India calls off hundreds of trains as more protests loom over
recruitment
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[June 20, 2022]
By Subrata Nag Choudhury and Jatindra Dash
KOLKATA/BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) -
Authorities in India cancelled more than 500 trains services on Monday
because of calls for protests by young men angry with a military
recruitment plan that they say will rob them of the opportunity of a
career in the armed forces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government last week unveiled the plan
called Agnipath, or "path of fire", aimed at bringing more people into
the military on short, four-year contracts to lower the average age of
India's 1.38 million-strong armed forces.
Analysts say the scheme will also help cut burgeoning pension costs.
But the protesters say it will deprive them of the opportunity of a
permanent job in the military, and with it a guaranteed pension, other
allowances and social status.
Top defence officials said on Sunday the plan was aimed at modernising
the forces and would not be withdrawn despite protests by many thousands
of young men who have attacked and torched trains and clashed with
police since last week.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/20/images/ads/current/napa_sda_HEROES_2022.png)
One person has been killed and police have arrested more than 300
protesters.
The railway ministry said in statement more than 500 trains had been
called off on Monday in view of calls for protest strikes.
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![](../images/062022PIX/news_i21.jpg)
Indian Youth Congress supporters, are detained by the police during
a protest against the Agneepath recruitment scheme on a street in
Mumbai, India, June 18, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/20/images/ads/current/graue_21BLAZER_081621.png)
In the eastern city of Kolkata, a protester held a
placard with the message "Boycott Agnipath" and demanded the plan be
scrapped.
"I want the defence ministry to stop this experiment. I need a
secure job and they have no right to offer temporary arrangements,"
the young man told a television news channel.
Under the scheme, 46,000 cadets will be recruited this year on
four-year terms and 25% of them will be kept on after the four
years. Hiring starts this month.
In a bid to end the protests, the government has adjusted parts of
the plan to offer more soldiers federal and state government jobs
after their service.
One policy analyst said a key part of the plan was aimed at reducing
government expenditure on pensions.
"The Agnipath scheme will reduce the life-time cost of manpower by
several crore (tens of millions) rupees per head," itin Pai,
director of the Takshashila Institution centre for research on
public policy, wrote in the Mint newspaper.
(Additional reporting, writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Robert
Birsel)
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