1 dead in protests over India’s military recruitment policy

By OMER FAROOQ and ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — At least one person has been killed as angry young people in parts of India burned train coaches, blocked highways and attacked police with rocks in a second day of violent demonstrations against a new short-term government recruitment policy for the military. Police say the death occurred in Secundrabad in southern India, where vastly outnumbered police used batons and fired shots at about 500 protesters who rampaged at a railroad station for more than an hour. Fifteen people were reportedly injured. Under the new program, the armed forces this year can recruit 46,000 men and women, but only for four years. Seventy-five percent of them are required to retire after four years with no pension benefits.