Authorities in India canceled over 500 trains on Monday due to youth protests angry With a military recruitment scheme which they say will rob a career opportunity in the armed forces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last week unveiled a plan called Agneepath, or the “Path of Fire”, which aims to bring down the average age of India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces to fewer, more people on four-year contracts. to be brought into the army.
Analysts say that the scheme will also help in reducing the rising cost of pension.
But protesters say it will deprive them of permanent job opportunities in the military, along with guaranteed pensions, other allowances and social status.
Top defense officials on Sunday said the plan was aimed at modernizing the forces and will not be withdrawn despite protests by thousands of youths who have been attacking and setting fire to trains and clashing with police since last week.
One person has died and the police have arrested more than 300 protesters.
In view of the call for protest strike, more than 500 trains have been canceled on Monday, the Railway Ministry said in a statement.
In the eastern city of Kolkata, a protester held a placard with the message “boycott Agneepath” and demanded the plan be scrapped.
He said, ‘I want the Defense Ministry to stop this experiment. I want a secure job and they have no right to make temporary arrangements,” the youth told a television news channel.
Under this scheme, this year 46,000 cadets will be recruited on four-year terms and 25 per cent of them will be retained after four years. Recruitment is starting this month.
To end the protests, the government has adjusted parts of a plan to offer federal and state government jobs to more soldiers after their service.
A policy analyst said an important part of the plan was to reduce government spending on pensions.
“The Agneepath scheme will reduce the lifetime cost of manpower by several crores (tens of lakhs) of rupees per person,” wrote Nitin Pai, director of the Taxila Institution Center for Research on Public Policy. Mint Newspaper.