In CDS’s Uttarakhand village, murmurs against Agnipath

Darshan Singh Chauhan (centre), cousin of chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan, in Gawana.

Pauri Garhwal: Nitin Kaparwan (19) of Gawana village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district faces a dilemma — whether to continue his preparation to don the camouflage uniform under short-term Agnipath recruitment scheme or join his friends in the hotel industry. Though Nitin has a role model in chief of defence staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, whose ancestral village he lives in, to look up to, he says the army job isn’t attractive for youngsters anymore.

Gawana is around 20 km from Srinagar, a major town in Pauri Garhwal district on the Char Dham route. Hit by migration due to lack of basic facilities, jobs, and poor connectivity, the remote village is inhabited by only around 60 people — mostly elderly and women.

“The youngsters don’t find the army job charming after the roll out of Agnipath scheme. Those still interested are very few now. It’s a drastic change for our state. If eight out of 10 youngsters were interested earlier, it has come down to just two,” Nitin claims. “My friends who earlier aspired to join the army and prepared accordingly are now joining the hotel industry. Army was once the first choice for us, and the hotel industry second. Now the choice has reversed.”

Introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre in June 2022, the Agnipath scheme seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 years after another round of screening. Those recruited under the scheme are called Agniveers.

Nitin’s 16-year-old brother Vipin, a Class 9 student, doesn’t even want to prepare for the army. “If the scheme is withdrawn, and there is job security as earlier, I can think about preparing for the army,” Vipin says.

Darshan Singh Chauhan (58) recalls the time when his famous cousin General Anil Chauhan became the country’s second CDS in September 2022, but says his appointment as the senior most defence officer hasn’t done any good in bringing back the losing interest of youngsters in their region.

“The trend of preparing for the army has come down over the years and the younger generation prefers to work in the private sector…,” he says.

Recalling how villagers “rejoiced” over General Chauhan’s appointment as CDS, he adds: “But our village got no benefit from his position. Roads are broken, the water supply is not regular. We have not received the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi instalments for the last two years… When Anil Baluni [the BJP candidate from Garhwal, which will go to polls on April 19] came to campaign in the village, I raised these issues.”

Meena Devi, sister-in-law of General Chauhan, adds: “Kids are not going into the army because of the Agnipath scheme. They say what they will do after four years.”

Corroborating that Agnipath scheme needs “re-consideration,” a retired government employee from the village, requesting anonymity, says he is unsure if it would make an election issue. “There are many issues such as Agniveer, unemployment and broken village road, but the discussion is confined to [PM Narendra] Modi’s name in the election. No conversation takes place on real issues,” he says.

Around 45 km away, Margadna is the native village of another top military officer from the state, Major General (retired) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, who also served as two-term chief minister, union minister and represented the Garhwal constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Ram Singh (70), who retired as Havaldar in the army, says the Agnipath scheme has left a question mark on the future prospects of youngsters. “It is just a four-year job. They can only earn a salary of ₹30,000- ₹40,000 per month. Once their service completes, Agniveers will get a fixed financial package. Still, it is not enough to sustain life, given the inflation, medical bills, and other requirements. He (Agniveer) would have to take care of his wife, and build a house. That’s why youngsters are not interested in Agniveer,” Singh says.

Soon after the Agnipath scheme was introduced, massive protests erupted in different parts of the state. Uttarakhand, which goes to polls on April 19 in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, is known for its immense contribution to the defence forces. State’s Sainik welfare minister Ganesh Joshi said: “Currently there are around 60,000 to 70,000 people from the state who are serving in the Indian Army. Apart from this, the state has over 1.5 lakh (150,000) ex-servicemen… Annually, Uttarakhand contributes around 17 % of soldier recruitments in the Indian Army.”

In Garhwal constituency, which has a huge population of serving and retired personnel, the opposition Congress is relying heavily on discontentment among people over the Agnipath scheme — the party in its manifesto has promised to revoke it if voted to power.

Ganesh Godiyal, the Congress candidate from the seat, took a swipe at the scheme, saying: “The Agniveer scheme has been introduced to retire our youths at the age between 22 and 25. It is cheating with youths…”

State BJP leader Ravindra Jugran said: “Defence minister Rajnath Singh has already said that the central government is open to change in the Agnipath recruitment scheme, if necessary.”

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