AGNIPATH PROTESTS

that restricting the age limit to 21 would have kept many of the aspirants completely out of the fold considering the recruitment was halted for two years.

The government’s Thursdaynight decision was meant to address this key concern.

On Tuesday, defence minister Rajnath Singh, along with the three service chiefs, announced the Agnipath scheme for induction of soldiers between 17.5 and 21 years for a four-year period. In the new policy, only a quarter of the initial intake will eventually be absorbed into the forces and allowed to serve for an additional 15 years after a second round of screening. It has also said that Agniveers will be absorbed on priority in other central security forces and be eligible for government jobs such as in the railways.

But some veterans raised concerns about the combat-readiness of the new recruits, their levels of motivation, and whether the prospect of a short tenure will make them risk averse.

Union home Minister Amit Shah and Army chief Gen Manoj Pande were among those who stepped in to assuage concerns. The Army chief said the government’s decision to raise the upper age limit to 23 years from 21 under the scheme in 2022 will provide an opportunity to youths who were preparing to join the force but couldn’t in the last two years. The Centre’s decision to increase the upper age limit will benefit a large number of youth, Shah said.

But the protests spread, seemingly uncontrolled, with crowds squatting on tracks and highways, pelting stones and vandalising public property to vent their anger resulting in losses worth many crores of rupees. At least four trains were set on fire, two in Bihar, one in Uttar Pradesh and one in Telangana.

In Bihar, a mob attacked the home of BJP leader and deputy CM Renu Devi in Patna. In Secunderabad, a parcel coach of a passenger train was set ablaze by a crowd of about 300-350. One person was fatally injured when police fired in the air to disperse protesters on the rampage at the Secunderabad station. Confirming the death, a senior official of the South Central Railway told PTI the firing was done by Railway Protection Force (RPF).

The injured are being treated in the state-run Gandhi Hospital.

In Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia town, youths raised slogans and set an empty train on fire and vandalised a few other trains, prompting police to lathicharge them.

Protests also erupted in Varanasi, Firozabad and Amethi, causing damage to government buses and other symbols of public property.

In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, hundreds gathered on tracks and hurl stones. About 15 protesters were arrested. In Haryana, youths burnt tyres and blocked rail tracks, officials said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited schemes such as GST, noteban, farm laws and now Agnipath and said they were projected to be for the welfare of the people but were rejected by the citizens.

“The prime minister does not understand what the people of the country want, as he cannot hear anything except the voice of his ‘friends’,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. duction of vaccines patented elsewhere without consent, even export these . The decision falls short of India’s demand of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waivers for all Covid-19 related therapeutics and diagnostics. “A decision on diagnostics and therapeutics would be taken in six months. There would be faster pandemic response in future and there would be fewer trade barriers in pandemics,” the Indian commerce ministry said in a statement.

On the issue of food security, the outcome focussed on making food available in developing countries while working towards increasing productivity and production. There will be no export restrictions on World Food Programme purchases for food security in other countries, although domestic food security will take priority, the commerce ministry added in its statement.

India and other developing countries also pushed for a permanent solution on public stock holding programmes, including crop support prices. While this will only be taken up at the next meeting, there was “no negative outcome on India in the agriculture sector,” Goyal said. The permanent solution will now be discussed at the next ministerial.

WTO has also agreed to check illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and mooted “very strict controls” on overfishing so that fish stocks are restored. On e-Commerce, while agreeing to the temporary moratorium, India asked for intensifying discussions on the moratorium, including on its scope, definition and impact for taking an informed decision on the same.This will have to wait, though. Goyal called the outcomes as “100 percent successful” and said Indian delegationled was constantly guided by PM Narendra Modi since June 12 when MC12 met in Geneva.

Goyal said the New India is no longer a weak force to accept dictate of the developed countries in the multilateral forum as it used to do in the last three decades. “India today bats on the front foot rather than being fearful on various issues be it environment, startups, MSMEs or gender equality,” he said.

He said the agreement to check overfishing will not impact Indian fishery sector because curbs are on big players who fish in deep ocean. On public stockholding and country’s food security, he said India’s interests are protected. India remains committed to support the World Food Programme , however, domestic food security takes priority, he said. On temporary waiver of TRIPS decision, he said India pushed for it for other developing and least developed countries as it is self-sufficient on this account and would be helping the global humanity.

Deepak Sood, secretary general of Assocham, said the commerce minister championed “the cause of fishermen and farmers not only in India but all the developing countries” and “a temporary waiver from IPR for the Covid vaccine would bring global equity in making the critical vaccine available to several developing and less developed countries.”