Agniveer scheme benefit biz house: RaGa

Mohania (Bihar): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday charged the Narendra Modi government with having brought the ‘Agniveer’ scheme in order to spend the defence budget for the benefit of a big business house, instead of emoluments paid to the soldiers.

Gandhi made the allegation at Mohania in Kaimur district of Bihar, bordering Uttar Pradesh, a region from where youngsters are known to enroll in the armed forces on a large scale. The region was a witness to large-scale protests against the Agniveer scheme two years ago.

“An Agniveer will not get a salary and pension on par with a regular army soldier nor will he get access to the canteen,” alleged Gandhi. The government had launched the scheme on June 15, 2022 to recruit aspirants in ‘below the officer’s rank’ cadre of the three services for a period of four years as ‘Agniveers.’

The former Congress president claimed, “This is because the Modi government does not want to spend the defence budget on salary and other perks of soldiers.”