Lucknow – Protesters set a train coach on fire and blocked railway tracks and roads in on Thursday against the new military recruitment system ‘Agnipath’.
The "Agnipath" or Path of Fire programme, unveiled on Tuesday, is aimed at applicants aged between 17.5 and 21. Successful candidates will join the armed services for four years, after which only 25% of them will be retained.
The protests which started in Bihar, spread to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Violence was reported from Chhapra, Jehanabad, Munger and Nawada in Bihar.
The BJP office in Nawada was set on fire, while the train bogie was set ablaze in Chhapra. In Ara, Bihar, miscreants set fire to platform number-4 by dropping a motorcycle and a scooter.
In the Buxar district, more than 100 young men stormed the railway station and sat on the tracks, blocking the onward journey of the Patna-bound Janshatabdi Express for nearly 30 minutes.
Soldiers recruited by the army, navy and air force separately and were allowed to enter service for up to 17 years for the lowest ranks.
"Where will we go after working for only four years?" one young man, surrounded by fellow protesters in Bihar's Jehanabad district, told Reuters partner ANI. "We will be homeless after four years of service. So, we have jammed the roads."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government this week announced an overhaul of recruitment for India's 1.38 million-strong armed forces, looking to bring down the average age of personnel and reduce pension expenditure.
But potential recruits say the scheme does very little to create jobs and opportunities. Several of them shouted slogans like "give us jobs or have us killed" on Wednesday.
The programme has also received criticism from some military generals and defence experts who say it could weaken the structure of the army and could have serious ramifications for national security, especially when India has tense borders with two of its neighbours - Pakistan and China.
"It's a foolish move, one that could affect the efficiency of the security forces," says retired Major General Sheonan Singh.
"Saving money is good but it should not be done at the cost of defence forces. If you go to war with an experienced soldier, will a person with four years of training be able to replace him on his death? These things don't work like this."
This is particularly alarming at a time when the country is facing a persistent job crisis. India's unemployment rate reached nearly 7.83% in April, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent think tank. Millions of Indians lost their jobs when the pandemic struck India in 2020 when the country was already in the throes of a prolonged slowdown.
Besides, the unemployment rate among young people (aged 15-29) has been hovering over 20% for a long time, Mahesh Vyas, the managing director and CEO of CMIE, told The Indian Express.
The government however argues the scheme will help in modernising the army.
-Reuters/BBC/IE