New Delhi, June 17: Mob set trains on fire in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this morning as the protests over the new military recruitment policy, Agnipath, entered the third consecutive day today. The government has defended the scheme, calling it "transformative".
The house of Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi was attacked in Bettiah in Bihar's West Champaran district amid protests against the new recruitment scheme that has set off a firestorm. Ms Devi is currently in Patna.
Trains were set afire, public and police vehicles attacked in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for the third consecutive day today amid protests against the new recruitment scheme that has set off a firestorm.
In Uttar Pradesh, a mob entered a railway station in Ballia this morning and set a train coach on fire, and also damaged railway station property before the police used force to disperse them.
Another group of protesters carrying sticks argued with the police on the streets outside the railway station in the eastern UP district. Videos of the protest show young men with lathis breaking shops and benches at the railway station. "The police managed to stop the mob from large-scale damage. We will act against the men," Ballia District Magistrate Saumya Agarwal told reporters.
Two coaches of the Jammu Tawi Express train were set on fire at Mohiuddinagar station in Bihar, officials told NDTV, adding no one was hurt in the incident.
Several parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have witnessed protests over the new military recruitment policy. The protest had spread to BJP-ruled Haryana and Madhya Pradesh too. Phone internet and SMS have been snapped for 24 hours in Haryana's Palwal district following stone-throwing and violence by protesters.
Bihar bore the brunt of the violence with trains set ablaze, window panes of buses smashed and passersby, including a ruling BJP MLA, attacked with stones on Thursday, the second day of the protest against the scheme which proposes a short four-year term for soldiers in the three armed forces entailing no gratuity or pension upon retirement. The new plan aims to cut down the government's massive salary and pension bills and free up funds to buy arms.
The government unveiled Agnipath on Tuesday -- calling it a "transformative" scheme-- for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis.
Protesters are unhappy with the changes, particularly the length of service, no pension provisions for those released early, and the 17.5 to 21-year age restriction that now makes many of them ineligible.
The Opposition has also stepped up its attack on the government over the new recruitment scheme with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi not take 'agnipareeksha (trial by fire)' of their patience by making them walk on Agnipath. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, called the move "negligent" and potentially "fatal" for the country's future.
The age limit for Agnipath recruitment has now been raised to 23 from 21 as a "one-time waiver" following the protests. The government has also put out a 10-point defence of the scheme and assured recruits they will not find themselves in the lurch after completing their four years in the military.
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