Agnipath sparks on 1st day of monsoon session of Bihar legislature

The leaders of the left parties also carried placards against the Agnipath scheme outside the Assembly. With the RJD and the Congress also against the scheme, the issue may dominate the rest of the session till June 30 and give a rallying point to the Opposition.

Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment in the armed forces echoed in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session on Friday, with CPI-ML leader Satyadev Ram seeking a unanimous proposal from the House for its roll-back to be sent to the Centre.

CPI-ML legislators demonstrate against Agnipath recruitment scheme during the Monsoon Session outside the Bihar Assembly on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

However, Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha calmed him down and asked the leaders to allow the House proceedings to continue amid the chanting of “Jai Shri Ram” by BJP legislators. However, Ram continued, with support from the Opposition benches, despite Speaker repeatedly telling him it was not proper and everything could be done as per the laid down norms only.

The leaders of the left parties also carried placards against the Agnipath scheme outside the Assembly. With the RJD and the Congress also against the scheme, the issue may dominate the rest of the session till June 30 and give a rallying point to the Opposition.

Though the brief session has just four more sittings, the tenor has been set the very first day, when the House was adjourned after obit references and tabling of the reports of House committees and bills passed earlier, which had got the gubernatorial assent.

Bihar Molasses Control (Amendment) Bill was also circulated before its tabling in the House. The bill proposes to decontrol the pricing of molasses, which has been a demand of sugar mills to get market price outside state. Due to prohibition in the state, Bihar at present allows only ethanol production by sugar mills for mixing with petrol.

On Monday next, the government will give statement on a call attention motion on the issue of Bihar students, who returned from war-torn Ukraine and their absorption in the government medical colleges for practical training, as many states have done.