After Bihar, Protest Over Agnipath Scheme Spreads To Other States, Train Set Ablaze In Chhapra
The protests over the newly announced Agnipath Scheme for army recruitment have entered their second day in Bihar. Thousands of youths assembled at the Jahanabad railway station on the Patna-Gaya rail route and blocked the tracks. In Chapra a passenger train was set on fire by the protesters. Protests were also from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh on Thursday against the new recruitment policy.
The protests over the newly announced Agnipath Scheme for army recruitment have entered their second day in Bihar.
On Thursday, thousands of youths assembled at the Jahanabad railway station on the Patna-Gaya rail route and blocked the tracks demanding the rollback of the scheme and recruitment under the normal process.
Protesters want Agnipath scheme rolled back
In Chapra, a passenger train was set on fire by the protesters.
#BreakingNews #Bihar students Protest Against ? #Agnipath #Agniveer
¡ª ¡¾N¡¿ ????? ?% Follow Back (@nipulsangneha) June 16, 2022
#AgnipathRecruitmentScheme At #Bhabua station, protesting students put the train in fire.
Armed Forces #???????? After 4 what will #Agniveer do ?#RATS pic.twitter.com/UAlTenFSLk
In Nawada, the protestors burnt tyres at Nawada railway station and on busy Prajatantra Chowk. Due to massive protests, the traffic on the Gaya-Keul rail section was also disrupted.
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¡ª Utkarsh Singh (@UtkarshSingh_) June 16, 2022
The Howrah-Gaya express was also stopped at Warsaliganj railway station. Several trains on this route were also stopped at several stations.
Incidents of stone pelting were also reported from Arrah. Earlier on Wednesday, a large number of youths demonstrated in Muzaffarpur and Buxar districts of the state and disrupted road and rail traffic.
Reuters
What will we do after four years? ask protesters
Many protesters said that the four-year cap makes joining the army a less desirable choice for the youth.
"We demand that the recruitment be done as it used to be done earlier. Tour of Duty (ToD) be rolled back and exams be held as earlier. Nobody will go to Army just for four years," a protestor in Munger told ANI.
"Where will we go after working for only four years?... we will be homeless after four years of service," another protesting youth said.
"We work hard to get inducted into the Armed forces. How will the service be for four years, with months of training and leaves? How will we protect the nation after getting trained for just three years?," another aspirant asked.
Reuters
Youths protest in Delhi, UP, Haryana and more
The protests that started in Bihar on Wednesday spread to other states on Thursday.
In Delhi, more than a dozen protesters stopped a train at Nangloi Railway Station by lying down on the tracks.
According to police, around 15-20 people gathered at Nangloi Railway Station around 9.45 am to protest against a delay in railway recruitment examinations and the Agnipath Scheme.
They stopped a train that was bound for Old Delhi from Jind in Haryana, police said.
#BREAKING | Protests break out across India including Bihar, Jaipur & Delhi against #AgnipathScheme.
¡ª Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) June 16, 2022
A train was stopped in Nangloi, Delhi & another train was set ablaze in Bihar.@priyanktripathi & @ScribeAditya with details!#Agnipath pic.twitter.com/zAI1UpcKWn
Demonstrations were also reported from Bulandshahr, Unnao, and Gonda in Uttar Pradesh with youths taking to the streets demanding that Agnipath Scheme should be rolled back.
Protests were also from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh on Thursday against the new recruitment policy, which the government claim will introduce revolutionary changes in the Indian Army.
#WATCH | Haryana: Police personnel deployed at DC residence in Palwal resorted to aerial firing to warn protesters who were pelting stones at the residence amid their protest against #Agnipath scheme. They were protesting nearby; some Policemen injured, Police vehicles vandalised pic.twitter.com/Bfcb0IZsi8
¡ª ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2022
But for the youths who are aspiring to join the armed forces, the four-year limit on service, without benefits like pension and job security is a massive letdown.
BCCL
The scheme is aimed at slashing the salary and pension bills of the three services, which have been increasing rapidly.
The defence budget of Rs 5,25,166 crore for 2022-23 included Rs 1,19,696 crore for defence pensions.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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