Agnipath row: Centre announces incentives, offers talks as protests spread to more states

“The MHA also decides to give 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs & Assam Rifles,” the the ministry tweeted.

New Delhi: The Centre on Saturday announced several incentives including reserving 10 per cent vacancies in its paramilitary defence ministry for Agnipath retirees and said it will look into any grievance about the new military recruitment scheme “with an open mind”, even as violent protests raged on in many states and opposition parties stepped up pressure for a rollback.

In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised. Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
Railways cancelled 369 trains on Saturday and passengers faced a harrowing time. Over 200 trains were cancelled a day earlier after the railways faced the brunt of the protests.

The agitation also spread to southern states including Karnataka and Kerala, with aspirants doing push-ups on roads at some places to register their protest.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi termed the scheme as “directionless” and said her party will work for its withdrawal while while appealing to the youths protesting against the scheme to adopt peaceful and non-violent means to fight for their demands.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann demanded a rollback of the scheme and said those who cleared physical tests in the last two years must get a a chance to appear in written exams for joining the Army.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader claimed that the Agnipath scheme will “dilute” the fighting ability of soldiers and render the youth jobless without without any security for the future..

With the protesting youths alleging that they will be left in a lurch with no retirement benefits after the end of the four-year contract under the the scheme, the ministries of home affairs and defence announced concessions and incentives that will assist retirees in their further employment.

The central government indicated that other departments too were working in the direction after several BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Assam announced various measures to encourage the youth to apply under the Agnipath scheme and assured them reservation.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur appealed to the youths protesting against the Agnipath scheme to shun violence and come forward for talks, asserting that the central government is ready to look into their grievances with “an open mind” and make changes, “if required.

“Violence has no place in a democracy,” the minister said replying to questions at a conclave.
He said the government’s approach on the issue is that it is ready to think with an open mind and make amendments in the scheme, if required, in the the interest of the youth and the country.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it has decided to reserve 10 per cent vacancies for recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles for Agniveers..

“The MHA also decides to give 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit to Agniveers for recruitment in CAPFs & Assam Rifles,” the the ministry tweeted.

Further, for the first batch of Agniveer, the age relaxation will be for five years beyond the prescribed upper age limit, it said.