hi INDiA Copyright 2022-2050
Here is all you need to know about the scheme and the latest developments in the protests:
> The “Agnipath” scheme is for recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis. Once this period is completed, upto 25% of aspirants from each batch will be able to join the regular cadre of the armed forces. Under the scheme, around 46,000 soldiers between the ages of 17 and a half years and 21 years will be recruited this year into the three services, the defence ministry had said. The recruitment will be based on an “all-India, all-class” basis that is set to change the composition of some regiments that recruit youths from specific regions as well as castes.
> When the four-and-a-half-year period concludes, it does not promise the candidates a pension or gratuity. However, during this period, they will be paid Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000 per month as salary. Protesters have asked why the scheme only lasts over four years, and they say there is no security once it is completed.
> Aspirants began protesting the Agnipath scheme in Bihar, and had blocked railway tracks, threw burning tyres on roads and performed push-ups and other drills on the streets as a mark of protest against it. There was violence reported from many places, and in Nawada, BJP MLA Aruna Devi, who was on her way to a court, was attacked by the agitators who hurled stones at her car, leaving five persons, including the legislator, injured. Stationary trains were set on fire in Bhabhua and Chhapra and in Arrah, police resorted to firing tear gas shells at the railway stations to disperse protesters. Train services across the state were affected as tracks were blocked in several places including Buxar, Katihar, Saran, Bhojpur and Kaimur. Many bystanders also suffered injuries due to stone pelting.
> Hundreds of young people took to the streets in Haryana’s Gurugram, Rewari and Palwal against the Agnipath scheme, with protesters blocking highways. A police vehicle was damaged in stone pelting in Palwal, and the Agra Chowk on National Highway 19 was blocked. In Gurugram’s Bilaspur and Sidhrawali, protesters laid a virtual seizure on bus stands and roads and held a protest at Bilaspur Chowk, disrupting traffic on the Gurugram-Jaipur highway. Heavy police force was rushed to these spots to curb the protests.
> Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr and Ballia districts also saw protests. According to local residents, the protesters gathered in Khurja locality and the city area of Bulandshahr and raised slogans against the Union government demanding it to withdraw the scheme.
With PTI inputs