The Union government needs to review the Agnipath scheme that provides for short-term recruitment by the armed forces, Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi told Aaj Tak on Thursday.

The Janata Dal (United) is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which is expected to form the next Union government.

The Agnipath scheme, introduced in 2022, recruits citizens between the age of 17-and-a-half and 21 years for the armed forces for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years. Those recruited under this scheme are called Agniveers. The introduction of the scheme had triggered protests across several states as aspirants demanded permanent recruitment with pension benefits.

“There is a need to reconsider the Agniveer scheme,” Tyagi, a former MP, told Aaj Tak on Thursday. “When this scheme was introduced there was dissatisfaction among a large number of people. I also believe that their family members [of those who wanted to join the armed forces] had expressed opposition to this scheme during the elections also. We need to rethink this scheme.”

During the Lok Sabha election campaign, the Opposition INDIA bloc had criticised the BJP for introducing the Agnipath scheme amid rising unemployment.

On Thursday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav urged the Centre to immediately scrap the Agnipath scheme, ANI reported.

“I think the Agniveer system should be scrapped immediately,” Yadav told reporters. “The [Union] government should admit that it made a mistake, that it should not have introduced the Agniveer system.”

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that the government should also relax the age limit for those who wanted to join the armed forces but could not do so because of the Agnipath scheme’s eligibility criteria.

On June 1, during the last phase of Lok Sabha polling, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had written to President Droupadi Murmu, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, urging her to ensure that Agniveers receive the same social security benefits as other soldiers.

“There can be no clearer illustration of the fundamental flaw in the Agnipath scheme – the creation of a ‘lesser’ cadre of soldiers who are expected to work on similar tasks with lower pay, benefits and prospects,” Gandhi had said.

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