Agnipath scheme draws fire from Army aspirants, protest & arson in Bihar; stir in UP, HP & Himachal too

New Delhi: The ‘Agnipath’ scheme launched with great optimism by the Centre, has met with strong protests by many angry youth who been harbouring a desire to serve in the Armed Forces.

Hundreds of Army aspirants took to streets in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & Haryana and launched protests against Centre’s plan to prepare ‘Agniveers’ with 4 years of service. At several places in Bihar, they burnt tyres, disrupted road & rail traffic and demanded that the scheme be rolled back. At Bhabua railway station, the protesters also set a train ablaze.

The Agnipath scheme proposes recruitment of jawans for a 4-year period to serve in the uniform and compulsary phasing out of 75% of recruited jawans with no pension benefits.

#WATCH | Bihar: Armed forces aspirants protest at Bhabua Road railway station, block tracks & set a train ablaze over #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme

They say, “We prepared for long&now they’ve brought ToD (Tour of Duty) as a 4-yr job.Don’t want that but the old recruitment process” pic.twitter.com/TmhfnhHiVg

— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2022

Fiery protests in Bihar

The protest against the ‘Agnipath’ scheme took a violent turn in Bihar as Army aspirants burnt tyres and halted train traffic. In Kaimur district, protesters blocked rail tracks while set fire to a train at Bhabua Road railway station.

In Nawada district, several youths gathered at a spot, burnt tyres and also raised slogans aginast the Agniveer scheme. Protests also took place in Jehanabad & Munger districts.

#WATCH | Bihar: A huge crowd gathers in protest in Nawada, against the recently announced #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme for armed forces. pic.twitter.com/Sjr40Hr0M5

— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2022

Protesters, speaking to media, said that they train hard to get inducted into Armed forces and govt has done great injustice by reducing tenure for 4 years. The government must take back this scheme.

#WATCH | Bihar: Armed forces aspirants protest in Munger against #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme

A protester says “We demand that the recruitment be done as it used to be done earlier,Tour of Duty (ToD) be rolled back & exams be held as earlier. Nobody will go to Army just for 4 yrs” pic.twitter.com/b5dnSUYohW

— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2022

Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh, protesters blocked GT road in Bulandshahr and raised slogans against the Centre. They submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate and demanded that govt takes back this short-term route to Army.

In Gonda, students staged demonstrations by flashing placards while in Unnao, they demanded that traditional scheme of recruitment must return.

Haryana

Haryana also saw group of youths hitting the strees at a couple of areas near Gurugram & Rewari. They laid a seize of the bus stand and blocked traffic on Gurugram-Jaipur highway.

Palwal region also saw demonstrations. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the angry protesters as they burnt tyres and attempted to torch the police vehicle.