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At least one person has died and several others injured as angry mob set trains on fire and clashed with police in several states over the new military recruitment policy, Agnipath. The government has defended the scheme, calling it "transformative".`

As violent protests against Agnipath, the Centre’s new short-term recruitment policy for the armed forces, spread to more states, with train coaches being set on fire and BJP offices and leaders being singled out for attack, there’s growing realisation in the ruling party that the problems of unemployment and the economy could snowball into a major challenge for the party and its government.

With key NDA ally JD(U) leading calls for an immediate review of Agnipath, the new short-term recruitment policy for the Armed Forces, after violent protests seeking a rollback erupted in several states on Thursday, the Centre announced a two-year relaxation in the upper age limit for the scheme this year since there was no recruitment in the services “during the last two years”.

After a day that saw large groups of youths blocking roads, pelting stones, torching train coaches, and targeting BJP offices and leaders, the Defence Ministry said that it would allow those who were 21 years old in 2020, when recruitments were stalled, to be eligible — only for this year.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to opposition leaders Mamata Banerjee, Mallikarjun Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav to evolve a consensus for the presidential candidate for the elections on July 18. Sources said the senior BJP leader made calls to these leaders, on a day the opposition held a big meeting to discuss a joint candidate for the polls.

The BJP has authorised Singh and national president JP Nadda to consult with other parties for building consensus on a presidential candidate. The defence minister made calls to Kharge, Banerjee and Yadav besides some other leaders. Opposition leaders asked Singh about BJP-led NDA’s nominee for the presidential election, sources added.

Singh has also spoken to BJD chief Naveen Patnaik as well as NDA ally and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Nadda, meanwhile, reached out to allies NPP and LJP. The party president also spoke to National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, whose name is one of the two to come up during the opposition meeting.

The government on Tuesday announced to recruit 10 lakh people in different Central government departments and ministries in the next 18 months on a “mission mode”, a deadline that ends barely 4-5 months before the Narendra Modi government again seeks mandate from people to come to power.

“PM Narendra Modi reviewed the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries and instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the Government in mission mode in the next 1.5 years,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.

A national daily on April 3 had first reported about the PM’s focus on filling up vacancies quickly and to start the process within months. Following this, every department and ministry had prepared a list of vacancies against the sanctioned posts.

Amid moves to forge consensus for an opposition-backed candidate in the presidential polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar quietly nipped in the bud a proposal to prop him up as a contender. “I am not in the race, I will not be opposition candidate for the President’s post,’’ the 81-year-old ex-defence minister and CM told a gathering of NCP cabinet members on Monday.

Pawar’s statement came a day after the Maharashtra Congress expressed support for his candidature. AAP’s Sanjay Singh had also called on him on Sunday. An NCP leader said Pawar will enable a dialogue among opposition parties to ensure unity on the issue. An NCP source said Congress’s Ghulam Nabi Azad is a viable choice.

“The general feeling was that the opposition will put up a consensus candidate despite the lack of adequate numbers...BJP alone has 300 members in the Lok Sabha, which is a huge number,’’ he said. Its strength in state legislatures adds to its clout. However, the NDA is somewhat shot of the halfway mark and is expected to bank on support from the Jagan Reddy-led YSR Congress and BJD led by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. An NCP leader said the YSR Congress and BJD have between them 7-8% of the votes, but they are expected to be either neutral or vote for the NDA nominee. The NDA has the option to renominate Ram Nath Kovind, field Venkaiah Nadu or opt for a surprise pick.