Thiruvananthapuram, June 16 (BPNS)

Member of Rajya Sabha and former national president of Student Federation of India (SFI), the student body of the CPM, Dr. V. Sivadasan said that the contractual recruitment in defense forces like ‘Agnipath’ will result in reducing these youths to the status of mercenaries.

In a letter to the Union defense minister Rajnath Singh, the Parliamentarian said that the new scheme would lead to contractualisation of the armed forces. He said that this would affect the morale of the youngsters who have been preparing themselves for entry into the force for years.

The youth leader said that this would affect the youth from middle and lower-middle-class backgrounds across the country who have been expecting to join the armed forces to serve the nation and to secure a dignified livelihood.

The CPM Parliamentarian said that he was informed that 1.27 lakh vacancies exist in the armed forces and that instead of filling them up in steps the Government of India was resorting to scheme of contractual appointment which has led to great despair among the youths of the country.

He said that there was lingering uncertainty about the future of the youths recruited temporarily and that after spending precious years in military these youngsters will have to retire at the age of 21 without any gratuity or statutory allowances.

Dr.Sivadasan said that there are also concerns about national security which was not a short-term or temporary issue. He said that there needs to have a long-term perspective stop –gap measures like this would deleterious to the security of the nation.

The CPM leader said that violent protests have erupted across the country and that youths are on the streets across the country against this scheme.

He also said that many army veterans had come out against this scheme and have expressed their strong displeasure with the proposed scheme as they find it harmful to the efficiency and cohesion of the armed forces.

The Rajya Sabha member said that the Armed forces of India have a proud history of being professionally disciplined and paying supreme respect to the civilian governments of the country. He said that this was due to the permanency and security that they enjoy in their professional lives and denying that dignity and reducing the soldier to a contractual position will be a short-sighted measure and deleterious to the prospects of the country.