Agnipath protest Highlights: 1 dead in Secunderabad; internet services snapped in 12 districts of Bihar

Job aspirants on Friday staged a protest here against the Centre’s “Agnipath” scheme and demanded its rollback. The Centre on Tuesday unveiled the ambitious scheme for recruitment of the youth aged between 17 and a half and 21 in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis.

The youth recruited under the scheme will be known as "Agniveers". After the completion of the four-year tenure, 25 per cent of the recruits from each specific batch will be offered regular service.

Internet services have been suspended in 12 districts of Bihar till June 19. The districts are Kaymer, Bhojpur, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Buxer, Nawada, West Champaran, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Vaishali and Saran.

Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said Air Force selection under Agnipath scheme will start from June 24. He added that the raising of the upper age limit for induction under Agnipath scheme would permit a larger section of youth to enroll as 'Agniveer'

Secunderabad Railway station vandalised and a train was set ablaze by agitators who are protesting against the new military-recruitment policy.

Protests against the Centre's Agnipath scheme for recruitment in defence services continued across Rajasthan on Friday with protesters holding demonstrations, taking out rallies, blocking railway tracks and damaging public property.

In Bharatpur, hundreds of youths blocked the Agra-Bandikui railway track. Wearing masks, some of them pelted stones at police personnel due to which police resorted to firing tear gas shells to disperse the mob.

One person was dead and thirteen others were injured among the ones brought to the hospital for treatment in Hyderabad. Among the injured, 1 person was also in critical condition since he had received a chest injury. "We are examining the remaining," Raja Rao, Superintendent, Gandhi Hospital, on protest over the Agnipath scheme

In a video message, the Union Railway minister requested people to not damage Railway properties. "I appeal to the youth to not indulge in violent protests and not damage the property of the Railways. Railways are the property of the country," said the minister.  

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the country cannot keep solider's on rent. "How can we make them ex-soldiers merely at age of 21? They protect the country in harsh conditions. Soldiers never retire, it's only the public who retire...We don't need a military on rent. Agnipath scheme must be taken back." 

Union minister and former Army chief General V K Singh (retd) on Friday accused the opposition parties of creating a controversy over the Centre's Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment in the defence forces by "provoking" people. Since the Opposition has nothing else to do, it is stoking controversy over the scheme even before its implementation has started, he alleged.

Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport over the violent protests and opposition to the new recruitment scheme, he said, "There is no controversy in the scheme, but a controversy is being created by the opposition, which has nothing else to do. They are being surrounded by the ED..." 

(With inputs from PTI)

A school bus, with children on board, got stuck in the road blockade by agitators in Darbhanga.  The bus, however, managed to get out of the blockade after cops came to their rescue. 

As the Central government is yet to announce the official date of commencement of the Agnipath scheme, Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande on Friday said that the training of first Agniveers will begin in December 2022 and the active service will commence in the middle of 2023.

One person was killed and three others injured in the police firing on youths protesting at the Secunderabad railway station on Friday against the Central government's new military recruitment policy.

More protests broke out in Haryana for the second day on Friday against the Centre's Agnipath scheme, with some youths burning tyres and several others squatting on rail tracks in Narwana and blocking the Jind-Bathinda track, officials said. In Rohtak, the protesting youth burnt tyres, while over 40 youths were rounded up in Ballabgarh for resorting to stone pelting at vehicles on NH 19.

Over 200 trains have been affected so far due to the protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces, the Railways said Friday.

Miscreants opened fire on the police in Sasaram in which a police constable Deepak Kumar Singh was shot in the leg.

Roadways buses were vandalised in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad on Friday as mobs protesting against the 'Agnipath' scheme went on rampage.

The protest against the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme relating to recruitment in the armed forces spread to the South on Friday as police fired in the air to disperse protesters who went on the rampage at Secunderabad Railway station.

The wave of agitations against Agnipath, the proposed short- term entry scheme to the armed forces, on Friday reached West Bengal.

Several students along with the members of All India Students' Association (AISA) on Friday staged a protest over the Central government's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and demanded its rollback.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday hailed the Centre's decision to approve the 'Agnipath' scheme for the recruitment of youth in the Armed Forces.

Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urging him to reconsider the Agnipath recruitment scheme stating that the government has rolled out the scheme to 'bring in temporary soldiers' to our defence forces.

Amid protests against the Centre's Agnipath scheme, Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday hailed the Centre's decision to approve the scheme and called it a "much-required" reform in the defence sector.

The schedule of the recruitment process under the Agnipath scheme will be announced shortly, Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army General Manoj Pande said on Friday.

In a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi said "not even 24 hours had passed" that the BJP government had to change the rules of the new army recruitment scheme. This means the scheme is being imposed on the youth in haste, the Congress general secretary said.

Residence of Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal, in Bettiah, attacked by agitators protesting against Agnipath Recruitment Scheme. At least one Policeman injured. 

The protest against the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme relating to recruitment in the armed forces spread to the South on Friday when unidentified miscreants went on the rampage at the Secunderabad Railway station here, setting on fire a parcel coach of a passenger train. The agitators shouted slogans against the Centre demanding normal recruitment of army jobs. 

Agnipath - youth rejected.
Farm laws - farmers rejected.
Noteban - economists rejected.
GST - traders rejected.

The prime minister does not understand what the people of the country want, as he cannot hear anything except the voice of his 'friends', Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Violent protests over the Central government's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in armed forces continued across Bihar on Friday with agitators disrupting rail and road traffic and setting the Bhagalpur-New Delhi Vikramshila Express and Jammu Tawi-Guwahati Express trains on fire.

Following violent protests in Palwal against the Agnipath scheme, the Haryana government has suspended mobile internet and SMS services for 24 hours in the Ballabhgarh area of Faridabad district as a precautionary measure.

A mob vandalised a train on Friday morning at the Ballia railway station in Uttar Pradesh during a protest against the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme. Police forces have been deployed at the station to disperse the crowd.

The upper age limit for new recruits for the 'Agnipath scheme' has been extended from 21 to 23 amid countrywide protests, said the Central government on Thursday. In a notification, the government said, "Consequent to the commencement of the AGNIPATH scheme, the entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been fixed as 17 ½  - 21 years of age." FULL STORY 

In Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, a mob entered a railway station premises and vandalised a train and damaged railway property. Several parts of Uttar Pradesh are witnessing protests over the new military recruitment policy which was unveiled by the Modi government earlier this week. 

Two coaches of Jammu Tawi-Guwahati Express train were set on fire by a mob at Mohiuddinagar station in Bihar's Samastipur.