Amid Ongoing Protest Over Agnipath, NSA Doval Clarifies Misconceptions Surrounding New Recruitment Policy | WATCH

Doval further said that the security is a "dynamic concept" which cannot remain "static" as stressed that India needs to protect its national interest and national assets.

New Delhi: Amidst the ongoing discourse on the central government’s newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme for armed forces, NSA Ajit Doval, in an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, said that that Agniveers will never constitute the whole army and the Agnipath Scheme will not replace the ‘Regiment’ System. “Agniveers will never constitute the whole army. Those Agniveers who become regulars eventually will undergo intensive training, acquire experience over a period of time…..As far as regiments are concerned, two things need to be understood. Nobody is tinkering with the concept of regiments…They (regiments) will continue…The regimental system has not ended,” Doval said.

#WATCH | "…As far as regiments are concerned, two things need to be understood. Nobody is tinkering with the concept of regiments…They (regiments) will continue…The regimental system has not ended…," says National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to ANI#AgnipathScheme pic.twitter.com/hScTqhpc1t

— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2022

The National Security Advisor further said that in the future we are heading towards a scenario where there will be contactless wars against invisible enemies and the country needs a young fit and agile army. “The whole war is undergoing a great change. We are going toward contactless wars and also going towards the war against the invisible enemy.

Technology is taking over at a rapid pace. If we have to prepare for tomorrow, then we have to change, Doval said in an interview to ANI.

The NSA said that security is a dynamic concept and it cannot remain static. “It is only in relation with the environment in which we have to protect our national interest and national assets.”

“The whole war is undergoing a great change. We are going toward contactless wars, and also going towards the war against the invisible enemy. Technology is taking over at a rapid pace. If we have to prepare for tomorrow, then we have to change,” he said.

“There is a need to look at it (The Agnipath Scheme) in a perspective. Agnipath is not a standalone scheme in itself. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, one of his prime priorities was how to make India secure and strong. That required many avenues, many steps – multitude of them,” he said.

Speaking about the priority accorded by the government to modernise and update the military infrastructure, the National Security Advisor said: “Broadly speaking, they come under the four heads. It requires equipment, it requires a change in systems and structures, it requires a change in technology, it requires a change in manpower, policies and they have to be futuristic,” he added.

The “transformative” Agnipath scheme, announced by Union Minister Rajnath Singh on June 14, in the presence of the three service chiefs provides for the recruitment of into the Armed services of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-a-half-years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.

The Centre later extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022.Several states across the country have been witnessing violent protests since the scheme was announced. The Army, Navy and the Air Force on Sunday came out with a broad schedule for recruitment of soldiers under the Agnipath scheme while asserting that it is being implemented to bring down the age profile of the armed forces.