As anti-Agnipath protests spread in Western UP, protestors block Delhi-Agra NH-2

AGRA: Hundreds of vehicles and commuters remained stranded on the busy Agra-Delhi national highway-2 for nearly two hour on Thursday after army aspirants blocked the highway from both sides near Raipura Jat village in Mathura to protest against the Ministry of defence’s recently announced Agnipath scheme.
In Agra’s Bah area, protestors pelted stones on a roadways bus and also blocked the MG road for almost an hour. Police resorted to a cane charge to disperse the protestors and later detained several of them.
Agra SSP Sudhir Singh said that students had blocked the roads and to protest against the centre’s scheme. “We tried to pacify them and asked them to put forth their issues peacefully,” he said, adding that everything is under control now.
In the neighbouring district of Aligarh, youths staged a protest on the Delhi-Gabhana road with sticks in their hand. They demanded withdrawal of the scheme immediately and continuation of the previous recruitment process.
The government has called the Agnipath scheme "historic" and announced that about 46,000 soldiers will be recruited into the army, navy and air force largely on a short-term contractual basis with an aim to cut the ballooning salary and pension bills. Both men and women are eligible, according to the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The ministry had announced that recruitments will start in 90 days and the first batch will be ready by July 2023.