobs.
This scheme is also a drastic departure from the earlier method of recruitment. It hasn’t been tried and tested before. Besides, there’s no financial emergency to warrant such a move.
