Andhra Pradesh
\nAuthorities imposed restrictions on Friday on gatherings in a satellite city of India\u2019s capital that is home to offices of several multinational firms, and one person was killed as protests against a new military recruitment process spread.
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government unveiled the new recruitment system this week, called Agnipath or \u201cpath of fire\u201d in Hindi, triggering turmoil with police firing into the air to break up stone-throwing crowds and the torching of railway infrastructure.
\nThe system aims to bring in more people to the military on short, four-year contracts to lower the average age of India\u2019s 1.38 million-strong armed forces and cut down on burgeoning pension costs.
\nBut many potential recruits object, concerned about employment opportunities after serving their four-year terms and disappointed to miss out on a pension, and thousands of young men took to the streets on Friday, with protests turning violent in at least three states.
\nOne protester was killed in a clash with police in the southern city of Secunderabad, a government official said.
\nThe administration of Gurugram district, south of New Delhi, said no more than four people could gather at one place in an effort to forestall demonstrations.
\n\u201cThis order shall come into force with immediate effect,\u201d Gurugram\u2019s administration said in a notice, a copy of which was posted on social media by district\u2019s information department.
\nWhile there have been no reports of protests in Gurugram, some demonstrators were out in the neighbouring district of Palwal on Thursday.
\nSome of the world\u2019s major companies have offices in Gurugram including Microsoft Corp MSFT.O, Meta FB.O and Google Inc. GOOGL.O. it is also home to manufacturing facilities of major Indian companies like Maruti Suzuki MRTI.NS.
\nThe new recruitment system has drawn criticism from opposition parties, and even from some members of Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who say it will lead to more unemployment in a country grappling with joblessness.
\nThe government has said the armed forces aim to recruit about 46,000 people under the new system this year, and will keep only 25 per cent of them on at the end of their four-year terms.
\n\u2018No pension\u2019
\nIn the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, protests erupted in 14 districts, and police fired into the air to push back stone-throwing crowds, senior police official Prashant Kumar said.
\n\u201cThe police are trying to disperse protesters by holding talks with them,\u201d Kumar told Reuters.
\nAvnish Kumar, a 19-year-old from Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Ballia district who hoped to join the army, said he was disappointed with the new scheme.
\n\u201cThe tenure of the job is only four years and only 25 per cent people will get job after that,\u201d he told Reuters by telephone. \u201cThere is no pension.\u201d
\nIn neighbouring Bihar state, protesters torched train coaches in at least two stations and disrupted rail services, police said.
\nHundreds of people gathered in Secunderabad in the south, clashing with police and setting fire to railway station property, police said.
\nThe new process will bring in men and women between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 for a four-year tenure at non-officer ranks, with only a quarter retained for longer.
\nSoldiers have previously been recruited by the army, navy and air force separately, and typically serve for up to 17 years, for the lowest ranks.
\nThe government on Friday also announced a one-time extension for the maximum entry age into the scheme to 23 since recruitment had been frozen for the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andhra Pradesh Authorities imposed restrictions on Friday on gatherings in a satellite city of India\u2019s capital that is home to offices of several multinational firms, and one person was killed as protests against a new military recruitment process spread. Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government unveiled the new recruitment system this week, called Agnipath or \u201cpath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[483,8615,195,8616],"class_list":{"0":"post-266632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-dead","9":"tag-gatherings-banned","10":"tag-india","11":"tag-military-hiring"},"yoast_head":"\n