George favours compulsory

George favours compulsory
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JULY 2: Defence Minister George Fernandes said on Saturday he favoured compulsory military training for youths in the age-group of 18-22 to imbibe ``patriotism and discipline'' in them.

``Why can't we give three to six months training to the youth so that they are imbibed with the feeling of patriotism and discipline,'' Fernandes said during the valedictory address of a seminar on national security this evening.

He said the only agencies that had broken the barriers of language, caste, creed and religion were the NCC and the armed forces. ``The youth could imbibe these ideas after being subjected to compulsory military training,'' he said.

The Defence Minister said only decentralisation could solve the country's problems. His remarks came in response to the Home Ministry's proposal to create another agency to look into federal crimes. ``I'll offer my views when the proposal comes to the Cabinet, but certainly, more centralisation is not the answer,'' he said.

The Defence Minister observed that growing unemployment was another cause of the threat to internal security. ``It is the main issue in states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and the North-East,'' he said.

The daylong seminar, which was organised by Pragya Sansthan, a voluntary organisation, was addressed by former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, former home secretary N.N. Vohra and senior IDSA fellows B.M. Chengappa and Sridhar.

Observing that internal and external security were inter-connected, as proved by the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir, Vohra felt that any threat to internal security was a threat to the very existence of the state.

Even though the states are empowered with the responsibilities of police and public order, problems arose with the states abdicating their responsibilities in favour of the Centre. ``Both the central police organisations and the army appear to be suffering from stress because of their extensive deployment in troubled states,'' he said.