Agnipath, fire and misfire

Modi govt's biggest flaw has been its disinclination to accept limitations of electoral majorities. This ruined land acquisition and farm reform, and stalled labour codes

The opposition to the Modi government’s Agnipath scheme is being led by the articulate community of senior veterans on social and mainstream media and by India’s dangerously burgeoning population of jobless youth. Especially in the Hindi heartland.

Counterintuitive though it is, we have to also note that these young people understand the nub of the “problem” with Agnipath way better than the senior veterans do.

Most of the veterans are outraged because — among many things that they see as wrong with Agnipath — they think the Modi government is using the armed forces for employment generation.

The young see Agnipath as the