Beijing, May 16
Accusing the US of “sowing discord” between China and India, Beijing today said the two neighbours are wise enough to resolve their boundary dispute peacefully through talks and asked America to respect their efforts.Dismissing as groundless a Pentagon report that claimed the Communist giant was deploying more troops along the Sino-India borders, China said it was a misrepresentation of its military development.“Maintaining peace and tranquility along the China-India border areas is an important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries,” the Chinese Defence Ministry said in response to the US report.“Currently, the border forces of China and India are actively carrying out exchanges, working towards establishing hotline between the two militaries, and are in close communication through the mechanism of border personnel meetings,” it said. — PTI
Panaji, May 11
The Indian Navy on Wednesday ‘de-inducted’ its ageing Sea Harriers, replacing them with MiG 29K fighter aircraft.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan was the chief guest of the ceremony held at Goa’s INS Hansa base in Vasco to bid adieu to Sea Harriers after their 33 years of service to the nation.
The Sea Harriers displayed a vertical landing formation at INS Hansa during the ‘de-induction’ event today.
“It’s a distinct honour and proud privilege to induct multi-role supersonic MiG 29K in the 300 squadron. It marks the induction of multi-role supersonic technology in Indian Navy,” Admiral Dhowan said addressing the gathering.
He hailed all the pilots who flew Sea Harriers, which was considered as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly.
“Today is also the day to salute the pilots who flew Sea Harrier aircraft which made a mark for itself by protecting our seas,” he added.
Sea Harriers were inducted in the Indian Navy following phasing out of then obsolete Seahawks.
In September 1980, the Sea Harrier Project (SHARP) was formed with select naval aviators and technical personnel for coordination of trials, testing, acceptance and training.
The first newly-built Sea Harrier for the Indian Navy (IN 601) was ready on December 21, 1982, the Navy said in a statement issued here.
The first three Sea Harriers flying via Malta, Luxor and Dubai, led by Lt Cdr Arun Prakash VrC, landed at Dabolim on December 16, 1983.
This was followed by the first deck landing on the carrier, INS Vikrant, on December 20, 1983, and the arrival of the first Sea Harrier T Mk 60 trainer, on March 29, 1984.
“In last few years, the Harriers added a new dimension to their operations with the increased multinational exercises in which the Indian Navy participates,” the statement added. — PTI
May 6, 1:00 pm
New Delhi, May 6 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking FIR against the people whose names have featured in the Italian Court’s order in connection with the Augustawestland VVIP chopper scam.
Meanwhile, the apex has also issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on another PIL, asking to register an FIR on the basis of the foreign court’s verdict in the chopper scam.
Both the Centre and CBI have been given four weeks to submit their replies.
The Italian court’s ruling, while convicting former senior executives of AgustaWestland for allegedly paying bribes in the deal, mentioned several names, purportedly referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The Italian court had mentioned the names in the context of a diary of middleman Charles Michel, who had reportedly referred to the names of the Congress leaders. (ANI)
New Delhi, May 5
Vice-Admiral Sunil Lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of Western Naval Command, has been appointed as the new Chief of Naval Staff and will assume charge on May 31.Lanba (58), a specialist in Navigation and Direction, will have the full three-year tenure as the Navy Chief. He will succeed Admiral RK Dhowan who is retiring.An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, he will be the 21st Indian to be the Navy Chief. The first two were British.He will take over from Admiral Dhowan on the afternoon of May 31 and will be in office till May 31, 2019.”The government has appointed Vice-Admiral Sunil Lanba, at present FOC-in-C Western Naval Command, as the next Chief of Naval Staff with effect from the afternoon of May 31,” a Defence Ministry spokesperson said today.Coming in with rich operational and staff experience over a career spanning more than three decades, Lanba has served as Navigating Officer of corvette INS Sindhudurg and frigate INS Dunagiri.He has commanded four frontline warships — INS Kakinada (minesweeper), INS Himgiri (frigate) and INS Ranvijay and INS Mumbai, both destroyers.He is also an alumnus of the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad, where he has served as a faculty.Lanba has also held key staff assignments such as Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet and the Chief of Staff, Southern and Eastern Naval Commands.He was also the Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area and Commandant, National Defence College.He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command at Kochi, prior to being appointed to head the Western Naval Command. He took over as the Vice Chief on June 2, 2014.Vice-Admiral Lanba is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and the Athi Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service of an exceptionally high order. — PTI
Col RS Sekhon is from Jak Rifles he has commanded 3 Jak Rifles and 19 Jak Riflles . He has settled down in Jallander . A very active ESM who is s also member of Urban Estate Jalandhar Welfare Society. He voluntarily looks after Parks in Urban Estate. He is a very good orater.. His son is on his footsteps and posted in Jak Rifle unit as an officer.We welcome him to Sanjha Morcha
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 1
The Ministry of Defence wants major structural changes in the Army, IAF and the Navy, like cutting down on “flab”, doing away with posts that may have become redundant and ensure modernisation or addition of new equipment does not mean a corresponding rise in numbers for the forces.The MoD has decided to appoint a committee to suggest reforms in a time-bound manner. The committee could be headed by a retired three-star rank officer who would be understanding all operational needs and knowing how warfare has evolved or is set to evolve in the future. The last such committee, headed by former Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh, on reforms was set up a decade ago.Sources said the three forces had been asked to project what all could be done away with in the age where the traditional war fighting is changing rapidly.A large chunk of the budget for this fiscal has been kept for salaries under the “capital” head. A sum of Rs 90,208 crore, including a sum of Rs 78, 586 for new equipment, weapons, aircraft, naval warships, Army vehicles has been allocated, while salaries for the three services – Army , Navy and the IAF , along their civilian staff — has been budgeted at Rs 95,849 crore – that is Rs 5,641 crore more than the capital expense.There is no move to change the regimental system of the Army or the way the IAF or the Navy function and operate. The three forces have a combined strength of about 15.50 lakh. Even though the committee has not been given any targets for reducing numbers, sources said, one of its key targets would be to reduce expenses. This may include multiple use of lands where any of the services has a station in close proximity to each other.
AF’s Mi-17 lifts water from Bhimtal lake in Nainital to spray it over areas affected by the forest fire in Uttarakhand on Sunday. ANI photo
Tribune News Service
Dehradun/New Delhi, May 1
As the raging forest fires continue to engulf vast swathes of land across Uttarakhand, the Indian Air Force today began operations to control the situation even as the Centre said it was taking the incident “very seriously” with all possible firefighting measures.
An Mi-17 chopper made several sorties in Nainital district sprinkling water lifted from a lake to douse the raging forest fires in Almakhan, Kilbari and Nalena areas. Low visibility, however, prevented a second chopper from being deployed in Pauri district for the operations in the hill state. The forest fires have so far killed seven persons, destroyed 2,269 hectares of forested land and spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas.
Teams of the specialised National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), meanwhile, have fanned out in 13 affected areas of three districts of Pauri Garhwal, Almora and Chamoli to tackle the massive blaze.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation and held discussions with the Uttarakhand Government officials. He also offered all assistance from the Centre.
“With choppers pressed into service and all security agencies, besides locals, involved in firefighting operations, the situation is likely to be brought under control in a couple of days, Principal Conservator of Forest (PCF) BP Gupta said.
With the MeT Department predicting a significant fall in day temperatures after May 2, forest fires may come under control after a couple of days, he said, but added that the administration will have to remain alert for the next 35 days to prevent fresh forest fire incidents. Since the beginning of the forest fire season in the state in February, 922 incidents have occurred so far.
Forest fires are natural during summer but this time they have occurred on a bigger scale as the fire season, which normally begins by February 15 and ends by June 15, started early on February 2. (with PTI inputs)
In Rajasthan, the highest temperature of 46.5°C was recorded at Phalodi town in Jodhpur district, followed by Sri Ganganagar (46.3), Churu (46), Bikaner (45.8), Barmer (45.2) andJaipur (43.3).
EHRADUN: The air force flew three helicopters on Sunday to contain raging forest fires in Uttarakhand, which have gutted more than 2,300 hectares of lush Himalayan forestland over the past fortnight and claimed at least seven lives.
ARVIND MOUDGIL / HTFire rages close to a residential area in a village in Pauri district on Saturday night.
But one of the Mi-17 helicopters could not take off till afternoon because of a thick smoke over the Garhwal region. It managed seven sorties after 4pm.
The choppers for the Kumaon division were in action since 7am, collecting water from the Bhimtal lake and emptying the load over wildfires in Nainital and Almora districts.
The air support helped the field teams of firefighters from the state forest and fire departments, army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and village volunteers.
“The forest department hopes the fire will be brought under control in the next 2-3 days as the meteorological office has predicted rain,” additional chief secretary S Ramaswami said.
The joint effort has paid off, bringing down the number of blazes from 160 on Saturday to 112 on Sunday.
The state reported 1,082 forest fires in the past two-and-a-half months.
But about 35 major fires in the popular tourist and pilgrim destinations of Rudraprayag, Pauri Garhwal, Chamoli, Almora, Nainital, and Dehradun hills remained a worry.
Piyoosh Rautela, the executive director with the state’s Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre, said as many as 135 NDRF personnel were working in 139 locations.
Strong winds, a prolonged dry spell, hazy conditions, and treacherous mountain slopes posed a serious challenge to the firefighters trying to stop the fires from spreading. Reports said the wildfire has already spread to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
The haze has brought down visibility and making breathing difficult. “The thick smoke is posing problems in the operation,” Garhwal division divisional forest officer Ramesh Chandra said.
People from villages within a licking distance of flames have been evacuated. But the worst sufferers are animals and nesting birds in Corbett tiger reserve, Rajaji tiger reserve and Kedarnath wildlife sanctuary, where about 550 hectares were reduced to ashes in this season’s forest fires. In New Delhi, home minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation in Uttarakhand, which is under central rule since March 27.Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar said the Centre was making all efforts to control the forest fires. “The government will study the reasons and prepare an action plan accordingly.” Local environmentalist Vijay Jardhari of Tehri probably knows the reason. He said wildfires have become common because villagers and forest officials have discarded traditional preventive measures.
“There was a trend to make fire lines outside forests since the British-era. This is not done religiously now … which is why uncontrolled fire is becoming commonplace,” he explained.
A fire line is made by clearing waste such as tree leaves and other biological inflammable material from within a forest and its edge. The fires generated political heat too as the Congress, which was ousted from power in the state, accused the BJP-led NDA government of doing little to check the crisis.
Cong ress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the fire situation spiraled out of control because there is no state government to tackle it. He taunted environment minister Javadekar for conducting a “press conference in air-conditioned rooms in Delhi to douse fires in Uttarakhand”.
