Chirawa (Jhunjhunu): Only one room in the sprawling but deserted hostel of Shekhawati Defence Academy was occupied by two teenagers, while the others were bolted and empty. In a hall marked ‘mess’, tables and benches gathered dust.
Shekhawati Defence Academy, a coaching centre for Army aspirants on Jhunjhunu Road in Rajasthan’s Chirawa, has not had as many students as it used to since the government launched the Agnipath Scheme in 2022, said Surinder Singh, once a subedar in the Army and now the manager and warden of the hostel.
The Agnipath Scheme is now the only route to serve in the Army when it comes to ranks below that of officers. But, the Agniveers recruited under the scheme are guaranteed just four years of service, after which only 25 percent will continue in regular service. This has become the biggest stumbling block for defence coaching institutes, where admissions have plummeted.
One of the two students taking the English-medium course at the Shekhawati Defence Academy, Anuj, is from Mainpura village in Udaipurwati tehsil of Jhunjhunu — the district known as ‘Shaheedon Ki Nagri‘ for sending the most men to the Army. “I am here to prepare myself for recruitment tests for the air force,” Anuj told ThePrint.
The other youth, Chaman Lal, is from the Nangal Katha village in Narnaul tehsil of Mahendragarh district of Haryana. “I have already cleared the written test (for Agniveers). I am here to prepare for the group discussion, adaptability tests, etc.,” he said.
Their warden Surinder Singh said, “The (Shekhawati Defence) Academy is owned by Rajesh Kumar Dahia, a BJP leader, who unsuccessfully contested the assembly election from the Pilani Vidhan Sabha seat in Rajasthan in November 2023. It is now looked after by his son, Manish Dahia.”
The academy, launched in 2005 to prepare youth for Army recruitment, remains the most prestigious in the area, said Singh. But while there used to be “200 or more hostellers and an equal number of day scholars” in the academy earlier, “the number never increased more than 30-40 in any session” since the government introduced the Agnipath Scheme, he added.
“This is the hostel for English-medium students. We have another building nearby. Now, we have just two students here in this building because it’s just the beginning of the session,” Singh said.
The Agnipath Scheme has affected not only Shekhawati Defence Academy but many other such centres. Chirawa was a hub of defence coaching centres, with more than 30 around town. Half of them have shut down while many others have switched to teaching for other competitive exams since the introduction of the Agnipath Scheme, said Singh.
Army aspirants prepare for English, Hindi, maths, physics, reasoning, general awareness and knowledge, and physical tests at the coaching centres. The annual fee is over Rs 1 lakh and covers lodging, boarding, and training. At Shekhawati Defence Academy, it is Rs 1.2 lakh, said Singh. However, it doesn’t make sense for many to spend so much on coaching for an Army job that’s not regular and doesn’t come with benefits.
Singh said the situation of the coaching centre is so bad that “it becomes difficult for the owners to pay salaries of the staff members”. The hostels and the academy, he said, are on rent, and the current financial constraints have been delaying the payment of rent.
Sita Ram, the warden of the hostel for the Hindi-medium students, said 15 students have arrived at the hostel so far. “Before the Agnipath Scheme, the hostel used to have up to 225 students, but in the last batch, we had only 35.”
Anuj and Chaman Lal, the English-medium students, visit Ram’s hostel daily. “Till we have sufficient strength of students, we are running the kitchen in this building only. They have to come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Sita Ram said.
Anuj said the biggest disadvantage of the Agnipath Scheme is that it’s impacting the marital prospects of youth. “No one gives a daughter in marriage unless a boy is an earning hand. Earlier, recruitment to the armed forces was a guarantee of finding a suitable bride.”
He added: “Now, parents of marriageable girls don’t want to marry off their daughters to Agniveers. They say that they will marry their daughters to only those who eventually make it among the final 25 percent who make it to the armed forces after completion of four years as Agniveers.”
At his office in the market of Chirawa town, Manish Dahia, who looks after the Shekhawati Defence Academy, tried to convince the parents of a girl looking for admission to the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) course to get her to join his centre.
“Looking at the dearth of students for recruitment to the armed forces, we have started training for SSC, railways, Delhi Police and Haryana Police. Youth are now more inclined to such courses,” said Dahia.
However, Dahia also said, “Even if the number of youths opting for Agnipath is fewer than what it used to be, the government has been trying to give more chances by increasing the frequency of the recruitment processes. Compared to once a year earlier, we get to see recruitment advertisements four times a month now.”
Asked if the Agnipath issue could have been behind the electoral results in November 2023, Dahia said his father lost the election only because former BJP MLA Kailash Chand Meghwal, who was denied a BJP ticket, contested as an Independent and queered the pitch for him.
BJP’s Rajesh Kumar Dahia received 57,265 votes against 70,905 secured by winning Congress candidate Pitram Singh Kala, data from the Election Commission showed.
Manish Dahia is diversifying the centre, but he also insisted that things would get better as far as defence coaching is concerned.
“The government has already said they are going to increase the percentage of Agniveers to be retained, after four years, from 25 per cent to 50 percent,” said Dahia, showing a clipping of Dainik Bhaskar (Chirawa edition), with BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ghanshyam Tiwari’s statement in the matter.
As coaching centres see a drop in students, the Army saw a record number of applicants in the latest batch of Agniveers. ThePrint reported 12.8 lakh youth, including men and women, applied to become Agniveers this year — a nearly 10 percent increase from 11.3 lakh applicants in 2023.
No other jobs available
Sitting outside a tea shop at Pacheri Kalan village of Jhunjhunu at Rajasthan’s border with Haryana, Yad Ram Yadav told The Print that people of Jhunjhunu and surrounding districts don’t have anything like agriculture to bank on and hence look for government jobs.
“The soil is arid and semi-arid. There is no source of irrigation. The monsoon is scarce. The only crop we have here is a little of the pearl millet and the moong. But, this is not sufficient to run families,” said Yadav.
“Till the government notified the Agnipath scheme, joining the armed forces was the best option — the reason Jhunjhunu is at the top among all districts of the country to have contributed to the armed forces. But Agnipath has dashed people’s hopes — the reason it became a major issue in the elections,” he added.
Parvinder Yadav, a youth from Rasulpur village, some two kilometres from Pacheri Kalan, sitting in the same tea shop, said his younger brother, Lalit Yadav, always had a dream to join the armed forces.
“However, once he attained the required age, the recruitment was suspended due to Covid-19. After lifting that, the government came up with the Agnipath scheme. He is not interested in an Army job, which lasts four years, and soon he will be overage,” said Yadav.
“Our district is known not only for contributing the maximum number of soldiers to the armed forces but Jhunjhunu is also known as ‘Shaheedon ki nagri‘ because of the maximum number of soldiers sacrificing their lives for the country,” said Mohar Singh, a resident of Bhukana village of Jhunjhunu, who retired as an honourary captain from the Army.
He added: “One can’t expect the same sense of urge to sacrifice one’s life for a job, which is to remain for a very short period and doesn’t carry benefits to the family members, which come with a regular job in the armed forces.”
Shaheen Khan, a resident of Dhandheri village in Jhunjhunu, said his village has see 17 martyrs. His father is one among them — Major Mehmood Hasan Khan 14 December 1971 sacrificed his life in the Battle of Daruchian and was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra.
“People of this region are brave and carry a passion for serving the country in the armed forces. The same passion is no longer visible since the government has come up with the Agnipath scheme,” Shaheen Khan said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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