10 SAAL ANYAY KAAL 2014 – 2024

The Congress Party brought out a Black Paper against the ruling government because whenever they present their views in the Parliament, they repeatedly narrate their success and hide their failures. So, the Congress Party decided to inform the citizens of the country about it through the Black Paper.

The Congress Sandesh is publishing the last part of the Black Paper.

SAMAJIK ANYAY ≠

SCs, STs AND OBCs BETRAYED

1. RISING ATROCITIES AGAINST SCs AND STs

In 2022, 57,582 cases were registered for committing crimes against SCs, showing an increase of 13.1% over 2021 (50,900 cases). A total of 10,064 cases were registered for committing crimes against Scheduled Tribes (ST), showing an increase of 14.3% over 2021 (8,802 cases). While the crime rate has been on the rise, the conviction rate has been dropping. The biggest increases in the rate of atrocities have occurred in the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

2. FAILURE TO HOLD A CASTE CENSUS TO ENUMERATE OBCs

OBC reservations need to be rationalised with empirical data to ensure proper representation. The national census – when it is held, that is – enumerates the population of SCs and STs but there is no official data about OBCs. The UPA carried out the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) but its data has been suppressed, and the Modi government refuses to commit to a new SECC. The fear that the updated numbers of OBCs will open a Pandora’s box for the BJP is effectively robbing OBCs of adequate representation in central government jobs and in educational institutions.

3. EXCLUSION OF SC, ST AND OBC IN THE EWS QUOTA

The reservation quota for Economically Weaker Sections excludes SC, ST and OBC category individuals even though EWS is an economic rather than a caste-based reservation. The poor of all communities are economically weak and therefore deserving of EWS quotas. The 'oth- SCs/STs/OBCs by excluding them from this new reservation on the ground that they enjoy pre-existing benefits, is to heap fresh injustice based on past disability.

4. ATTACK ON RESERVATIONS THROUGH RECKLESS PRIVATISATION OF PSUs

The Modi government-led reckless privatisation of PSUs is a death knell for the SCs and STs. As a result of sale and downsizing, the number of people working in PSUs between 2013 and 2022 has fallen from 17.3 lakh to 14.6 lakh. This means that 2.5 lakh jobs reserved for these disadvantaged groups have been eliminated. Similarly, 18 lakh people were employed in Railways in 2014 but the number has reduced drastically to 11 lakh people today. The privatisation of health and education is further reducing job opportunities for SC, ST and OBC citizens. Parliamentary Committee scrutiny of PSU records shows that SC/ST candidates are not promoted to senior positions.

5. INHERENT BIAS AGAINST SC, ST, OBCs

Out of a total of 322 officers currently holding the posts of Joint Secretaries and Secretaries under the Central Staffing Scheme in different Ministries/Departments, 16, 13, 39 and 254 belong to SC, ST, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and General category, respectively. As per information received from 75 ministries and departments, the percentage of SC, ST and OBC officers in Group A posts is 13.21%, 6.01% and 18.07% respectively in 2022.

6. EROSION OF ADIVASI RIGHTS

The 2006 Forest Rights Act was a progressive legislation that conferred land and livelihood rights – both individual and community – to Adivasi and other families living in forest areas of the country. During the UPA rule, the Union government was required to verify the consent of the forest dwellers and ensure recognition of their rights over the forest before private projects could be approved. Under the Modi government's Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022, the forest land can be handed over even before the state government gets the consent of the forest dwellers. Local adivasis are struggling to protect their sacred lands from being degraded and exploited by biased authorities in the region. This has completely undermined the rights of forest- dwelling communities and is aimed at enriching the BJP’s cronies.

7. WAR ON EDUCATION

While claiming to support the education of religious minorities, the Modi government has slashed funding for education and scholarships for 20% of the population. On 25 November 2022, the government discontinued, in part, the pre-matric scholarships for minorities for classes 1 to 8. From 2023, the Modi Government has stopped pre-matric scholarship program for students from classes 1 to 8 belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and minority communities. The government had stopped the 18-year-old Padho Pradesh (study abroad) Program that provided an interest subsidy on education loans for students from minority communities studying abroad.

8. BUDGET SLASHES

The total allocation for the welfare of the SCs is Rs. 1,65,598 crore and for the STs, Rs. 1,21,023 crore; however, much of it goes into general schemes. The allocations for the targeted schemes for SCs stood at Rs. 44,282 crore and for the STs, Rs. 36,212 crore. When one examines the schemes in the outcome budget, there are no physical targets for these and hence it is not specific to the community. The allocation towards Venture capital for Dalits has been drastically reduced from Rs. 70 crore to Rs. 10 crore. there was an allocation of Rs. 10 crore for the National Safai Karmachari Finance and Development Corporation; but this time, there has been an allocation of only Rs. 0.01 crore – which is almost nil. The allocation for the National Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation was Rs. 15 crore last year. It has been reduced to just Rs. 0.01 crore this year.

9. UNFULFILLED VACANCIES AND DROPOUTS IN CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES

Overall, only 20% of teacher positions sanctioned under the general category were vacant, compared to 44% among OBC positions, 38% among SC positions and 45% among ST positions. Also notably, 71% of posts sanctioned under the EWS quota and 58% under the Persons with Disabilities were vacant. Among all the reservation groups, General Category positions had the least vacancy share. Out of the positions occupied, 871 positions have been filled by Scheduled Castes, showing a representation of 14.3 per cent. 426 positions are occupied by the Scheduled Tribes, accounting for a mere representation of 7 percent.

A total of 13,626 reserved category students dropped out from central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) over the last five years. In the case of Central Universities (CUs), Sarkar said that as many as 4,596 OBC, 2,424 SC, and 2,622 ST students dropped out in the last five years. In IITs, 2,066 OBCs, 1,068 SC and 408 ST students dropped out. In IIMs, the figure remained at 163, 188, and 91 for OBC, SC and ST students, respectively.

A total of 35,950 students died by suicide in the country between 2019 and 2021, and yet the government does not collect any data on number of SCs and STs who commit suicide due to social discrimination.

10. LOW PUBLIC PROCUREMENT FROM SC AND ST-OWNED BUSINESSES

The UPA had introduced reservations in public procurement from MSMEs owned by SCs and STs. However implementation by the Modi government has been lackadaisical, and not even 1% of the MSMEs from which goods and services are produced belong to SCs and STs.

INJUSTICE TO WOMEN

1. RISING ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN

Women’s safety continues to deteriorate nationwide. A staggering 4,45,256 cases were registered in 2022 alone, this is equivalent to nearly 51 FIRs every hour. The majority of crimes against women under the Indian Penal Code have been on account of cruelty by the husband or his relatives (31.4%) followed by kidnapping and abduction of women (19.2%), assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7 per cent), and rape (7.1%). The national average crime rate against women increased from 64.5 in 2021 to 66 in 2022 (number of incidents per 1 lakh population).

This violence prevents women from fully participating in public life, in economic activities and from fulfilling their potential. The BJP’s anti-women attitude exacerbates this problem. According to the Association for Democratic Reform, 21 BJP MPs and MLAs have cases of crimes against women lodged against them, the highest number of cases from a single political party.

2. THE RAPE CRISIS

A total of 31,516 rape cases were recorded in 2022 in India, this is 86 cases on average a day. While rapes are on the rise, the conviction rate stands at an abysmal 27.4%. Whether it is Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP MLA implicated in the Unnao rape case or the Modi government’s approval of the early release of the Bilkis Bano rapists and murderers, or the cover-up of the Hathras rape case, the BJP seems to stand for rapists against the victims.

The share of victims who were minors or below 18 – the legal age of consent – stood at 10%. A critical concern emerged from Uttar Pradesh recording 62 cases categorised as 'Murder with rape/gangrape.' This specific classification points to instances where rape is followed by murder, signalling an alarming trend requiring immediate attention and stringent measures. The BJP-led state has turned out to be the most perilous for women.

3. WRESTLER PROTESTS

In January 2023, several champion Indian Wrestlers (both men and women) began a protest against the alleged misconduct. sexual harassment and intimidation of female wrestlers by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh when he was President of the Wrestling Federation of India. The findings of the investigation into this issue were not made public.

The government has chosen to back its MP Brij Bhushan Singh despite serious accusations by athletes, forcing them to launch a months-long protest at Jantar Mantar. Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan loyalist was later elected as the WFI Chief. Wrestlers had to go to the level of returning their medals and awards in an attempt to be heard but to no avail.

4. ABYSMALLY LOW FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION

India has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates (LFP) in the world. As per estimates from the International Labour Organisation, female labour force participation in India for 2022 was a mere 24%, much lower than its neighbours like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Over nearly two decades, India's female labour participation rate looks like a steady downward curve: From 32% in 2005 to 19% in 2021 The share of women employed in regular salaried jobs in urban India decreased from 54 per cent in the first quarter to 52.8 percent in the second quarter of 2023-24. Even with higher levels of education and health, there is a serious dearth of decent and productive employment.

5. THE UJJWALA SCHEME HAS LIMITED BENEFITS DUE TO THE HIGHEST EVER PRICES OF LPG

The price of a gas cylinder has increased from ₹410 during UPA years to ₹903 in 2024, an increase of over double. One out of every four beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana either did not take any cylinders during the last financial year 2022-2023 or took just one refill. Therefore, it is no surprise that many rural households do not benefit. Government data shows that despite having gas connections, about 47% of rural households still depend on wood and dung cakes.

6. BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO ONLY FOR ADVERTISEMENT, WHILE NIRBHAYA FUNDS REMAIN UNSPENT

The government spent a whopping 80% of funds under its flagship Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme on media campaigns, found the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women. Between the inception of the scheme in 2014-15 and 2019-20, the total budgetary allocation under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme was ₹848 crore. During this period, an amount of ₹622.48 crore was released to the states. However, only 25.13% of the funds, i.e., ₹156.46 crore had been spent, reflecting a not up-to-the-mark performance of the scheme.

₹9,177 crore worth of projects had been approved under the Nirbhaya fund from 2014 and 2021. As of April 28, 2023, per the government’s data, around ₹12,008.5 crore has been appraised under the ‘Nirbhaya’ project, of which only ₹4,923 crore has been released and ₹2,521 crore has been utilised (which is roughly around 21% of the appraised amount and 51% of the released amount). This shows that PM Modi’s interest in women’s rights is only publicity, not in substance.

7. THE SOBERING REALITY OF FEMALE HEALTHCARE

The NFHS-5 highlights a worrisome figure of 11% of pregnant women who were still either unreached by a skilled birth attendant or did not access institutional facilities. The average out-of-pocket expenditure on delivery in a public health facility increased in half the surveyed states. Teenage pregnancy has declined only marginally by 1% point and 7.9% of women in the age group of 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey. A very small segment of the population is currently accessing the full range of sexual and reproductive health services such as screening tests for cervical cancer (1.9%) and breast examinations (0.9%). The prevalence of child marriage has gone down but only marginally from 26.8% in 2015-16 to 23.3% in 2019-21.

SOCIAL DISHARMONY

1. BJP LEADERS HAVE OPENLY SPREAD HATE AND VIOLENCE ACROSS INDIA

Today, spreading hate or inciting violence is a minimum qualification to be a BJP leader. It is impossible to fully document all the hate that has been spread by the BJP in the last 10 years, but here are 10 examples:

A. Anurag Thakur, BJP MP & Union Minister, raised “goli maro” slogans in 2020.

B. Jayant Sinha, BJP MP & Union Minister, welcomed 8 people convicted of mob lynching and sentenced to life in prison, with garlands and sweets in 2018.

C. Lal Singh Chaudhary and Chander Prakash, BJP ministers in the J&K government, attended protests giving a communal colour to the Kathua Rape Case and supporting the rapists, in 2018.

D. T Raja Singh, BJP MLA has repeatedly called for violence and economic boycotts against minorities.

E. BJP MLAs in Gujarat defended the convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano, supported their early release and shared a stage with them.

F. Pravesh Shukla, BJP worker & associate of BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla, urinated on an Adivasi man in Madhya Pradesh in 2020.

G. Ashwini Upadhyay, BJP leader, raised slogans for violence against minorities at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in 2021.

H. Rajkumar Thukral, BJP MLA, assaulted two Dalit women in Uttarakhand and used casteist slurs against them, in 2018.

I. Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP CM of Assam, posted on Twitter that “Shudras” are to serve “Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas.”

J. Pragya Thakur, terror-accused & BJP MP, has called Nathuram Godse a ‘deshbhakt’ and said that “shudras feel bad” because of a “lack of understanding.”

2. UNCHECKED RISE IN CRIMINAL HATE SPEECH

Cases under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity on the ground of religion, race, and place of birth) have increased from 323 in 2014 to 1,523 in 2022, a five-fold increase.

3. CASTE ATROCITIES ARE A DAILY OCCURRENCE UNDER BJP RULE

Some of the most shameful caste atrocities in India’s history have occurred under BJP rule.

A. Under BJP CM Adityanath, in 2020, a 19-year old Dalit woman was gang-raped and murdered in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. Her body was then forcibly burned by authorities at 2.30 AM, without knowledge of her family.

B. Four Dalit youth were stripped, tied to a car, and thrashed in public by a mob in Una, in BJP-ruled Gujarat. Cases were filed against Dalit protestors and mobs attacked them repeatedly. The BJP government failed to keep the mob lynchers in jail, and the Dalit victims were attacked again, 2 years later.

4. INSTITUTIONALISATION OF CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Under the BJP, caste discrimination has become institutionalised in India’s colleges and universities. Due to rampant discrimination, Payal Tadvi and Rohith Vemula, as well as many other SC and ST students, died by suicide. The ABVP, RSS’ student wing, has been implicated in many of these cases.

5. BJP ATTACKS ANY COMMUNITY THAT STANDS UP FOR ITS RIGHTS

When farmers protested on Delhi’s border against the 3 black farm laws, the BJP termed them all ‘terrorists’ and ‘Khalistanis’, even saying so on record in the Supreme Court. When communities have agitated for reservations, whether Jats in Haryana, Patidars in Gujarat, or Marathas in Maharashtra, the BJP government in every case has order violent and indiscriminate lathicharges.

6. IT CELL & TROLL ARMY

A BJP factory of hate and propaganda has been established on WhatsApp and social media. Thousands of BJP IT cell workers spread fake news and communally inflammatory messages. It is meant to create an atmosphere of insecurity in the country and help the BJP win votes.

7. DELIBERATE TARGETING OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

The Modi government has systematically targeted religious minorities. The discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act had the sinister purpose of differentiating Indian citizenship on religious grounds.

8. BJP MALIGNS ENTIRE STATES IN INDIA FOR ELECTORAL GAIN

The Home Minister implied that Kerala was a threat to India during his election campaign in Karnataka, while the Prime Minister promoted a film that defamed Kerala via malicious exaggeration.

9. MANIPUR IS BURNING BUT PM MODI STAYS SILENT

Since May 2023, Manipur has been plunged into conflict and violence. Over 180 people have been killed and thousands have been injured or displaced. BJP CM Biren Singh has stoked the flames of this violence with repeated provocations and communal statements. However, for 9 months, Prime Minister Modi has spoken up about the horrifying situation in Manipur. Apparently, 36 lakh Manipuris are not important enough for him to visit even once, or make attempts to put an end to the violence in any manner.

10. POLITICISATION OF NATIONAL TRAGEDIES

In Kashmir, the Modi government’s missteps have antagonised residents of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Recall that Kashmiri minorities were forced to flee the valley during the BJP-supported National Front government in 1990, but that has not prevented the BJP from politicising their plight for electoral gain. The irony is that the UPA implemented a major housing and rehabilitation package for displaced Kashmiri Hindus in 2008, which the BJP’s heartlessness has led to the first killings of Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs since the 1990s under the Modi government.

RAJNEETIK ANYAY

INSTITUTIONS SUBVERTED

1. UNDERMINING ELECTED GOVERNMENTS WITH MONEY POWER

Opposition-led state governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Manipur fell after the BJP used blatant money power and threats of investigation to induce MLAs to switch sides. By the time the courts rule on their illegality, as occurred in Maharashtra, it becomes too late to go back to the status quo, cementing these illegal actions.

2. MISUSE OF INVESTIGATIVE AGENCIES

Since 2014, a 5-fold jump in ED cases against politicians has occurred; 95% of these politicians are from the Opposition.

Investigative Agency Number of Investigations Investigations against the Opposition 2004-14 After 2014 2004-14 After 2014 Enforcement Directorate 26 121 54% 95% Central Bureau of Investigation 72 124 60% 95%

Very clearly, the investigative agencies have become reduced to tools of political intimidation. The BJP lures politicians using money power and the promise of freedom from investigation, the famous Modi Washing Machine. Prominent examples of this phenomenon include Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and ex-TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari.

3. ABUSE OF SEDITION LAW

Until the Supreme Court placed the colonial-era sedition law on hold in 2022, the BJP had been freely misusing the law to silence legitimate criticism. According to the publication Article 14, 96% of sedition cases filed against 405 Indians for criticising politicians and governments over the last decade were registered after 2014, with 149 accused of making “critical” and/or “derogatory” remarks against PM Modi and 144 against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Using sedition to quell free speech can only be described as anti-national.

4. DYSFUNCTIONAL PARLIAMENT

The 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19) had the lowest sitting ever of 331 days. The 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24) has officially beaten this dubious record with even fewer sitting days, just 275. Important legislation like the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, etc was passed with either the Opposition in protest or suspension. The Winter Session of 2024 also witnessed the largest-ever suspension of MPs; the tally amounting to a whooping 146. In the last seven years, on average, 79% of the budget has been passed without any discussion.

5. INDIA BECOMES AN ELECTORAL AUTOCRACY

The inability of the once proudly independent Election Commission of India to act against blatant violations of electoral law by the ruling party is just one sign of democratic backsliding under the Modi Sarkar. V-Dem now describes India as an “electoral autocracy” because of the curtailment of rights of the press, academia and civil society organisations since 2014. Freedom House ranks India as “partly free” because of the curtailment of citizens’ rights, intimidation of academia and the cancellation of FCRA licences of more than 20,000 NGOs.

6. FEDERALISM WEAKENED BY THE MODI GOVERNMENT

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) involved India’s states giving up a modicum of fiscal autonomy in return for promises of compensation from the Centre. Yet the Modi government held back compensation when the states needed it most during Covid-19, forcing them to borrow from the market and increase their indebtedness. The government has increasingly resorted to cesses rather than taxes since cess revenues do not need to be shared with the states, thereby rendering the slogan of “cooperative federalism” hollow.

Apart from delaying GST compensation, the Modi government has also attempted to take control of land registration which is a valuable source of revenue for many large states.

NATIONAL SECURITY COMPROMISED

1. PM’S “CLEAN CHIT” TO CHINA

For four years, the Modi government has tried to cover up the worst territorial setback in six decades for India with its DDLJ approach: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify. Chinese troops continue to deny Indian patrols access to the strategic Depsang Plains, Demchok and other areas in eastern Ladakh. China continues to deny us access to 2,000 square km despite 18 rounds of military talks. Government sources have revealed how Indian troops have lost access to 26 out of 65 patrolling points and that the Modi government has agreed to buffer zones in which India cedes further territory.

All of this was enabled by the PM’s 19 June 2020 clean chit to China – when he said “Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai”, a profound insult to our fallen soldiers in Galwan. This insult has been compounded by schemes like Agnipath that weaken soldiers’ welfare and morale through discriminatory treatment.

PM Modi has not only failed to restore the status quo in Ladakh in four years. He has also stood by as China increases its stranglehold on Bhutanese territory in the past six years, despite hollow claims of an Indian victory in Doklam in 2017, which poses a major threat to India’s Siliguri Corridor, also referred to as the Chicken’s Neck. China continues to make inroads into Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, to which India is responding with social media campaigns and the banning of Chinese apps.

Yet the PM is afraid to take the name of China. When will he end his silence and tell the truth to the people of India?

2. PULWAMA LAPSES

Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed on 14 February 2019 in a terrorist attack on their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. For 10-12 days a car loaded with RDX freely roamed the streets of Kashmir without alerting authorities, hunting for its target. Former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik alleged that the central government had rejected a CRPF request for aircraft, forcing the jawans to travel by road in a vulnerable manner. When he acknowledged the failure, PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval asked him to remain quiet and to not allow the government accountable for any security lapses or intelligence failures.

3. ABSENCE OF A NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

In nine years the Modi government has failed to produce a National Security Strategy that lays out how India will achieve its security objectives using various instruments of national power, be they military, diplomatic or economic. In 2019 the Congress Party drafted a National Security Strategy authored by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) DS Hooda. But on 29 December 2022 former Chief of Army Staff MM Naravane lamented that the Modi government was pursuing defence reforms in the absence of an overall strategy. This is a failure of vision.

4. ILLEGAL USE OF PEGASUS SPYWARE

Israeli Pegasus spyware was illegally used to target politicians, 40 Indian journalists, academicians and civil society activists in India. It was reported that the Modi government bought Pegasus as part of a $2 billion arms deal with Israel in 2017. The spyware, classified as a cyber-arm, can only be sold to a government, highlighting the serious nature of the attack. Using a foreign-owned and -operated spyware could have exposed Indian secrets to foreign agencies. Using this taxpayer funded spyware against political opponents, apart from being illegal, is a complete violation of the norms of Indian democracy. The Modi government refused to cooperate with the Supreme Court-monitored committee that investigated the allegations, and the report has not been released to the public.

5. NORTHEAST IN FLAMES

At a time when China is threatening our borders the Modi government has permitted tensions in the northeast to rise. Assam-Mizoram tensions escalated on 26 July 2021 after clashes erupted between their respective police forces, leaving seven dead and 60 people injured. Six of those killed were policemen from Assam. In Manipur, 35,000 people have been displaced and around 1,700 houses burnt. 60 people lost their lives and over 200 were injured in disturbances that spread across Manipur from 3 May 2023. This is the result of BJP's “double engine” governments.

6. BJP’S DISTURBING LINKS WITH TERRORISM

The Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Talib Hussain Shah, who had been captured in Jammu and Kashmir by the local residents, was a BJP office-bearer in the state. Former BJP leader Tariq Ahmad Mir was arrested in 2020 for procuring weapons for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Naveed Babu. In 2017, Assam BJP leader Niranjan Hojai was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was found to be involved in a scam worth Rs. 1,000 crore in which funds were diverted to support a militant group.

7. INADEQUATE DEFENCE BUDGET

The defence budget, including pensions of 25-30 lakh veterans, has fallen to below two per cent of GDP for the first time in decades. This is being done as threats from China and Pakistan loom on our borders.

8. AGNIPATH SCHEME

The poorly-conceived Agnipath scheme will weaken our national security, damage unit cohesion and create a skew in the representation of all communities in our most important national institution, the Indian Armed Forces. It will recruit fewer youth for service in the armed forces, give them less training than before and will release a large number of military personnel into an uncertain job market every year, which could affect social stability.

The Modi government’s callous attitude towards national security, which it looks at solely from the lens of electoral advantage, is also evident from the revelation in former Army Chief MM Naravane’s book that the Army was “taken by surprise” by the Agnipath scheme and that “for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue.”