Vikramshila Express train set on fire by a mob in protest against the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme, in Lakhisarai, Friday, June 17, 2022. (PTI Photo)Agnipath Scheme: A youngster died and several others were injured after shots were fired on hundreds of protesters at Secunderabad railway station on Friday morning as agitations against the Centre’s new Agnipath scheme for recruiting soldiers across the three services escalated into large-scale violence and arson. In Bihar, internet services were temporarily suspended in 12 districts — Kaimer, Bhojpur, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Buxer, Nawada, West Champaran, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Vaishali and Saran districts till June 19, after protesters there turned violent and targeted the houses of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi and Bihar BJP president and West Champaran MP Dr Sanjay Jaiwwal.
Railway services were disrupted across the country as protesters blocked tracks and set train coaches ablaze in several states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Telangana. Anticipating violence in the state, the Haryana government has suspended internet services in Faridabad district’s Ballabgarh, whereas prohibitory orders under Section 144, restricting gathering of more than four persons, have been imposed in Gurgaon, the police said.
Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Friday hit out at the Centre over the Agnipath scheme. Rahul Gandhi tweeted that Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi does not understand what the country wants, listing out initiatives by the central government that were “rejected” by the people. “He can’t hear anything except the voice of his ‘friends’,” Rahul said. Meanwhile, Priyanka asked PM Modi to withdraw the scheme immediately. She added that the government had changed its rules for the Agnipath recruitment plan in less than 24 hours, indicating that it is being imposed on the youth in a hurry.
Aspirants protest outside the Army Recruitment Office in Ranchi on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)
As violent protests against the Agnipath recruitment scheme continued across the country for the second day on Friday, a youth from Telangana became the first casualty, killed in police firing in Secunderabad.
The protests were most violent in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where protesters set ablaze a train, buses and a police outpost, and NDA-ruled Bihar, where the houses of state BJP president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal and Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi were targeted and several coaches of at least 14 trains were set on fire.
Protests were also reported from other states including Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Read more
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday demanded an immediate rollback of the Centre's Agnipath scheme, calling it an insult to the Army and a loss for the state's youth.
"After stopping recruitment to the Army for two years, the Centre's new diktat is that stay in the Army for four years and then don't get pension," said Mann in a Hindi tweet as protests razed across states for the third day against the scheme.
"This is an insult to the Army. It is a cheating with the youth of the country," he said demanding an immediate rollback of the decision. (PTI)
TRS Working President and Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao on Friday demanded the Centre to review the 'Agnipath' scheme, alleging that the NDA government has taken a unilateral decision on it.
In a statement issued here, the Minister alleged that the scheme is “killing” the aspirations of millions of youth who want to join the armed forces and serve the nation.
Demanding that the Centre take complete responsibility for the protests taking place across the nation, he said the NDA government has reduced the army from 'one rank-one pension' to 'no rank-no pension.' “The BJP government at the Centre has played with the lives of farmers with draconian farm laws and is now adversely affecting the soldiers with schemes like Agnipath,” he charged. (PTI)
Over 300 trains have been affected and more than 200 cancelled so far due to protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the defence services, the Railways said on Friday. It said that 94 mail and express trains and 140 passenger trains have been cancelled due to the protests, while 65 mail and express and 30 passenger trains were partially cancelled.
The Railways has also diverted 11 mail and express trains. The total number of trains affected so far stands at 340, officials said.
According to the last statement by the zonal railways, 164 trains were cancelled in the East Central Railways (ECR), 34 in North Eastern Railways (NER), 13 in Northern Railways (NR) and around three in Northeast Frontier Railways. (PTI)
Internet services have been suspended in 12 districts of Bihar till June 19 amid violent protests against Centre's Agnipath scheme.
The protests against Centre’s Agnipath scheme reached Assam with about 100-150 youths gathering at a stadium at Assam’s Jorhat on Friday morning. However, police said the situation did not get “out of control” and the demonstration was short-lived. “The protestors were planning to move towards the Army Recruitment Office in Jorhat but after the police intervened, they did not move ahead,” said Jorhat SP Mohan Meena, adding that the protestors were sloganeering for a few of hours.
After Palwal and Ballabgarh, Haryana govt on Friday ordered suspension of mobile internet and SMS services for next 24 hours in Mahendragarh in the wake of violent protests against Agnipath recruitment scheme.
Congress MP K C Venugopal writes to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence chairperson requesting to convene an urgent meeting to discuss in detail the scheme with all stakeholders and defence experts.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday hit out at PM Modi asking him to ‘stop hiding behind military chiefs’ and ‘have the guts to take ownership’ of his ‘reckless’ decision.
Amid widespread protests against the Agnipath scheme which have largely affected train services with protesters blocking tracks and setting fire to railway coaches, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw appealed to the youth to not indulge in violent protests and refrain from damaging Railways property.
In an attempt to quell the anger of the protesting youth across the country, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that the government’s decision to give a one-time, two-year relaxation in the upper age limit for recruitment in the armed forces under the new Agnipath scheme shows that the government cares for the youth.
He said that the government has announced “a one-time upper age limit relaxation for the recruitment process through Agnipath scheme for 2022 to 23 years” and this “indicates that the government cares for our youth”.
As protests against the government’s new recruitment policy for the armed forces continue unabated, Army Chief General Manoj Pande welcomed the government’s decision for the age relaxation. The decision to allow youth up to age of 23 years to be eligible under the scheme this year as recruitments had been stalled since 2020 was announced late on Thursday evening. Read more
In Telangana, one protester lost his life while several others were injured, after the police allegedly opened fire on a mob at Secunderabad railway station as protests against the Agnipath scheme escalated into large-scale violence and arson.
Following violence and arson at Secunderabad Railway Station on Friday which left at least one dead and several others injured, the Hyderabad metro rail services were cancelled for the day. Security has also been increased at other railway stations, with police with riot gear being deployed at all stations.
All gates of the Delhi Metro's ITO station are closed, the DMRC said Friday as members of the Left-affiliated All India Students' Association protested against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and demanded its rollback.
The AISA also demonstrated against police action on those protesting against the Agnipath scheme.
"All gates of ITO Metro Station are closed," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation tweeted around 12.40 pm as the protest escalated and some members of the student organisation were detained.
The entry and exit gates of some other metro stations including Delhi Gate and Jama Masjid were also briefly closed, the DMRC said. (PTI)
The vehicular traffic on the Pathankot-Jammu and Jammu-Poonch highways got disrupted on Friday as aspirants continued holding demonstrations against the Central government’s new recruitment policy for defence forces, Agnipath, for the second day in Jammu. -- ENS inputs
In Varanasi, two roadways buses were vandalized by youths protesting against the Agnipath scheme.
A police officer said that the youths were spoken to and dispersed. "Situation is now under control. We are doing patrolling," the officer said. -- ENS inputs
In a letter, RJD veteran leader Sharad Yadav has raised concerns over the Centre's Agnipath scheme. He stated, "I do not agree that a young person having served for four years in the Army will get any respectable job except working as Security Guard in some private security agency."
"As I heard from many Ex-Army personnel that a combat soldier cannot be trained in four years, and the scheme thus compromises national security and I absolutely agree with this argument," he added.
"I would like to impress upon the Government and suggest that this Agnipath Scheme requires deep consultation and therefore the scheme needs to be revisited so that not only the youth of the country is reassured that the Government of the day is concerned about them but also security of the country remains a priority for the Government," Yadav said.
India Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari Friday announced that the recruitment process will begin on June 24. He stated, "The government has announced Agnipath Scheme under which youth will be able to join armed forces. The age criteria will be 17.5 to 21 years. Happy to announce that for the first recruitment, the upper age limit has been revised to 23 years. It'll benefit youth."
Police lathicharged protesters in Mathura as the agitation over Agnipath scheme continued on Friday.
Members of the Chatr-Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s student wing, were detained by the police on Friday after they demonstrated against the new Agnipath recruitment scheme, news agency ANI reported.