Agnipath protests | Rajnath Singh meets Army soldiers amid protest against new recruitment plan

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met Army soldiers in J&K's Baramulla as protests against 'Agnipath', govt's new plan for recruitment to the armed forces turned violent in Bihar and other states.

He is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir during which he will review the overall security situation in the Union territory.

The defence minister will visit various forward areas and review the preparedness of Indian armed forces.

Trains were set afire, window panes of buses smashed and passersby, including a ruling BJP MLA, pelted with stones on Thursday in Bihar by Army job aspirants whose protest against the Centre's short-term recruitment scheme, 'Agnipath', continued for the second consecutive day.

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Police fired teargas shells and charged baton to disperse the angry youngsters who blocked railway tracks, threw burning tyres on roads and performed push-ups and other drills on the streets as a mark of protest against the new recruitment process, under which hiring has been proposed for a four-year-period followed by compulsory retirement, for at least 75 per cent of the personnel, without any pension benefits.