Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20

The social media accounts of the joint forum of farmers were blocked on Sunday evening, within a few hours of a live press conference broadcast through their Facebook page. As the issue snowballed into an embarrassing controversy, the pages were unblocked.

Farmer union leaders alleged that their Facebook and Instagram handles — started last week — were blocked this evening, within a few minutes of their press conference. Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, who has been at the forefront of the farmers’ agitation, was reportedly doing a live session on Facebook when the social media handle — Kisan Ekta Morcha — was blocked.

“This once again raises serious questions about the online censorship that this BJP government is indulging in. On one hand, we have the entire hi-tech team of the BJP spreading “misinformation” about the farmers’ protest, and on the other, our social media handles have been blocked,” alleged Dr Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union.

The farmer unions had launched their social media accounts last week, with a team led by Baljit Singh handling the operation. The idea, say farm leaders, was to counter the “negative narrative” spread by the government and to give their side of the story to the masses, explaining why they were protesting.

Read also: Centre asking questions over foreign donations: Farmer union

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Income tax raids on Punjab arhtiyas

A number of young farmers, and their friends had launched the official social media account for the farmer unions four days back. Together, the two social media platforms have close to seven lakh followers and these are being used by the agitating farmers to broadcast their opinions and announce the next course of action in the ongoing protest.

Baljit Singh, who was heading this IT operation, said it was strange that the pages were blocked without any notification being given by the platforms. “Obviously, the government is behind it. They are scared that our narrative telecast on social media will clear all misconceptions the government is trying to create in the minds of public,” he alleged.

The move to block the social media handles comes closely after the Income Tax raids on the commission agents of Punjab.

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 20  

Experts warned political leadership against bringing communal or ethnic divisions while also cautioning senior officers in military to be alive and sensitive towards such issues during a session on ‘Pluralism, the Armed Forces-and the Question of Who is an Indian’ at Military Literature Festival on Sunday.

Moderator of the session, Lt Gen NS Brar (retd) said that pluralism as against polarisation “is an increasing contentious issue worldwide”.

“No country in the world is as diverse as India. The Indian politics couldn’t and possibly cannot be diverse from exploiting this diversity. But the military in a democracy has apolitical ethos and aspire for professionalism. It appears contradictory but it is not.”

General VP Malik (retd), who led India to Kargil victory, said, “As an organisation, the armed forces are proud of achieving and maintaining unity in pluralism and diversity.”

While commenting on vote bank politics, he said social engineering was being emphasised more than regional or national development and it should be corrected either through courts or Election Commission.

There should be greater emphasis on celebrating national events than religious ones, he said.

Citing an anecdote, Gen Malik said in 1996 when he was Vice Chief of Army Staff, they were not getting permission to celebrate silver jubilee of 1971 Indo-Pak war till the last moment.

“During a meeting in cabinet secretary’s office, the first question I was asked, ‘why do you want to celebrate it? Where is the need? It will upset Pakistan’. Such was the thinking of the government of that time,” he said, and added that it was the greatest military victories in centuries.

“There have been a number of attempts to bring reservation in the Army. Not just during my time but earlier too. All political leaders need to guard against it. When an organisation is working well, why it should be politicised,” he said.

Supporting him, Lt Gen Brar said when we had representation from all states based on their recruitable male population, what was the need of reservation in the military.

Adding a word of caution for politicians promoting division, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said, “We have studied in principles of science that if you boil water at 100 degree Celsius, it will turn into steam. The statecraft is also like science. If you do A, B and C, the country will progress and if you do X, Y and Z, the country will go down. You need peace to progress.”

On military ethos, Maj Gen AP Singh (retd) said that in military the drill of ‘Sarv Dharam Sthals’ gets a solider to celebrate each other’s religious functions. He added that a person could be a staunch follower of his religion before joining the military but after imbibing ethos of his “paltan” such differences become light.

Col Shantanu Pande, who is serving in the Army, said, “When a soldier from Jat regiment stands at the Siachen Glacier, his community, village and entire country is standing behind him.” He added, “We (military) are not a melting pot. We don’t try to fuse. We retain flavour.”

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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 20

A narration of personal experiences of four officers,  who took part in the historic and one-of-its-kind crossing of the Meghna river during the 1971 war with Pakistan, was the highlight of the concluding day of the 4th military literature festival on Sunday.

The annual event conducted in Chandigarh is being held ‘virtually’ this year due to the COVID-19 protocols.

Each officer narrated how the crossing across the Meghna river (Dec 9- Dec 15, 1971) was done while the Indian Army approached to encircle Dhaka (then known as Dacca) from the eastern flank.

Interspersed with some thrilling anecdotes of the war and also the conduct of the 4 Corps Commander Lt Gen Sagat Singh, the session was moderated by Squadron leader Rana TS Chinna, who is part of the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR), under the USI.

Dhaka was then the capital of East Pakistan, the river Meghna was crossed by troops using helicopters while tanks forded across the strong currents leading to a hasty fall of the Pakistan Army.

Lt Gen SS Mehta who led first tank troop — using PT 76 tanks — into Dhaka termed this as victory of democracy over military rule and a victory of humanism over barbarism.

“The game changer was the helicopter-lift for crossing of troops and tanks by fording across the Meghna,” he later told the Tribune. The river has strong currents and is as wide as 15 km.

“The war was about liberation over occupation. Pakistan had occupied it (Bangladesh) and we have liberated them. We did not stay beyond 90 days,” said General Mehta, who was commanding the 5th Independent squadron of his regiment, the 63 Cavalry.

The General, then a Major, did the task of making his squadron tanks cross the river using them in an amphibious role.

The proof is that Bangladesh is a faster growing economy. “We captured Dhaka with just 3000 troops and 30,000 Pakistan Army surrendered”.

He recollected how his tank squadron was parked in the grounds of the Dhaka University and at its edge stood a 16th century Nanak Shahi Gurdwara which was damaged by Pakistan Army and its ‘granthi’ was killed.

The gurdwara was refurbished and troops got in a new granthi too. The first speech of new leaders of Bangladesh in their officiating capacity was made from the gurdwara.

Lt GS Sihota was air operations pilot tasked with Gen Sagat Singh the 4 Corps Commander described how the operation was planned and how the general himself visited each spot to select the best possible location to cross the Meghna after several air reconnaissance sorties.

“Sagat Singh could not accept defeat,” he said.

Group Captain CS Sandhu, who was commanding the 110 Helicopter unit of the IAF, was tasked with ferry troops across the Meghna said the unit had 10 Mi-4 helicopters supplied by then USSR.

“In June 1971, I was told that I would be operating with the 4 Crops and asked to go and see General Sagat Singh, who then advised me to train for night flying.”

With just a navigation light, a small cockpit light and with no radio transmission permitted, the task was to coordinate the flying speed of the copters with accuracy to prevent any mid-air crashes. The training was done post-monsoons in 1971.

From December 9 to December 15, IAF helicopters lifted 6,000 men from the east bank of the Meghna and dropped them at the west bank of the river for the onward march to Dhaka, he said.

Maj Chandrakant Singh, who was in the infantry, described the battle of Akhaura as the toughest battle of the eastern sector. Akhaura is further east of Meghna and close to Tripura, India.

By December 6, the troops were moving towards the river line of Meghna.

“The planning to heli-drop troops was conveyed over night and it helped us push Pakistan further westwards towards Dhaka. Sagat Singh was clear in his mind that he would use helicopters in an offensive role”.

The moderator Squadron Leader Chhina, said these individuals on the panel shaped the destiny of three countries and the operation across the Meghna was a  daring plan which led to the fall of Dhaka

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 20

In response to media queries on allegations by Pakistan regarding Indian forces targeting a UN vehicle across the LoC, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the allegations by Pakistan regarding an incident on December 18 was investigated in detail and found to be factually incorrect and false.

“Our forward troops were aware of the visit of UN Military Observers in the area and did not conduct any firing as alleged,” said Srivastava.

Instead of repeating baseless and fabricated allegations against India to cover up its own failure in ensuring the safety and security of UN personnel in territory under its control, Pakistan should responsibly investigate its lapses. India has conveyed its findings and views on these misrepresentations to the Pakistani side, he added.

Pension Payment Order (PPO) is an important document as far as Pensioners are concerned which determines the Pension to be fixed at the time of retirement. Until October 2017, process of issuing PPO was done manually by PCDA.

PCDA has started issuing electronic-Pension Payment Orders (e-PPOs) for all defence pensioners including defence civilians. The shift from manual system to e-PPO system is expected to minimize delays in pension disbursement and further revision as and when needed. This initiative also eliminates the occurrence of human errors in data entry at multiple levels.

Retired Officers Digital Records Archive (RODRA)

MP 5&6, AGs Branch, Army HQ is responsible for maintaining records of serving and veteran officers of Indian Army.

All Veteran Officers of the Indian Army (less AMC, ADC, MNS & TA), Spouses of such officers in receipt of family pension & Dependents other than spouse in receipt of family pension should register themselves at the RODRA site, https://rodra.gov.in/.

Procedure for Registering (Sign up):

1. You will need to have the following data therefore keep a copy of your original PPO before your enter your particulars in RODRA web page:-

(a) Service No without suffix (e.g. IC27563).

(b) Date of Birth in dd/mm/yyyy format (e.g. 20/03/1948).

(c) Date of Commission in dd/mm/yyyy format (e.g. 13/01/1972). For technical graduates your first date of training in IMA/ OTA is the date of your short service commission. Do NOT enter your actual date of passing out. You were granted Short Service Commission on the first day of training hence that is your date of commission. You can see this in your original PPO also. For all other entries, you see your PPO for date of commission.

(d) Date of Retirement in dd/mm/yyyy format(e.g. 31/03/2004).

(e) Mobile No (10 digits only).

(f) E-mail id.

2. Decide on a password. It should have a minimum of eight (8) characters, where at least one capital letter, one special character (e.g. @, $,&) and one numeral (0 to 9). Note this down for future use. There is a facility to change the password at a later date. If by chance you ever forget your password, there is a provision for you to reset it. For example Narendra@72 is an example. Keep your password as simple and short as possible.

3. Entering Data. Click on Sign Up. Enter all the particulars as mentioned above. Enter Catchpa exactly as is shown. Click on Submit.

4. OTP. MP 5/6 collected some data with the PPOs they have. Therefore, your data must match with theirs. Then only your data will be accepted. Once your data matches with data held by MP 5/6, you will be informed that OTP will be sent to your mobile no and e-mail id. Once you see OTP in your mobile, enter it for verification.

5. After this is done, then you will shown your user name i.e. IC number and you will be asked to enter a password. Enter your password. Click on “Submit” button. You will be informed that you have been successfully registered.

6. Open the website https://rodra.gov.in/.

7. Click on the “Login/Sign up” tab or Click on “New Users Sign up Here”.

8. Enter your user name (IC Number without suffix) and password. Type the Catchpa exactly as is shown. Click on Submit.

9. You will be taken to first page where in some details of yours held by MP 5/6 like your service no, rank, name in full etc are shown.

10. To get your e-PPO, click on “Downloads”. If your PPO has been issued by PCDA (Pension), it will be available for download in pdf format.

The following link shows the various steps for registering oneself on the RODRA website.

https://rodra.gov.in/rodra_helpdesk.pdf

Sirs, hope you all have got Veterans I Cards issued. It is a ATM card sized I Card with your two photos- one in Uniform of last rank and one in civil dress. You apply to Stn HQ. Details given above

HOW TO REGISTER AT RODRA AND GET YOUR 7 CPC – E-PPO

Pension Payment Order (PPO) is an important document as far as Pensioners are concerned which determines the Pension to be fixed at the time of retirement. Until October 2017, process of issuing PPO was done manually by PCDA.

PCDA has started issuing electronic-Pension Payment Orders (e-PPOs) for all defence pensioners including defence civilians. The shift from manual system to e-PPO system is expected to minimize delays in pension disbursement and further revision as and when needed. This initiative also eliminates the occurrence of human errors in data entry at multiple levels.

Retired Officers Digital Records Archive (RODRA)

MP 5&6, AGs Branch, Army HQ is responsible for maintaining records of serving and veteran officers of Indian Army.

All Veteran Officers of the Indian Army (less AMC, ADC, MNS & TA), Spouses of such officers in receipt of family pension & Dependents other than spouse in receipt of family pension should register themselves at the RODRA site, https://rodra.gov.in/.

Procedure for Registering (Sign up):

1. You will need to have the following data therefore keep a copy of your original PPO before your enter your particulars in RODRA web page:-

(a) Service No without suffix (e.g. IC27563).

(b) Date of Birth in dd/mm/yyyy format (e.g. 20/03/1948).

(c) Date of Commission in dd/mm/yyyy format (e.g. 13/01/1972). For technical graduates your first date of training in IMA/ OTA is the date of your short service commission. Do NOT enter your actual date of passing out. You were granted Short Service Commission on the first day of training hence that is your date of commission. You can see this in your original PPO also. For all other entries, you see your PPO for date of commission.

(d) Date of Retirement in dd/mm/yyyy format(e.g. 31/03/2004).

(e) Mobile No (10 digits only).

(f) E-mail id.

2. Decide on a password. It should have a minimum of eight (8) characters, where at least one capital letter, one special character (e.g. @, $,&) and one numeral (0 to 9). Note this down for future use. There is a facility to change the password at a later date. If by chance you ever forget your password, there is a provision for you to reset it. For example Narendra@72 is an example. Keep your password as simple and short as possible.

3. Entering Data. Click on Sign Up. Enter all the particulars as mentioned above. Enter Catchpa exactly as is shown. Click on Submit.

4. OTP. MP 5/6 collected some data with the PPOs they have. Therefore, your data must match with theirs. Then only your data will be accepted. Once your data matches with data held by MP 5/6, you will be informed that OTP will be sent to your mobile no and e-mail id. Once you see OTP in your mobile, enter it for verification.

5. After this is done, then you will shown your user name i.e. IC number and you will be asked to enter a password. Enter your password. Click on “Submit” button. You will be informed that you have been successfully registered.

6. Open the website https://rodra.gov.in/.

7. Click on the “Login/Sign up” tab or Click on “New Users Sign up Here”.

8. Enter your user name (IC Number without suffix) and password. Type the Catchpa exactly as is shown. Click on Submit.

9. You will be taken to first page where in some details of yours held by MP 5/6 like your service no, rank, name in full etc are shown.

10. To get your e-PPO, click on “Downloads”. If your PPO has been issued by PCDA (Pension), it will be available for download in pdf format.

The following link shows the various steps for registering oneself on the RODRA website.

https://rodra.gov.in/rodra_helpdesk.pdf

Sirs, hope you all have got Veterans I Cards issued. It is a ATM card sized I Card with your two photos- one in Uniform of last rank and one in civil dress. You apply to Stn HQ. Details given above

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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 19

India’s little known victory over China in 1967, which had a significant impact in the future course of events South Asia on Saturday, took the centre stage with a discussion on a recently published book, ‘Watershed 1967—India’s forgotten Victory Over China’ by Probal Dasgupta at the ongoing Military Literature Festival here.

The author spoke about the purpose of writing the book during the Doklam stand-off in 2017, when he realised that much of the ongoing discourse in India’s public domain was fixated around India’s 1962 debacle against China.

He said that It struck him as odd that India’s victory of 1967 over its arch rival had been buried and forgotten. Speaking about the China-Pakistan nexus in 1965, which forms the beginning of the book, he also discussed the involvement of the US Central Intelligence Agency and a think tank in Arlington, Virginia, which knew of a Sino-Pakistani plan to capture Kashmir alongside with making inroads into Sikkim that would to force India in to a defensive negotiating position resulting in taking Kashmir in exchange for Sikkim, then a protectorate state.

Former GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh, who had earlier commanded the Corps at Sikkim where the battles of 1967 had taken place, spoke of the nuances around these battles and the area.

Elucidating how the Chumbi valley presented a similar vulnerability to the Chinese like the narrow Siliguri corridor posed to India, he spole about Lt Gen Sagat Singh’s leadership and his leadership, including placement of artillery guns, ensured that a difficult situation could be salvaged and turned into India’s favour quickly. The artillery used at Nathu La changed the course of the battle.

He also raised senior leadership’s perplexing decision in 1965 to withdraw from Jelep La, which gave Chinese the psychological edge, even though India now occupies the heights around the pass and stressed the need for a deeper analysis of that decision. He added that decision making at the senior level needs to be bolder to turn critical, decisive moments in a battle to our advantage.

Lt Gen JS Cheema spoke about the happenings in the aftermath of 1967, wherein various geopolitical events rather than the battles of 1967, ensured that China didn’t interfere with India’s campaign in Bangladesh. He said that the victories of 1967 had swung the psychological advantage in India’s favour and also felt that the book rightly brought out the parallels between India’s actions in 1967 and similar boldness during the Sumdoring Chu standoff with China in 1987. He added that such alacrity and confidence were also witnessed during the 2017 Doklam stand-off.

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Hyderabad, December 19

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India’s handling of the border row with China showed the country was not weak and could give a befitting reply to any kind of transgression, aggression or unilateral acts.

With the two countries having held several rounds of talks to resolve the issue, Singh said India wanted peaceful resolution of disputes but asserted no harm to its self- respect would be tolerated.

In his address at the combined graduation parade at Dundigul Air Force station here, the Defence Minister said China’s “attitude reflected that country’s intentions” during these Covid times.

“But we have shown that India is not weak. This is new India that will give a befitting reply to any kind of transgression, aggression or any unilateral acts,” he said.

India had found the support of many countries, even as it had received accolades, he added.

Pointing out that rounds of talks had been held at the diplomatic and military levels to solve the issue, the Defence Minister said, “Let me reiterate, we don’t want conflict but peace.”

“But we will not tolerate any harm to the country’s self-respect,” the minister asserted.

The country was prepared to face any situation, he added.

Referring to the western sector, Singh said Pakistan was indulging in skirmishes on the borders and charged the neighbour with indulging in a “proxy war” using terrorism, despite being defeated by India in four wars.

The armed forces and police were effectively dealing with terrorism, he said.

The country was not only handling terrorism effectively within the country but even taking action beyond the borders, he said, referring to the air strikes at terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan.his demonstrated to the world India’s military strength and the country’s firm intentions against terrorism, he added. PTI