The protests against the government’s army recruitment scheme ‘Agnipath’ continued on Monday. Verious state government tightened the security in veiw of the ‘Bharat Bandh’ call given by the armed forces aspirants.
Massive demonstrations erupted last week after the Union government announced the contentious Agnipath scheme to recruit youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces. Taking objections over some of its conditions, the army aspirants have been agitating in 11 states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam.
The row snowballed as demonstrations turned violent in some states. Protesters set trains on fire, vanadalised public and police vehicles, injuirng security personnel. They are demanding a roll back of the scheme — a demand denied by the Centre.
The Centre has also been defending the scheme, explaining that recruits, or ‘Agniveers’, retiring after four years will be given financial aid. Also, in a nod to protesters’ concerns, the government has relaxed the upper age limit from 21 to 23.
