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Israeli defence firm Smart Shooter wants to ‘make in India’, seeks more contracts

Representational image of Israeli firm Smart Shooter's SMASH 2000 Plus system deployed on a rifle | Photo courtesy: Captain Fred Warmer

epresentational image of Israeli firm Smart Shooter’s SMASH 2000 Plus system deployed on a rifle | Photo courtesy: Captain Fred Warmer

New Delhi: Israeli defence firm Smart Shooter, whose new-age fire-control system turns assault rifles into smart weapons, is looking to set up a manufacturing plant in India, eyeing more contracts besides the one it has already bagged from the Indian Navy.

The Navy had last month gone in for an unspecified number of ‘SMASH 2000 Plus’ systems, which are already in use by Israeli and American special forces, apart from some other countries. The Army and the Border Security Force are evaluating it for anti-drone operations. The system features a built-in targeting algorithm that can track and hit multiple targets at first shot, including drones.

“We have got the permission from our defence ministry, and we are willing to cooperate with India,” Smart Shooter’s vice-president (business development) Abraham Mazor told ThePrint.

Sharone Aloni, vice-president (research and development), added that while Smart Shooter currently does all research, marketing and production from its facility in Israel, the firm is looking at the possibility of making the system in other locations, and India is one of the options.

The company, in a statement to ThePrint, said it is committed to complying with all Indian requirements and regulations as part of the ‘Make in India’ programme.

Mazor stressed that Smart Shooter owns the entire intellectual property and technological knowhow of the system, and so, there will be no issue in transferring it to India.

“It all depends on quantity, and quantity should justify the investment we are going to make,” he said.

For future contracts, the firm has tied up with an Indian company, Defsys.

“We have cooperated with a local company. We are together planning how to make it in India,” Mazor said.


Also read: Gen Naravane’s Chanakya neeti for future wars will require India to spend money smartly


What is SMASH 2000 Plus?

Mazor noted that the modern battlefield is becoming more complex, but, with the SMASH system, a soldier has to simply decide whom or what he wants to shoot at.

Aloni said the system can be fixed on to any assault rifle without any need of modifications in most cases, adding that the system focuses on “one shot, one hit”, or the first-round hit.

“The system tells the user when to shoot,” Aloni said, adding that the company first went in for ground targets and moved on to aerial targets like drones.

Mazor said, worldwide, a lot of research and development has gone into making weapons accurate, but there has not been much movement on assault rifles, which continue to be fired in bursts to get a good hit.

“The SMASH 2000 changes the way a soldier functions in the battlefield,” he said.


Also read: Two new Israeli assault rifles Arad and Carmel now set to be manufactured in India

 


BKU trains women in driving tractors to lead January 26 farmers’ procession The union has planned to train 500 women as tractor drivers

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Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 4

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) is imparting driving training to women hailing from villages, who will then lead the procession of tractor-trolleys carrying farmers to participate in the ‘tractor parade’ in Delhi on the Republic Day.

The BKU’s local unit has roped in tractor drivers to train women in driving skills so that they can drive on the highways to reach Delhi on January 26.

The union has planned to train 500 women as tractor drivers.

“While many of these women already have tried their hands on the wheels, they need to sharpen their skills to drive the tractors on the highway and roads in Delhi during their procession,” said one of the trainers.

Sankyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of around 40 protesting unions, had announced on Sunday to march towards Delhi with a “tractor parade” on the Republic Day if the Centre fails to accept their demands.

Ramraji Dhull, BKU leader from Jind district, said they had planned to take nearly 20,000 people from Jind district to Delhi to participate in the procession.

“The women-driven tractors will be in the front row of the parade that will carry women activists,” he said.

“Some women can drive a tractor in fields to perform farming activities such as ploughing. But they don’t have the exposure of driving on the roads. We have roped in drivers to impart training for these women so that they can drive to Delhi. They are doing a good job and are quick learners,” he stated.


SC treats Panjab University students’ letter on ‘excesses against farmers’ as PIL

SC treats Panjab University students' letter on 'excesses against farmers' as PIL

Students seek inquiry into the Haryana Police’s use of water cannons, tear gas shells, lathis on protesting farmers.

New Delhi, January 4

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by 35 students of Panjab University, who had written a letter to the Chief Justice urging him to take cognizance of “excesses” against protesting farmers. The top court has registered the letter as a PIL.

The students have sought direction from the top court to order an inquiry into the Haryana Police action of illegitimate use of water cannons, tear gas shells and lathis on peaceful protesting farmers. The letter contended that farmers are protesting peacefully, but the government is not sensitive to these issues.

The students have urged the Chief Justice to direct the Haryana police and Delhi police to withdraw all the cases against innocent farmers which were registered as political vendetta and order a probe into the cases of illegal detention of farmers. “Firstly, in a democratic country, the will and sentiments of people are sine-qua-non. But, here the Government of India is turning deaf and indifferent in toto to the farmers’ plight. We believe the course of action taken by the Government of India is insensitive to understand farmers sentiments”, said the letter.

The students from the Centre for Human Rights and Duties, Panjab University, Chandigarh, sought a direction to both the Centre and state governments to ensure the safety of all protesters, and provide basic amenities to all, especially women, children and the elderly. Mobile toilet vans should be provided at the protest sites.

The farmers have been protesting at various Delhi borders for over a month, asking the government to repeal the three recently enacted farm laws.

The students also sought a direction to curb fake news and action against media channels indulging in misrepresentation and polarisation of the whole issue.

On December 17, the Supreme Court had unequivocally pronounced that it will not interfere with the farmers’ protest and the right to protest is a fundamental right. However, it emphasized on forming a committee comprising of independent and impartial persons — experts in the field of Agriculture — to resolve the impasse between the Centre and the farmers’ unions.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian had said: “We clarify that this Court will not interfere with the protest in question. Indeed, the right to protest is part of a fundamental right and can, as a matter of fact, be exercised subject to public order.” The observation from the top court came after learning from the Centre that roads are blocked by the police in order to prevent the entry of the protesters/farmers into Delhi.


Punjab farmer turns truck into makeshift home at Singhu border Others have made makeshift gyms, libraries and community centres.

Punjab farmer turns truck into makeshift home at Singhu border

Farmers’ unrest that has entered Day 40. Reuters photo.

New Delhi, January 4

As the face-off between the farmers and government over new farm laws await a breakthrough, the onslaught of biting cold wave accompanied by thunderstorms and rain over the past days, have forced a vast populace awaiting at the Delhi border to innovate ways and means to survive the crisis.

At the Singhu border, adjoining Haryana, a Punjab-based farmer has turned his container truck into a makeshift home. Others have made makeshift gyms, libraries and community centres.

Harpreet Singh Mattu, the farmer from Jalandhar, who is part of the farmers’ unrest that has entered Day 40, has equipped his container truck with all kinds of basic amenities.

Mattu told IANS that it took him two days to build the temporary accommodation. He has also been serving ‘langar seva’ at the border since December 2, 2020.

The makeshift home is equipped with every facility you want in a normal functioning home. It has a TV and even a functional toilet along with mobile charging points, a bed and a few sofas.

Mattu told IANS: “I came here at the Singhu border on December 2 last year and since then started a ‘langar seva’ for the farmers who have been continuing with the protest till date.” “On December 8, I turned my truck into a temporary accommodation, for which I have sought assistance from my colleagues,” said the Jalandhar-based farmer.

“There are 12 other trucks owned by me which are busy serving other protesting farmers by providing them blankets to protect them from the biting cold.” –IANS


Humility in Hall Bazaar by Lt Gen RS Sujlana (retd)

Humility in Hall Bazaar

Lt Gen RS Sujlana (retd)

During a trip to the holy city of Amritsar, a naval mate of mine, Arvind, took me on a memorable walk through the back lanes of the Old City. A raconteur by habit, I was regaled by many a tale. When we entered the famous Hall Bazaar, he halted in front of Sur Chemists. This, he said, was once ‘Surbabu and Company,’ owned by Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s father, a doctor, and served as his clinic.

The Field Marshal, born and brought up here, had studied at Amritsar’s famed Hindu College. Years later, he visited his alma mater, and humbly attributed his achievements to his former gurus and mates there. His sister, Mrs Chawahji, was a respected and caring mathematics teacher at the local St Francis School.

Arvind’s father, a college mate of the Field Marshal, also had a family shop here and a visit there was equally interesting. My attention was drawn to a photograph of an elderly gentleman. ‘Who is this?’ I enquired. ‘My grandfather,’ said Arvind, and kept quiet. Thankfully, another person furthered the introduction. The portrait was of Prof Ram Chander Kohli, remembered and respected for his convictions, humane and humble qualities, an outstanding educationalist who was an MA in pure maths from University of Calcutta in 1922 and BA in French from University of Punjab.

The professor, a person of simple habits, always wore plain clothes, but he had his own way to convey a message. Once, like a commoner, he had queued up to register himself in a government office. When his turn came, the clerk, thinking him to be illiterate, held the professor’s thumb and impressed it in lieu of the signature. Unperturbed, the professor took out his pen, signed and endorsed his name, annotated with MA, BA. The clerk, taken aback, asked the next person in line, ‘Sign karoge ki angutha lagaoge?’ The lesson was delivered.

The professor worked in the English department prior to Independence. Once, an Englishman walked into his office. Uninvited, he took a chair and directed him to do something which was in contravention to rules. The professor refused to abide. The Englishman was given the option to leave his office or be thrown out! Dazed, he left in a huff.

To avoid any embarrassment, the professor handed over his resignation letter. The day he left office was a hot summer day. Near his house, he observed a beggar in a rather pitiable state, trudging barefoot. The professor asked Arvind to give the beggar a pair of his shoes. A few days later, the same beggar was found barefoot again.

The professor asked his grandson to give him another pair of shoes. The grandson protested. The professor replied that the beggar must have bartered the first pair for something he needed more. The grandson had to relent.

I again looked at the portrait. Kindness seemed to flow from his eyes. I left with a prayer that may many such plebeians be born to right the growing decadence in our society.


Why I declined to be a ship-breaker

Why I declined to be a ship-breaker

Photo for representation only. – File photo

Lal Singh

I RECENTLY read an article regarding INS Viraat going to Alang, a graveyard for decommissioned ships. I reminisced of the time when I was an engineer with India’s pioneer shipping company, Scindia Steam Navigation, in Bombay. The company came into being in 1919 and ruled the seas in cargo trade. It had a fleet of over 60 ships. As a ship aged and became economically unviable, it was either sold to a new company that repaired and ran the ship or it was declared unseaworthy, when it became a liability, instead of an asset.

If a ship was declared unseaworthy, Alang was its final resting place. For any officer and crew who worked on board that ship, it was a heart-wrenching moment as all that was left was the memory of a ship whose name was etched in their mind, of the wonderful, varied experiences they had on board which enhanced careers, the moments she rose and crashed with each wave, how many ports the ship had called on, and of so many untold tales. It may have been the death of the ship, but the ship lived on in the memories of all who served on her. A ship-breaker will never understand the soul and story behind each ship.

For the ship-breaker, she was just a piece of metal — to be torn apart and her parts resold to the highest bidder. Though merchant navy ships can’t be compared with INS Viraat, and whose sailors, too, must be remembering their service on her, but for the crew serving on cargo and passenger ships, attachment with their livelihood providers can’t be underestimated.

After serving for long in the merchant navy, I explored the options of a shore job. Coincidentally, while travelling on a train, a co-passenger got interested in my experience as chief engineer on board a merchant ship. He was the owner of a ship-breaking company and came straight to the point and made a lucrative job offer at Alang. For a while, I was tempted, but there was a gnawing at the back of my mind which stirred my conscience into declining his proposal. After all, it was the ships that provided me with a job, livelihood, sights of the world, and places visited, sometime with my family on board. My conscience would not permit me to tear it apart.

How could I think of a service in which I have to supervise the very breaking up of a ship that had provided me with resources for a good living? I was trained to repair and run her, even with all her age-related problems.

Just like the sea waves, life too has its crests and troughs, and so all things must come to an end, as is the law of nature. But for those whose lives have revolved around it, it leaves an indelible imprint, to be cherished forever.


Unwise to tinker with composition of Gorkha units

he quality of Indian-domiciled Gorkhas has been a continuing problem. While better educated, they lack the spirit, tenacity and mountain craft of their cousins from Nepal. More recently, the numbers required to fill the 40% quota were not forthcoming despite some relaxation in standards. It is surprising the MoD did not sanction the quick and easy solution: a two-year reprieve for increasing the Nepali quota from 60% to 70-80%. This would make good the shortfall

.Unwise to tinker with composition of Gorkha units

FIXED DNA: Initially, only Gorkhas from Nepal were recruited. Around 1975, the plan was changed to having around 30% recruits from Indian-domiciled Gorkhas. Tribune photo

Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd)

Military Commentator

Nepal was in the news in 2020, but the MoD’s tinkering with the legendary Gorkha Regiments slipped under the radar. For diehard Gorkhas, it was like fake news: the recent report stated that the Army Headquarters had sanctioned for next two years’ recruitment from Uttarakhand of Garhwalis and Kumaonis for three Gorkha regiments from the next recruitment cycle.

This is the first time that non-Gorkhas are being recruited in Gorkha units. Last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no recruitment had taken place and the 1, 5 and 8 Gorkha regiments — already deficient of 100 to 150 soldiers in each battalion from the authorised strength of 850 — would be worse off.

Tinkering with the fixed-class composition of the single-caste infantry regiments, especially Gorkha battalions which are drawn predominantly from Nepal, is an unwise step when easier options are available. If, as seems likely, it is a political decision, though some discount it, it has the potential to undermine a valuable Indian strategic asset in the politically contested Nepal and the haloed infantry regimental system.

Gorkhas were recruited in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army in Lahore much before they joined the British Indian Army in 1815. Any Nepalese who becomes a soldier of fortune is called Lahure. The British kept the Gorkhas insulated from other Indian regiments and only the British were allowed to command them till the Partition, when most Gorkha regiments volunteered to remain in India.

When the 5th Gorkhas was raised (1815) initially, it had one-third each of Gorkhas, Kumaonis and Garhwalis as Gorkhas were not available in sufficient numbers as Rana rulers would not allow it. During the expansionist rule of the Shah dynasty, the Himalayan kingdom had extended its borders from the present Mechi to Mahakali rivers further east and west up to the Teesta and Sutlej rivers and south into UP and Bihar. All of Kumaon and Garhwal became part of Nepal and shared several affinities on becoming cousins.

But that is no justification for the retrograde step. Bureaucrats and politicians who never served in the Indian Army (IA) do not understand the bonding in the infantry regimental system where the battalion torch is passed on from family and village for generations. Any tampering with its composition and traditions is dangerous.

The recruitment of Gorkhas is regulated by the Tripartite Treaty of 1947 between Nepal, India and the UK, which permitted recruitment from Nepal for the British, Indian and Nepali armies. The IA has 43 infantry battalions in 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 11 Gorkha regiments. The British, who at the end of World War II had 51 Gorkha battalions, are left with just two battalions. Field Marshal Bill Slim, a 6 Gorkha officer, lamented in 1947: “Gorkhas march on in glory, but alas, no longer on our side.”

The 9th Gorkhas consist of Brahmins, Thakuris and Chhetris; and Rais and Limbus of east Nepal join 11 Gorkhas. The other five regiments recruit mainly Magars and Gurungs from central and western Nepal. Initially, only Gorkhas from Nepal were recruited; this was changed around 1975 to 70 per cent from Nepal and 30 per cent from the Indian-domiciled Gorkhas (IDG).

In the 1990s, the proportion was changed further to 60:40, whereas Gorkha officers have been recommending reverting to 70:30 as the quality of IDG was below par. The fear is that the government wishes to make it 40:60, devaluing the foreign asset.

The quality of IDG has been a continuing problem. While better educated, they lack the spirit, tenacity and mountain craft of their cousins from the north. More recently, the numbers required to fill the 40 per cent quota were not forthcoming despite some relaxation in standards. In 2015, to prove a political point to Nepal’s Communist parties which are periodically threatening to stop recruitment, the then Army Chief, Gen Dalbir Singh, ordered the raising of a new all-IDG battalion — 6/ I Gorkha Rifles. The current drought of IDG — in both numbers and quality — though puzzling, may not be a short-term problem.

The existing deficiencies in some Gorkha regiments are a serious handicap, given the challenges on the LAC and LOC. It is surprising the MoD did not sanction the quick and easy solution: a two-year reprieve for increasing the Nepali quota from 60 to 70-80 per cent. This would make good the shortfall, instead of by inducting Kumaonis and Garhwalis into Gorkhas, especially when the new DMA is headed by the CDS, Gen Bipin Rawat, a second-generation Gorkha officer. That is, unless curtailing recruitment from Nepal was being used to counter Kathmandu’s cartographic aggression. But relations with Nepal seem to be on the uptick now.

Acknowledging in 2014 the vital Gorkha connect in Nepal’s parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: no war has been fought by India in which Nepali blood has not been shed. The Gorkha network in Nepal is a million-strong, including the ex-servicemen’s extended families that cherish and foster this bonding. You have to visit Pokhara, the hub of the Indian Gorkha ex-servicemen, to feel their infinite linkages with India displayed while commemorating battle honour days.

They are India’s ambassadors in Nepal’s nook and corner; even facing flak from their compatriots when India-Nepal relations nosedive due to incidents like the economic blockade or the maps row. Regimes may change in Nepal but the Gorkha-India bonding will survive and thrive. Former Indian ambassadors to Nepal acknowledge that the Gorkha connect is one of the foundational pillars of bilateral relations, especially when political and diplomatic channels weaken.

In 1974, a nutty proposal emanated from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to stop the recruitment of Nepali Gorkhas and disband the Gorkha regiments around the time Nepal had proposed the ‘zone of peace’ idea. The then PM, Indira Gandhi, on the recommendation of Army Chief Gen Gopal Bewoor, a Gorkha officer, rejected it.

In 1915, in a war document, Gen Sir Ian Hamilton, not from any Gorkha regiment, wrote: “The fame of Gorkhas will never die. And if any politician of the hereafter dreams of disbanding their cadre or changing their number or any other like atrocity, may the perusal of this document paralyse his sacrilegious hand.”

Today, 115 years later, Hamilton’s warning remains relevant. The MoD should order a temporary reversion to the 70:30 policy of recruitment to avoid changing the DNA of Gorkha regiments.


Pak caught in maze of legality over Gilgit

For CPEC to succeed, Gilgit-Baltistan has to be a full-fledged province of Pakistan, with three seats in each House to reflect Gilgit, Diamer and Baltistan divisions. Yet, if it does so, Pakistan virtually ends the Kashmir dispute, by which it claims the whole of Kashmir as one entity that should decide its own future.

Pak caught in maze of legality over Gilgit

STRATEGIC POSITION: The CPEC enters Pakistan in Gilgit-Baltistan, and any trouble in this area will hit the entire $60-billion economic corridor. Reuters

Tara Kartha

Former Director, National Security Council Secretariat

It is probably not going to be a happy new year for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). That region, however, may well hold the key to the future in 2021 for Pakistan internally, for India-Pakistan relations, and certainly, for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through it.

At present, neither part of Pakistan nor separate from it, given the iron grip of the military, its status as the last truly colonial set-up seems about to it change, as Pakistan readies itself to give the area a full provincial status, thus doing the very changing of borders that it accuses India of. There’s also more to come that threatens to overturn the fragile area into a legal minefield.

Recent reports indicate that Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted a 12-member committee to make recommendations for turning GB into a province with federal secretaries of defence, foreign affairs, finance and others, including the Attorney-General, as part of it. The committee is chaired by Minister of Kashmir Affairs Amin Ali Gandapur, a rather colourful politician who once threatened a missile attack against any country that supports India. It is his task to allot Pakistan territory that at present lies wholly outside its constitutional ambit.

In simple words, turning Gilgit Baltistan into a province will require a constitutional amendment, which means agreement in two-thirds of both Houses in Parliament. The ruling party at present has a slender majority. The committee is to consider the issue through the lens of the UN Resolutions on Kashmir as well as a strange Supreme Court order that extended its jurisdiction to a territory that is not part of Pakistan. It’s all inextricably complicated.

Many wonder why Pakistan is considering this legally challenging task when it already has GB by the throat. Under the guise of giving it more powers, Islamabad had passed the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 which effectively reversed some marginal freedoms granted earlier by removing an entire tier of government and remanding the powers to the Prime Minister. This created protests across party lines, with this being called an ‘Emperor’s Ordinance’ and subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court.

The court on January 17 opined that the Pakistan government could not change the status of the area, harking back to the ‘principled position’ of the government on the Kashmir dispute. In another twist, the court then allowed Islamabad to hold General Elections in GB anyway, which led India to issue a demarche to a senior diplomat in Delhi, stating that GB was, in fact, a part of the Indian territory. It’s all a little like spaghetti, with a great many entangled strands. And in the middle of it all are the unfortunate people of GB.

Now it seems that the Centre has decided to move the Frontier Corps, Pakistan’s primary paramilitary force, to Gilgit-Baltistan to ‘protect the forests’. The Prime Minister is reportedly personally monitoring this move apparently against the timber mafia operating for decades in the area. Who is going to pay for this deployment is unclear, though it would seem that GB would have to dip into its pocket since the administration, which is remote-controlled from Islamabad, ‘sought help’ for the problem.

Social media is accusing Islamabad of turning the state into a garrison. That suspicion is not without basis. After all, this is a government which has decided to build a wall around Gwadar that will check its own population from going in. If it can do this on legitimate Pakistan territory, it can do almost anything else in its colony.

The reason for this hurrying is not hard to fathom. First, the announcement of making GB into a province happened just before elections. As veteran diplomat Sartaj Aziz observed recently, realisation dawned that the move would be a win-win for the ruling party. Expectedly, they turned to the Army Chief, who together with the ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, had the now famous secret meeting with major party leaders and persuaded them to come on board. Apparently, the leaders naively agreed, with the caveat — clearly an army idea — that the actual legislation should be after the elections.

Unsurprisingly, the PTI won the elections, which in any case shows little. As local reports indicate, despite the noisy electoral exercises, the people remain voiceless and powerless. Despite the mighty Indus flowing through their territory, electricity is a scarce commodity, as is the Internet.

There is a second and more important reason for all this activity. The all-important CPEC enters Pakistan in GB, and any serious trouble in this highly strategic area will hit the whole $60-billion CPEC. In addition, is the geographic importance of the area. There are plans to build connectivity to Tajikistan, while recently Pakistan announced the seeking of a loan of $4.8 billion for international financial institutions for setting up a railway track through Afghanistan to the Central Asian connectivity node in Uzbekistan.

This follows hard on the heels of India also courting Uzbekistan for connectivity through Chabahar. With Russia also apparently on board on this exercise, its academics have been roped in to sell Pakistan as a pivot to being the ‘Zipper of Eurasia’, a rather curious term, considering how quickly Pakistan tends to unravel. For CPEC to succeed, however, GB has to have a modicum of legal stability. No project that wants its bank guarantees will take off unless GB’s archaic laws are changed to match the mainland, that it is not yet a part of.

For CPEC to succeed, GB has to be a full-fledged province of Pakistan, subject to the same laws, and with at least three seats in each House of Parliament to reflect its three divisions of Gilgit, Diamer and Baltistan. Yet, if it does so, then Pakistan virtually ends the Kashmir dispute, by which it claims the whole of Kashmir as one entity that — according to its ‘principled position’ — should decide its own future. The probability is that GB will be given only a ‘provisional’ constitutional status, but that’s legally questionable. Will the votes of the three members be ‘provisional’?

Meanwhile, India is likely to be kept busy as Pakistan makes its way through this maze of legality to gulp up territory it never had or legally claimed in the first place. In comparison, the setting aside of Article 370 is a mere constitutional whisper.


To fuel stir, ex-Army man foots diesel bill

To fuel stir, ex-Army man foots diesel bill

Goldy Manepuria, ex-army man

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Dhariwal (Gurdaspur), January 4

Cash-rich Punjabis and NRIs of Majha have propped up a Gurdaspur-based ex-Army man as their frontman to anonymously pump in massive doses of funds to sustain the farmers’ agitation.

Goldy Manepuria, Ex-army man

Tie-up with stations

I have tied up with almost all fuel stations on the 120-km highway. Whenever a tractor needs diesel, all owner of the pump has to do is call me and I deposit the money in his account.

Goldy Manepuria has also, rather inadvertently, sparked off a Twitter spat between actor Swara Bhaskar, who praised his efforts, and a TV news anchor, who called him “a fake Army man” and asked the Army to check his credentials. Hailing from Manepur village, Manepuria is the go-to man for farmers travelling to the Capital. He ensures that every tractor-trailer gets fuel from petrol pumps located on the Pathankot-Gurdaspur-Batala national Highway. The onus of picking up the tab is on him.

“I have tied up with almost all fuel stations on the 120-km highway. Whenever a tractor needs diesel, all owner of the pump has to do is call me and I deposit the money in his account,” said Manepuria. Ever since December 16, when the first tractor was refueled, the man has made a Dhariwal-based pump his home. He is aided by Kanwalpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh.

He says the maximum rush was seen on December 24 and 25, when farm leaders had given a call that 250 trailers from Majha should reach Delhi. On all other days, 60 to 80 vehicles on an average are provided diesel.

“We spend Rs 4,500-Rs 6,000 on fuelling one tractor. Most of the protesting peasants have small landholdings. I myself own just two acres…I can feel the pain of my brethren. The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be compassionate. Members of my community are sitting there in biting cold. To me, a community is like a ship. Everybody ought to be prepared to take the helm,” he said. He is not willing to reveal the names of his benefactors “because they themselves want to work incognito”. Manepuria said he was livid when the TV anchor cast aspersions on him. “I uploaded a video informing him that I have served at the China border in freezing cold. I also invited him to leave the comfort of his TV studio and brave it out with my brothers in Delhi,” he added.


Trust offers free education to deceased farmers’ kids

Trust offers free education to deceased farmers’ kids

Photo for representation only. – File photo

Sangrur, January 4

Acknowledging that financial aid given by the government was insufficient for the families of all deceased farmers, members of the Sant Attar Singh Gursagar Mastuana Trust have decided to provide free education to all children of the deceased and extend other help also.

The trust runs various institutes to provide education in pharmacy, physical education, computer science, management, science, arts and commerce. It also runs an academy affiliated to the CBSE till Class XII.

‘Centre must help’

  • SGPC president Jagir Kaur on Monday said the Modi government should give the status of martyr as well as compensation to the families of all those who lost their lives during the farm agitation

“The farmers, who lost lives during the agitation, are our martyrs as they have laid down their lives to save the farming of Punjab. We have decided to provide free education and all possible help to their families,” said Lehra MLA Parminder Dhindsa, who is a trust member and former minister. His father and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is the chairman of the trust.

Parminder today visited Lidhran village and met the family of Shamsher Singh who died at the Delhi border on Sunday. Since Lidhran is near Mastuana, the trust has announced giving a job to the next of kin apart from providing free education and other financial help.

“Around 20 children of farmers, who committed suicides due to debt, have been studying for free here. Our members will visit the families of deceased farmers in the coming days to make them aware of the free education here,” said Jaswant Singh Khaira, secretary of the trust. — TNS