Shimla, Jun 16 (PTI) There were protests in Kangra and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for four-year contractual recruitment in the armed forces.
The protesters in Kangra, led by Youth Congress district president Pankaj Kumar, tried to reach Dharamshala where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to hold a roadshow, but were stopped by police several km away at Gaggal.
The protesters raised slogans against the government and the prime minister and demanded the rollback of the scheme which they claimed was “a cruel joke” on the unemployed youths of the country.
The police took away the protesters in a bus and dropped them at a place some distance away.
In Hamirpur district, hundreds of unemployed youngsters gathered at Gandhi Chowk Thursday morning and raised slogans against the government for launching the Agnipath scheme.
They demanded its immediate withdrawal and regular recruitment for them in the Indian Army.
They also took out a procession from Gandhi Chowk to the main bus stand in Hamirpur. They tried to block road traffic, but were prevented by police.
A protest march was also taken out through the main bazaar of Hamirpur against the scheme. Leaders and workers of the Congress and the CITU, the trade union of the CPI(M), joined the march.
The government on Tuesday unveiled the scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process.
Under the scheme, youths between the ages of 17 and a half and 21 years will be inducted into the three services. After completion of the four-year tenure, the scheme provides for retaining 25 per cent of the recruits for regular service.
The government has said the new model will not only bring in new capabilities to the armed forces but will also open up avenues for the youth in the private sector. PTI DJI SMN SMN
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