ISLAMABAD, June 16 ( Alliance News): Hundreds of people blocked roads and railway lines in protest against the new system of recruitment for the Indian Army, and a bogie was set on fire.
According to a report by the foreign media, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced 1.38 million recruitments in the army this week with the aim of reducing pension expenses by lowering the average age of personnel.
Sanjay Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Eastern State of Bihar, said that protests broke out in about a dozen places and roads and railway tracks were blocked.
He added that protesters had set fire to a train bogie and vandalized a railway station.
The new system is called Agni Path, under which men and women between the ages of 17 and 21 will be recruited into the army for a period of four years and only a quarter will be recruited for a longer period.
Earlier, soldiers in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force were recruited from the lowest rank for 17 years.
This reduction in tenure has created severe anxiety among aspirants.
Talking to media in this regard, a young man participating in a protest in Jahanabad district of Bihar said, “Where will we go after only 4 years of work?”
“We will be homeless after 4 years of service so we have blocked the roads,” he said.
There were also protests in Bihar and its neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh in January this year over the issue of recruitment in the railways, which raised the issue of employment in India.
