two days after the announcement of the center Agneepath scheme through which soldiers will be recruited into the army on a four-year contract basisProtests broke out in Bihar and Rajasthan as defense job seekers expressed concerns over job security and pensions.
Defense job seekers expressed concern about their next move after completing four years as only 25 per cent of the soldiers recruited through the scheme would be retained for full tenure. The youth who are recruited and not absorbed through Agneepath scheme will be given relief without pension benefits.
He said that recruitment in the army opened after two years and even after that there is no certainty about his future. He asked what would happen to his future after four years if he was not retained, and criticized the government.
Protests continued for the second day at Bihar’s Ara railway station as agitating students continued to protest against the Centre.
protest at railway station in buxur
In Buxar district, over 100 youths stormed the railway station and sat on the tracks, disrupting the onward journey of the Patna-bound Jan Shatabdi Express for about 30 minutes.
They raised slogans against the plan, unveiled by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh the previous day, until security personnel led by RPF Inspector Deepak Kumar and GRP SHO Ramashish Prasad reached the spot and warned them against disruption of rail traffic.
There were reports in a section of the regional media that protesters had pelted stones on the Patliputra Express, which passed through the station, though both Kumar and Prasad denied any such incident.
In the city of Muzaffarpur, a large number of army candidates vented their anger by putting burning tires on the streets around the huge “chakkar ground”, where they come in large numbers for physical tests that are mandatory for recruiting jawans.
Ajmer-Delhi highway closed in Jaipur
In Jaipur, around 150 people blocked the Ajmer-Delhi highway on Wednesday in protest against the Centre’s “Agneepath” plan to recruit youth into the armed forces for a period of four years, police said.
According to Kardhani Station House Officer (SHO) Banwari Meena, around 150 protesters blocked the highway, demanding that recruitment into the armed forces should be done in the earlier manner.
The SHO said the protesters were later dispersed and the highway cleared, leading to the arrest of 10 people.