Agnipath, coaching, and a fauji career
Sunil Rahar and Vijay Swaroop
ROHTAK/PATNA: It’s 5.30am on a rainy morning at the Sir Chhotu Ram stadium in Rohtak, and a group of 50 young men are being put through the paces despite the inclement weather. In a vest and shorts drenched with sweat and rain, 18-year-old Himanshu Kumar is one of them. As he furiously runs up and down a flight of steps at the open stadium, Kumar’s mind is a whirlwind of dilemmas. He has always dreamt of joining the Indian Army. Yet, every day, he now gets a call from his mother, 36km away in Jhajjar, asking him to come home. It’s a choice that may well decide his future. Kumar’s conundrum is not isolated. On June 14, defence minister Rajnath Singh and the three service chiefs announced the Agnipath scheme, making wholesale changes to the recruitment process for personnel below officer ranks in the armed forces. From Rohtak to Patna, in open fields and stadiums, from hole-in-the-wall coaching centres to cramped hostel rooms that sell the dream of a life in fatigues, there is a sense of unease. Not only because of the changes in themselves, but also because of the protests that swept across the country in the immediate aftermath — multiple trains burnt and government property attacked, and the scrutiny that coaching centres find themselves under for their role in the violence.
The dilemma
On June 20, as trains were stopped and set on fire, and there were angry clashes between students and the police, the deputy commissioners of the districts of Mahendragarh, Jhajjar and Rewari issued orders that private academies and coaching centres that prepare students for government jobs, including the army, were to be shut until further notice.
The order by Jai Krishan Abhir, DC of Mahendragarh said: “It has been brought to the notice that private institutions/ academies/coaching centres are being run to train youths for the examinations/training of various government jobs with a result to which, a large number of students/applicants/candidates come to the said institutes...there is apprehension that the youth enrolled in these institutions may be involved in the protest against Agnipath scheme and can cause breach of peace...besides posing grave danger to human life as well as safety and damage to public property.” Spooked, Kumar’s parents have therefore been telling him to return. “I train at the Malik Defence Academy in Rohtak and my home is in Jhajjar. I live in the academy’s hostel. Since the protests, my parents have been worried that I will somehow be caught in the crossfire. My instructors want me to stay. I do not know what to do,” Kumar said.
Why Praveen Malik, owner and coach of the Malik Defence Academy, a retired Lance Naik of the 102 Infantry Battalion Territorial Army, wants Kumar to stay is not difficult to decipher. Since the Agnipath scheme’s announcement and the subsequent protests, his centre has seen an exodus. “We started our academy with just five to six students in 2017, but within two years we had crossed 400. Covid-19, and the lack of recruitment during the period had anyway meant a lack of enthusiasm. But now, in the last six days, over a 100 students have shifted back home. Many other academies too have faced this,” Malik said.
With the lure of a job in the army a big draw, senior government officials said that Rohtak alone has 20 such centres, with almost a 100 in Rewari, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Hisar and Sonepat that together host around 2,000 aspirants. Subhash Jaglan, a retired Brigadier from Bhiwani, said many of these institutes provide hostel accommodation and are now looking at financial losses.
“Most of these institutes are run by private coaches and ex-servicemen in rural areas. Many institute owners have their own land where they have built these hostels, but some run these institutes in rented buildings. With the lack of aspirants, and some leaving, that is now a problem,” Jaglan said. He said that his centre charges ₹7,000 per student per month, and claimed that over the last five years, over 250 youths from his academy went on to join the armed forces. “We induct people for two or six-month and yearly courses. Many aspirants still want to go home, but I am assuring parents that they will not find themselves on the wrong side of the law,” he said.
A day in the life
The lights turn on in the hostel dorms of the Malik Defence Academy at 4.45am every morning, and in 15 minutes, the students are out, running the 2km distance to the Sir Chhotu Ram Stadium. Once there, they run some more, doing multiple laps on the 800m track. Half an hour later, they are put through a variety of push-ups, squats, and strenuous climbs up and down the stadium steps. By 7.15am, the aspirants are back at their hostel, with breakfast scheduled between 8 and 9. From 9.15am to 1.15pm, they attend classes of mathematics, English, science, reasoning, and general affairs. Classes are held for six days a week, with Sunday reserved for chores such as cleaning clothes.
By 3.30pm, every student is meant to be in the makeshift library for “self study”. Two-anda-half hours later, the students are back at Sir Chhotu Ram Stadium, from where they return at 7.30pm. Dinner is served by 8.15pm, and lights are turned off by 11. The use of mobile phones and social media is prohibited, and their only contact with the outside world is through their parents, through the phones of the staff of the academy.
While there are a few permanent staff at each hostel, most teachers are people such as Yogesh Kakodia, a Delhi University Chemistry Honours graduate, who teaches at multiple academies. “Most teachers who work in these institutes are either those who are preparing for other competitive exams, or those who tried but couldn’t within the age limit. If someone teaches reasoning, he will teach the subject in one academy on one day, and then at another the next. Some charge ₹9,000 to ₹12,000 a month from an academy per subject and there are others that get paid ₹450 to ₹800 per lecture,” Kakodia said.
Crackdown
The focus on the role of coaching centres after the Agnipath violence has not been limited to Haryana alone. In Uttar Pradesh, 11 coaching centre operators in Aligarh were arrested for allegedly provoking students to protest. ADG (law & order) Prashant Kumar said last week that police have identified 1,316 coaching centres under 330 police stations that prepare students for army recruitment, and they were keeping a close watch on their activities. Last Saturday, the Telangana Police detained Avula Subba Rao, who ran the Sai Defence Academy in Narasaraopet, for allegedly instigating youth to protest in Secunderabad on Friday, where violence at the railway station saw the death of a 21-year-old. The Government Railway Police arrested Rao on Friday.
Over in Bihar, the lens on coaching centres is not new. January 2022 saw protests erupt in the state after alleged irregularities in the entrance exams of the Railway Recruitment Board. In its aftermath, owners of several institutes were questioned, including 30-year-old Faizal Khan, popularly called “Khan sir”, who runs a popular Youtube channel. The Nitish Kumar government then ordered that all private coaching centres would have to be registered with the state government, with regulations on the kind of staff, student intake, and infrastructure required. Under the Bihar Coaching Institute (Control and Regulation) Rules issued by the state education department on May 18, breach of these conditions would be dealt with pecuniary fines of between ₹25,000 and ₹1 lakh, even the cancellation of registration.
This month, after the Agnipath protests, FIRS were lodged against coaching centres in Bihar. “We have lodged an FIR against four institutes in Masaurhi, and one each of Danapur and Maner for instigating students through Whatsapp messages,” said Patna DM Chandrashekhar Singh.
On Monday, 20-year-old Vikas Kumar left his home in the river island of Haldi Chapra at 7am, hopped on a boat to cross the Ganga, took an auto-rickshaw, and reached the Defence Academy coaching institute in Danapur, a Patna suburb. It was the first time he had made the arduous journey in close to two years. Kumar was 17 when he joined the institute in 2020, even as he was studying in Class 12. For 30 days, he made the two-hour journey every day, studying and training for six to seven hours a day, only to return home by night. In one month though, Covid-19 hit, and the institute shut down.
On Monday, Kumar found that the main entrance was bolted shut. Senior police officials said that the owners of the academy were under police investigation.
“I paid an initial sum of ₹2,000 when I first joined and came here to find out when coaching would resume, since recruitment may be about to start. But the doors of this centre are locked and I don’t know how my future will play out,” Kumar said. “I still want to be in the army. Mera dream hai (it’s my dream).”