New Delhi: Massive protests erupted in several districts of Bihar on Wednesday, a day after the launch of Centre’s ambitious 'Agnipath' scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, news agency IANS reported. As per the report, thousands of job aspirants who have passed the physical examination in the past, took to the streets, opposing the Centre’s move.
"We have passed the physical examination and are waiting for the written examination. Now, the Centre has said that recruitment will take place only for four years. The Centre is playing with the future of the youths. What will we do after four years," said protesting job aspirant Rajnish Kumar from Muzaffarpur.
As a mark of protest, the agitating crowd burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The district police had to resort to a baton charge to disperse the protestors from Chakkar Chowk in Bhagwanpur and Mandi Chowk.
Meanwhile, in Buxar, the agitating students blocked the Patna-New Delhi main railway track for over two hours.
In the wake of the protests, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, as quoted by IANS said, "After four years on a contract basis in the defence forces, what will they do? Would they do the job of guards of industrial units of BJP's business friends?"
Notably, defence experts are of the opinion that such a move could encourage spying in defence establishments.
"The youth selected for the job in the Indian Army for four years would know everything about the defence establishments where they would be deployed. What would they do after four years? In the early age, if the youth become unemployed, they may compromise the secrets of defence establishments as they can be targeted very easily. Honey traps are an easy option for enemy countries to extract information from them," IANS quoted one of the experts as saying.
To ensure a youthful profile of the armed forces, the Defence Ministry has unveiled the 'Agnipath' scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force for a period of four years.
The recruited youths under the scheme will be known as 'Agniveers'. About 25 per cent of the recruits from each batch would be offered regular service upon completion of the four-year tenure.
Around 46,000 soldiers will be recruited this year as part of the scheme.
Those between the ages of 17 and a half years and 21 years will be eligible for recruitment under this scheme.
In the first year of employment, a soldier will get Rs 30,000. The in-hand amount will be Rs 21,000 while the rest Rs 9,000 will go to a corpus and the government will make an equal contribution per month. The monthly salary in the second, third and fourth year will be Rs 33,000, Rs 36,500 and Rs 40,000 respectively.