India
Anti-Agnipath protests intensify across India, one dead as police opens fire, mobs burn trains, block roads
New Delhi: As protest against Government of India’s new army recruitment scheme Agnipath continues in different states of the country, one person died and three received injuries this afternoon after railway police open fire at protesters at Secunderabad Telangana Railway Station.
The deceased has been identified as Damodar from Warangal district of Telangana.
The protests also intensified in Bihar with protestors burning over a dozen trains, vandalising public vehicles and blocking roads and highways.
On Thursday, protesters set trains on fire, attacked public and police vehicles as they demanded rollback of the new recruitment scheme for the Indian defence forces.
As protests spiralled, the government raised the upper age limit to 23 years from 21 years for recruitment under the scheme for the year 2022, without making a reference to the turmoil.
From Bihar’s Ara to Haryana’s Palwal, from Agra in Uttar Pradesh to Gwalior and Indore in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, hundreds of young aspirants for jobs in the armed forces took to streets, pouring their anger on public and private property.
Bihar witnessed the violent protests with trains set ablaze, window panes of buses smashed and passersby, including a BJP MLA, pelted with stones on Thursday, the second day of the protest against the scheme which envisages a short four-year term for forces in the three armed forces entailing no gratuity or pension upon retirement.
