Members of the South-Western Railway mazdoor union, Mysuru division, staged a demonstration in the city on Wednesday and flayed the Agnipath scheme related to defence recruitment.
The demonstration was part of a pan-India protest held by the union and the leaders questioned the scheme on the grounds that the Government was playing with issues related to the security of the country.
Arthur Fernandez, divisional level president, Shivaprakash, secretary, and others said that the protest was called by the Working Committtee of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation. They said the Federation strongly felt that the policy of the fixed term employment in different departments of the Central Government would not be conducive for providing regular employment to large-number of educated unemployed youth of the country.
With respect to recruiting Agniveers in the armed forces for a fixed term of 4 years, the Federation said that it was detrimental to the interest of the departments concerned and disappointing for those enrolled under such a scheme.
Speakers addressing the protestors said though those released after 4 years have been promised a hefty sum, youths in their early 20s will be on the roll of unemployment and their future will be at stake. Though various State Governments have promised priority and reservation, it only ‘’upto 25 per cent’’ and the rest will have to fend for themselves. About 250 to 300 workers took part in the agitation and sought a rollback of the scheme.
