‘Agnipath’ Row: Protest In Punjab By Army Job Aspirants

A large number of Army job aspirants took out a protest march against the Agnipath scheme here on Sunday and blocked vehicular traffic on the Chandigarh-Una national highway for an hour.

According to police, the protesting youths, hailing from villages around Anandpur Sahib in this district, demanded the Army recruitment process to continue as earlier and immediate withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme.

The protesters raised slogans against the BJP-led central government.

A heavy police deployment was made to prevent any untoward incident.

There have been protests against the Agnipath scheme in many parts of Haryana and a few parts of Punjab in the past few days.

The central government on Tuesday unveiled the Agnipath scheme, under which youths between the age of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted in the Army, Navy and the Air Force for a four-year tenure. Twenty-five per cent of the recruits will be retained for regular service.

The new scheme was projected by the government as a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to enhance the youthful profile of the three services.

On Thursday, the upper age limit was raised to 23 years for 2022 as protests against the new model for enrolment of soldiers into the three services spread.

The announcement of the new scheme came in the backdrop of recruitments into the military remaining stalled for over two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In attempts to quell the burgeoning protests, the home ministry on Saturday announced reserving 10 per cent vacancies in the central armed police forces and the Assam Rifles for 'Agniveers' and a three-year relaxation in the upper age limit.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in the defence ministry for 'Agniveers' who meet requisite eligibility criteria.

(With PTI inputs)