Indian gov’t offers more relaxations for recruitment scheme amid protests

NEW DELHI, June 18– In its second bid to curb the ongoing violent protests over the new recruitment scheme, the Indian government on Saturday announced a 10- percent reservation in defense ministry jobs for new recruits. The scheme selected youths for a period of four years to serve the security forces, and provide 25 percent of them permanent employment, with the…

NEW DELHI, June 18 (Xinhua) — In its second bid to curb the ongoing violent protests over the new recruitment scheme, the Indian government on Saturday announced a 10-percent reservation in defense ministry jobs for new recruits.

The scheme selected youths for a period of four years to serve the security forces, and provide 25 percent of them permanent employment, with the rest 75 percent removed from service after four years.

The scheme had enraged the youths, who protest over the scheme rendering them jobless after four years, demanding long-term army recruitment instead of the four-year period of service.

They also protest over its age bracket between 17-and-a-half years and 21 years, as many who exceeded the age limit were said to have been preparing for the recruitment for the past two years when no fresh recruitment was available during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, the government announced a one-time relaxation of the requirement, lifting the age limit from 21 to 23 years for the first batch of recruits.

During the protests, agitated youths burnt many trains and damaged public property. The epicentre of protests has been the eastern state of Bihar. Enditem