By Sidharth Mishra

The drive from the western to the eastern end of Uttar Pradesh through the monsoon rains is replete with heart-warming images. First and foremost, the 1000-kilometre-long journey from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur can now be covered in just about 10 hours, thanks to the three expressways – Yamuna Expressway, Taj Expressway and the Purvanchal Expressway. While the huge green expanses of paddy plantations are soothing to the eyes, the images of the young men and in some places young women running on the service lanes of the expressways add to curiosity. Both the eastern and the western fringe of Uttar Pradesh and areas of the neighbouring states are composed of the districts that are known for sending recruits to the Indian armed forces.

These areas while have rich agriculture belts, its economy is also boosted by the cash sent home by the soldiers deployed with the military and para-military forces. Buxar, the westernmost town of Bihar, across the Ganges from Ghazipur, today boasts of several senior secondary schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The buses from these schools ferret out in the morning to the interiors on the metalled rural roads built under Pradhan Mantri Rural Roads scheme, ferrying children, mostly of the soldier parents. These schools maintain faculty and hygiene standards equal to any big city school. They also match in the fee charged from the students.

“Given the fact that most of the parents are from defence background, paying fees has not been an issue. A father, who is away on a national duty, is concerned about quality of education, something which should not bother him while doing his job on the frontier,” says Vikash Ojha, principal of Foundation School in Buxar. There are several Foundation School like schools which dot the area in the neighbouring Buxar, Ara and Sasaram districts of Bihar and Ballia and Ghazipur districts of Uttar Pradesh.

What’s interesting is the composition of the alumni network of these schools, which have come up largely in the past decade or so. “A large number of them opt for a job in the uniform. Given the better language and technical skills they learn here, than their parents would have learnt in their time, they opt for technical arms in the uniform,” adds Ojha.

It’s kind of a tradition in these villages to join the forces, which has been followed by generation after generation. “The tradition comes with financial security and pride of being in the service of the nation,” says Mithilesh Kumar, who is part of the administrative staff at Foundation School.

On the western fringe of Uttar Pradesh in the Baghpat district the story is similar. “Our villages are replete with families who have contributed to the nation’s armed forces, and our young lads are going to walk the Agnipath in large numbers,” says Satyam Singh Bainsla, whose village falls in Baghpat district.

Bainsla in fact echoes the sentiments of young men and women from villages besides the three expressways and in many other parts of rural India, who are sweating it out to withstand the rigour of the physical tests. Incidentally even the ‘silent arm’ of our military the Indian Navy has received 9.5 lakh applications which includes 82000 women.

After withholding recruitment for the two years, largely on the count of Covid and planning a change in the character of our forces to be leaner and meaner, the government announced the Agnipath scheme in June this year. The scheme provides recruitment of into the armed services for youths in 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, as there was no recruitment in the past two years. The youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.

The scheme initially faced protests across the districts known for sending soldiers to the armed forces. The idea of being sent home early and not availing pension created turmoil in the minds of the young aspirants. However, array of assurances announced by the government has have had them back on the running tracks and exercising fields.

The opinion in these villages now is that instead of mulling over uncertainty of future let’s take the word of the government and go for the opportunity which have come their way. “There is an opportunity for employment, there is an opportunity for training and there are not very many other options too, so one does one do, protest or participate in the recruitment,” says an aspirant running across a rural road in Buxar.

The large registration by the candidates for selection in the Agnipath scheme for sure has given an upper-hand to the government in political fisticuffs with the opposition. Having earned the brawny points, one believes that the Agniveers would not be left to themselves after the demobilization and many a rehabilitation schemes in the past have not known to have worked well.

India needs strong defence forces and whatever the government plans this thought must be the bulwark of every policy. There are issues which is causing a bother for those in the leadership role within the forces. A lot would actually depend on them, as to how they are able to train the young minds and bodies in the service of the nation, in uniform and outside the uniform.    

(The writer is an author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice)