Students protest at Delhi's ITO against Agnipath scheme
Students protest at Delhi's ITO against Agnipath scheme (Photo/IANS)
New Delhi: Several students along with the members of All India Students' Association (AISA), Chatr-Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) and Aam Aadmi Party's student wing on Friday staged a protest over the Central government's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and demanded its rollback.
Holding placards, the students raised slogans against the government and sat on the road in between the old Delhi Police headquarters and the Gate No 5 of the ITO Delhi Metro Station.
However, as the numbers kept rising, the security personnel, including CRPF, removed the protesters from the site. Several protesters were detained by the Delhi Police.
One of the protesters said they did not want a contract job. "Where will we go after years? Our life and career is at stake. The government needs to take it back," a protestor said.
AISA National President N. Sai Balaji said the government cannot silence voices protesting against a policy that will dilute security of India and professionalism of the Defence forces. "Agnipath will destroy lives of youth who will be hired through contractualisation in Defence forces," he said.
Meanwhile, DMRC informed that all gates of ITO Metro Station and Dhansa Bus Stand Metro stations were closed in wake of the protest. It further informed that all gates of Delhi Gate and Jama Masjid Metro Stations were also shut.
The Union Cabinet had on Tuesday approved the 'Agnipath' recruitment scheme for the Indian youth to serve in the Armed Forces. The youth selected under this scheme will be known as 'Agniveers'. About 46,000 of them will be recruited this year.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the scheme is a transformative initiative and under it the Indian youngsters will get an opportunity to serve in the armed forces.
"The scheme will increase employment opportunities and aims to create a youthful profile of the Armed forces," Singh said.
However, the scheme, termed as a historic and transformative measure by the government, has met unprecedented levels of agitations and protests in several states across India.