Make Agniveers Angreziveers too and see the game change

The problem with discussing the Agniveer policy is the same as discussing any policy that becomes political (such as CAA and the farm bills). Anyone who praises the scheme is labelled a BJP-supporting, government sycophant. Anyone who puts questions to it is branded a BJP-hating, anti-government, opposition-funded stooge. Such labelling is extremely unhelpful. To say a scheme that provides jobs, even if for four years, is completely bad is silly. Forget four years, any scheme that provides a job for four months or four weeks may also have some merit to it. What is worse than a job for four years? A job for NO years. What would you rather have the Indian youth do? Become physically fit and train in the trenches, or sit in their bed and watch Instagram reels of Bollywood actors in Maldives? Get a taste of a disciplined and hard-working organisation for four years or spend the same time playing video games and watching porn? Because the latter is what is happening right now. The average Indian youth has no agni and is not veer. Instead of consuming cheap data and eating processed atta, Indian youth can do so much more with their life. In this context, the Indian army has offered a four-year job scheme, which comes with tremendous learning, a salary and even a lump sum payment at the end. How on earth is this a completely terrible idea as some opponents insist? medium92610959 At the same time, it is not perfect. No scheme in the world is perfect. This one certainly doesn’t meet every expectation we have regarding employment in the Indian army. To be clear, the Indian army is not an employment exchange. It is an organisation with a tough job and limited resources. It runs on taxpayers’ money. So the Indian army (in a broader sense, including air and naval forces) must hire, retain and let go of people based on its own needs first. If in that process it means people can have long careers, pensions, prestige and whatever else, that is a bonus. However, the army’s first priority is to be a great organisation, running at a reasonable, justifiable cost. Repair the expectations mismatch: The Indian army is indeed great, we all love it.It has people ready to lay down their lives for us. However, the Indian army is not Santa Claus. It doesn’t come bearing gifts. Perhaps this expectations mismatch is why protests happened in the first place. We love you so much, and you do only this for us? We want a job for a long time and then a pension forever, and you give us only four years? We want you to hire more people, and you are hiring less over time? The heartbreak is understandable, but chaos, vandalism and arson are not. Neither is the expectation that the army can keep giving more and more jobs and pensions for life. Hasn’t technology affected every industry and every sector? How can the army be immune to that? Three decades ago, the Signals corps would be laying landlines for communication. Today, we have encrypted wireless options. What happened to those who laid landlines? They have probably been allocated new responsibilities. There have been no mass layoffs, common in other industries. However, how can the army keep hiring at the same rate and even grow, when technology is altering defence at such a rapid rate?Concerns about what happens to an Agniveer after four years are valid. Incidentally, most graduates in India have the same concern, about what will happen to them after they finish their degree. They all deal with that uncertainty. Remember, life is hard, life is uphill, nothing is guaranteed, seeking security and pensions is not the way going forward. Working hard every single day is. Skill up: The Agniveers, those that leave after four years, can make a life outside the army for sure. They will need certain skills and the army can make sure they have these. Job options would multiply if an Agniveer was also an Angreziveer. Add six months of proper computer training, then rather than intense competition to be one of the 25% retainees, the army would be cajoling people to stay on. That should be the army’s intent and goal. Like good parents, who educate the child to become independent, and soon, even if that means the child will leave them. Any new scheme requires modifications, especially because it is new. At the same time, it takes a lot of hard work, creativity and initiative to come up with and push through new ideas. If we simply criticise, get political and polarised, and reject every reform, it will take our country nowhere. Change is hard, but change is a must. The Agniveer scheme holds a lot of value, and with the right skill set given to the Agniveers, they can fly high well after their tenure ends. Illustration by Chad Crowe