Agnipath protests turn violent | Fusion - WeRIndia

The central government announced the Agnipath scheme on Tuesday. It paves way for the recruitment of young adults aged between 17 and 21 years.

Since it is short-term military recruitment, it irked young people. They started protests against the scheme across various parts of the country. The protests turned violent in many parts of the country.

Protestors attacked trains in several states like Bihar. Now the government relaxed the upper age limit for the scheme by two years.  The upper age limit has been increased to 23 years from 21 years.

Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that the government decided to increase the upper age limit, considering the needs of the youth in the country.

The Agnipath scheme is a short-term military recruitment process. Those who qualify under the scheme are called Agniveers. They serve for four years, after which their services will be terminated. They will not have any government benefits, including pensions.

Only 25 per cent of Agniveers will be retained for regular services. Except for them, all the remaining recruits will have to stop their service. It caused anger in the youth of the country.

While the protests against the scheme are going on in the country, the government today announced that the training of the first Agniveers would begin in December 2022.

Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande said that the services of the first Agniveers would begin in mid-2023.

He also said that the recruitment process would begin soon. A notification in this regard will be given. After that, all details, including the schedule of registration will be declared.

Earlier, the central government said that the recruitment process of Agniveers would begin within 90 days. It also said that the first batch would be ready by June or July 2023.

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