Agnipath Protest: More Concessions Announced for Retrenched Agniveers as Violence Continued Unabated
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 18: The Train services was suspended for the day on Saturday in Bihar and will be suspended again on Sunday as the anti-Agnipath scheme protests continued unabated on the fourth day despite the centre announcing a series of measures for the “Agniveers” to quell the anger among the young aspirants for the army jobs.
Bihar continued to be the worst-hit even as the violence spread to the southern states and hit Kerala on Saturday. As the trains remained the main target of the protesters to express their anger against the central government’s army recruitment scheme, the railways suspended the train services in the state till 8 P.M. on Saturday and said similar suspension would continue on Sunday to stop all train movements in the state from 4 A.M. till 8 P.M.
The government announcement of 10 per cent job reservations in services related to the defence and home ministries for the 75 per cent “agniveers” turned back after four years, comes as the protests against the new military recruitment scheme spread across the country. Sources say this ten per cent reservation will be in addition to the ten per cent quota that already exists in CAPF for ex-servicemen.
A railway station and a police vehicle were torched, and several law enforcers injured in stone-throwing as protesters tried to enforce a bandh, calling for a rollback of the new scheme for recruitment in the armed forces. Over 350 trains were cancelled on Saturday across India as deadly violence by armed forces aspirants upset with the new programme continued in several states despite new assurances and concessions by the government. The Home and Defence ministries promised new 10 per cent quotas each in jobs for ‘Agnipath’ recruits after their four-year tenure. The Ministry of Shipping also announced plans to induct Agniveers.
In Uttar Pradesh, the police arrested 250 people over the violence that erupted after the scheme was announced on Tuesday and registered cases against 400 unknown people. 150 others were charged by the railways police in the state.
In Kerala, hundreds of young men took out huge protest rallies in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, demanding immediate exams for army recruitment. In Karnataka, the police used sticks to disperse protesters as they attempted to take out a march in Dharwad.
In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao expressed shock and grief over the death of a 24-year-old man, who died after security personnel opened fire at agitators at the Secunderabad railway station on Friday. Rao announced ₹ 25 lakh compensation to his family and also a government job for an eligible relative.
In Bengal, train services in the North 24 Parganas district were disrupted for around one hour as a group of agitators blocked railway tracks and did push-ups as a mark of protest.
In Haryana, protesters set a vehicle on fire outside the Mahendergarh railway station while a group of over 50 agitators raided the Ludhiana railway station in Punjab, damaging property. In Rajasthan, hundreds of young men held demonstrations at various places including Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jhunjhunu, and blocked the Jaipur-Delhi Highway in Alwar briefly.
The opposition maintained the pressure on the government, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is in hospital with Covid issues, calling the Agnipath scheme “directionless” and saying that her party would work for its withdrawal.
As the protests continued for the fourth day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with the chiefs of the three services — Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari. There was no official statement about the meeting, but later the defence ministry followed by the union home and shipping ministries announced a number of concessions for the retrenched “Agniveers” to mollify the angry youths.
Rajnath Singh strongly defended the Agnipath scheme saying it was announced after wide-ranging consultations including with the ex-servicemen and blamed the protests on a misunderstanding spread for political reasons.
In a bid to quell the angry youths, the centre after relaxing the age bar, announced more job opportunities for the 75 per cent who would not be consumed by the defence forces after four years. Among the new concessions announced were ten per cent jobs in the coast guard and state-run defence firms will be reserved for Agniveers by the Defence Ministry, 10 per cent vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces or CAPFs and Assam Rifles would be reserved for Agniveers by the Home Ministry, Three years in age limit relaxation for recruitments in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers, employment opportunities in merchant navy for Agniveers from Indian Navy and six service avenues for induction by the Shipping Ministry.
Earlier, the age limit for the Agnipath scheme was raised from 21 to 23 as a one-time relaxation in view of the two-year break in recruitment because of Covid. Several state governments have said they will give preference to Agniveers in police recruitment. The National Institute of Open Schooling to launch customized courses for 10th-pass Agniveers and help them obtain 12th-pass certificate.
Singh termed the Agnipath scheme as a ‘transformative reform’ and noted that several Government departments have announced priority in selecting Agniveers, upon completing of four years, for their recruitment processes and added that If they want to do any other work, they would also be given the facility of loan at a cheaper rate.
Singh also stated that Agniveer was not just the name of bringing new recruits in the armed forces but they would also be given the same quality training that soldiers are getting today. “Training time may be short but there will be no compromise in the quality,” he added.
On Tuesday the Government announced the “Agnipath” scheme for recruitment of the youth in the armed forces for four years, after approval by the Union Cabinet and the age bracket for new recruits was fixed at 17 ½ to 21 years of age. This led to massive protests and violence across several states and late on Thursday evening the Defence Ministry announced a one tirme upper age limit relaxation for the recruitment process through Agnipath scheme for 2022 to 23 years citing the fact that it was not possible to undertake recruitment during the last two years due to the pandemic.
The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had slammed the new army recruitment framework. Both parties claimed Agnipath would corrupt the Army’s standing as a cohesive fighting force.
But even as the agitation took a violent turn and the opposition parties slammed the government on the scheme, the BJP spokesperson said “Agnipath” was well thought-out plan of the Modi government taken in the larger interests of both the youths and the country and would not be rolled back. The party’s national spokesman Guru Prakash Paswan claimed that the protests against the scheme was borne out of misconceptions among the youths and there was no question of the Modi government withdrawing it as being demanded by some of the opposition parties.
