Rajnath is gearing up to deal with Agnipath, reform of theatre command

Under the previous Modi government, Rajnath Singh had assumed the office of the defence minister in June 2019. Prior to that, Singh had been the minister of home affairs since May 2014

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi retained senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh as defence minister on Monday, with challenges such as addressing concerns over the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces and continuing the long-pending theatre commands reform process awaiting him in his second stint at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Seventy-two-year-old Rajnath, whose political career spans over five decades, took oath as a member of PM Modi’s Cabinet on Sunday. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha (LS) polls, Rajnath retained the Lucknow constituency.

Under the previous Modi government, Rajnath assumed the office of defence minister in June 2019. Prior to that, Rajnath had been Minister of Home Affairs since May 2014.

 

During Rajnath’s first stint as defence minister, the Modi-led government rolled out the Agnipath scheme in June 2022 for short-term induction of personnel to the armed forces. Under it, both male and female aspirants between ages 17.5 and 21 are recruited into the cadre below the officer’s rank for four years, with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Those recruited under the scheme are called Agniveers.

The scheme’s announcement triggered violent protests in several parts of the country, with sections of the youth opposing it.

Shortly after the recent LS election verdict, which saw the BJP falling short of the majority, the party’s alliance partners raised concerns about the Agnipath scheme, which the Opposition had criticised and promised to scrap during the poll campaign.

Addressing the concerns surrounding the scheme will be one of Rajnath’s immediate tasks.

Born in 1951 in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajnath served as member of UP Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1980 and again from 2001 to 2003.

He was Minister of Education in the UP government from 1991 to 1992. Rajnath also served as Minister of Surface Transport in the Union Cabinet from 1999 to 2000.

Subsequently, he served as chief minister of UP from 2000 to 2002. In 2003, he served as Minister of Agriculture in the Union Cabinet.

During his previous stint at the MoD, there were indications that theaterisation of the armed forces was seeing forward movement.

Once rolled out, theaterisation will be the biggest military reform in the country. It will see the creation of unified theatre commands within the 1.7 million-strong Indian armed forces. These theatre commands will integrate the Army, Air Force, and Navy into one architecture.

The BJP had made a commitment of military theaterisation in its election manifesto.

On May 4, Rajnath said in a media interview that theaterisation was progressing, with a consensus emerging among the three services.

Maintaining the momentum gained by the theaterisation process will be another task facing Rajnath.