Agnipath will lower spirit of army aspirants, says Congress leader B Ramanath Rai
Mangaluru, Jun 27: The Agnipath scheme introduced by the Union government would aggravate unemployment in the country and undermine the spirit of aspiring youth who ardently wish to join the armed forces, senior Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai said Monday.
Addressing reporters here, Rai contested the Central government's claim that the scheme is to help the unemployed. With the scheme, the Centre is doing injustice to the youth who have already been selected and are waiting for their medical certificates.
He said as per previous norms, five years' service in government entitles an employee to receive gratuity and other benefits. The Union government has designed the Agnipath scheme for four years deliberately to deny the benefits to the youth, Rai alleged.
He said the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create two crore jobs annually in the country has not been fulfilled yet. The BJP is only interested in creating chaos and confusion without addressing real issues, he alleged.
He said the Congress would launch a campaign against the scheme at the constituency-level all over the country. DCC president Harish Kumar, former MLC Naveen D'Souza and other Congress leaders were present.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
