Mallikarjun Kharge reiterates concerns over Agnipath Scheme to President Murmu

Highlighting the injustice, he wrote, “The scheme is discriminatory among our jawans by creating parallel cadres of soldiers who are expected to work on similar tasks, but with very different emoluments, benefits and prospects.”

“The majority of Agniveers will be released into an uncertain job market after four years of service, which some have argued could affect social stability,” he added in the letter. 

According to him, these young people have been chasing their dreams for years, and "the resulting frustration and hopelessness has even led to several reported deaths by suicide."

He also pointed out that “the 250 each of 50 lakh applicants had to pay to collect and application form was never refunded, which amounts to a hefty 125 crore taken from these youngsters.”

To reduce the age distribution of the three services, the government launched the Agnipath recruitment program in June 2022 for the short-term entry of persons into the armed forces. It calls for the recruitment of young people for four years, between the ages of seventeen and a half and twenty-one, with the provision to retain twenty-five per cent of them for an additional fifteen years.