Demonstrators performed a push-up on June 16, 2022 in Munger, Bihar, India, in protest of the “Agnipass Project” to recruit military personnel with this still image taken from a distribution video. To do.ANI / Distribution via Reuters
New Delhi: Violence broke out in parts of India on Thursday, with thousands of angry young people igniting train coaches and vehicles, blocking highways, rocking police and attacking military forces. Protested the new short-term government recruitment policy.
Police used batons and tear gas to dissolve protesters in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, where they went out into the streets and damaged government buildings.
Police officer SK Singhal said nearly 25,000 police were deployed in the worst-hit Bihar province and protests spread to 12 towns in eight districts. Protesters blocked the highway and interrupted train operations for several hours.
Under a new employment program announced by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh this week, this year’s army will be able to recruit 46,000 men and women between the ages of 17.5 and 21 for only four years. Seventy-five percent of them will be forced to retire after four years without pension benefits.
Full-time hired soldiers have been working for over 35 years.
Shin defended the program, saying its purpose was to “strengthen national security.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, facing a national election in 2024, is under pressure to provide employment as India’s economy recovers from a pandemic downturn. One of the ideas behind short-term military recruitment is that people trained by the military can later look for jobs in the police or private sector.
The government faced criticism from some retired soldiers and opposition leaders.
“I initially thought it was a pilot-based trial. This is a complete change to transform the Indian army into a short-term quasi-conscription army,” said retired general GD Bakshi. Tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi, the main leader of the opposition parliament, urged the government to “listen to the voices of the unemployed youth of the country.”
In the city of Gwariel in central India, train stations were looted, some trains were destroyed, and trash cans were burned.
In the northern town of Lewari, police used wooden sticks to disperse protesters who blocked part of the main highway between the bus stop and Rajasthan and New Delhi, according to the Hindustan Times.
Crowds gathered in the Bulandshahr and Barrier districts of Uttar Pradesh, but the crowds dispersed after authorities ensured that their requests were communicated to them.
