SHILLONG, June 27: While Governor Satya Pak Malik seems to be up in arms against the Agnipath scheme, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on the other hand, is fully impressed with the Centre’s brand new scheme.
A day after Governor Malik termed the Agnipath scheme as a ‘fraud’, the Meghalaya CM said that the scheme has more pluses than minuses.
On being asked about his response to the Governor’s statement, Conrad Sangma refused to comment on the matter, but nonetheless said that it is a good scheme.
“It can be looked at from different perspectives. People can have their own stand but in the larger interest of the nation and seeing the overall situation, this is the best with which we can move forward,” he said.
Arguing that no schemes and projects introduced by the government will be perfect, Sangma said people will have to make the best choice. “Criticism can come for all the policies but in the larger interest, there are more plus to it than minus,” he said.
The Governor had earlier on Sunday termed the Agnipath scheme as a ‘fraud’ with the hopes of future jawans and said those retiring without a pension after serving the armed forces for four years would hardly attract any marriage proposal.
Malik told reporters at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh that he had urged the government to reconsider the new scheme under which youths will be recruited as soldiers on a contractual basis.
Cong’s ‘Satyagraha’
Protesting against the Agnipath scheme, the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee along with the state Mahila Congress Committee staged a ‘Satyagraha’ at Congress Bhawan here on Monday.
In a statement, the state Congress demanded of the central government to scrap the scheme as it reasoned that it “will jeopardise national security”. “The six months of training to be conducted as per the policy is inefficient for the needs of the battle field and deploying them to the frontline without proper training is just not acceptable,” it said in the statement.