Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur flash the victory sign after his win in Amritsar on Saturday. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar

Amritsar, March 11

The Congress victory in Punjab is the defeat of the Badal family’s arrogance and will herald the revival of the party in the country, Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Saturday.The Congress is all set to return to power in the agrarian state where it has been out of power for a decade now.“This is the revival of the Congress. It is a beginning. The Congress will revive from here. The party will take strength from here and spread across the country,” Sidhu said addressing a press conference.He said the party’s victory is the result of people’s faith and confidence in the Congress.Sidhu said he earlier told Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi about making Punjab a leader.“This is Punjab Congress’s gift to the party leadership. It is a new year gift from our side,” he said, conceding that the Assembly poll was “a fight for existence” for the Congress.The former BJP MP, who switched over to the Congress ahead of elections, attacked the Badals, saying the people of the state had defeated the arrogance of those in power till now.“This is the destruction of Akali Dal. People have broken the arrogance of the evil and arrogance loses when atrocities touch a peak,” he said.“Thieves looted Punjab and filled their own coffers,” he said.Sidhu, who contested from Amritsar East, which was held by his wife and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur, also took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying he was “the principal of the school where he studied”.He said the paid trolls that the AAP convener carried out on social media to make wrong projections during elections had been defeated. “The truth never gets defeated,” he said.“Now the arrogance has been shown the door,” he said, adding that the Congress would provide new energy to the state. “Kejriwal’s intentions were wrong… he wanted everything for himself,” he said, adding, “for Badals it was everything for their personal welfare”.“Congress will always fight for the rights of people of Punjab,” he said.The cricketer-turned-politician said “it is the biggest victory of party workers”.He expressed confidence that the Congress after coming to power in the state would work selflessly for the progress of Punjab and would not act with any sense of vendetta against its opponents.On the issue of drugs, he said a stringent law would be made to end the menace.“People have a lot of expectation from the Congress and we will strive hard to fulfill them,” he said.The Congress will take measures to end farm suicides, he said.“By giving a decisive verdict in favour of Punjab, the seeds of prosperity have been sown,” he said.Punjab would set an example of good governance and state’s empty coffers would be refilled, he said. Punjab’s lost glory would be brought back, an elated Sidhu said. PTI

1. Un Married Daughter of Ex.Serviceman is Eligible for Family Pension after demise of Ex.Serviceman & His Wife Irrespective of their Age till the Marriage she is Eligible for Family Pension. 

2. Divorced Daughter of Ex.Serviceman also Eligible for Family Pension (Subject to condition she should submit Financial Condition Report)

3. Widow Daughter also Eligible for Family Pension (Subject to condition that she should submit Financial Condition Certificate from Revenue Authorities)

4. Disabled Children of Ex.Serviceman are also eligible for Family Pension…

For Disabled children.

a) Part-II Order is must.

b) you should submit the Disability Certificate from MH or Medical Board and endorsement of Family Pension should be done in the Concern Records through Sainik Welfare Office…. 

 

5. obtain your monthly pension payment slips from Bank

6. Kindly register your phone number and email & pan card with your Bank Account . You will get pension break up from the month of April/ may

7.. Whenever there is any additional credits or debits like 

a). Payments of Instalments of OROP, 

b). Payment of Arrears under DL-33; 

c). Payment of Arrears of 7th CPC, 

d). DR Arrears etc., Calculated Sheet has to be obtained and whenever there are Debits entries like TDS etc., Form-10 or Form-16 have to be obtained from PDA Bank. 

8. Submit in written to your PDA Bank/Branch that you are a Senior Citizen and the Tax exemption limit is Rs.3 lakhs, accordingly the TDS also will be reduced.

 

9. Since DL-33 Arrears are relating to previous FY-AY Years (2006-2014), you may file your IT returns distributing the said amount of TDS, claiming REFUND of the deducted TDS amount.

 

10. Do not forget to convert your pension A/c immediately into Joint A/c (E or S) along with your wife.

 

11. please take care that family name is notified correctly in PPO and in revenue records like aadhar, pan card etc. If there is any correction please rectify through your record office.

12. Government of India is insisting for joint accounts because of the difficulties faced by widows. If everything is correct Bank will commence widow’s pension in the same month itself…

 

13. Notify family pension in the PPO or any authorised letter from pension sanctioning authority is mandatory for commencing the widow pension. earlier only hand written PPOs are there. kindly notify family pension through your record office. Date of birth of the family and original pensioner should be notified by your record office or PSA.

*Joint Bank Account*

(a). joint accounts are opened such that any one can take pension. either or survivor mode.

(b) it will be very easy for Bank for opening of family pension  

*NOTE:*

 some pensioners think that if we open joint account everything is finished without noting the name of family pensioner in the ppo Which is not correct…. without notifying the correct name of the spouse the Bank will not give Family Pension (Even joint Account is there in the Bank).

 

Please note above Points for easy to get Family Pension otherwise its very difficult for widow to get the Family Pension….

 

*DUAL FAMILY PENSION*

Previously After retirement from Armed forces if Ex servicemen joined in state/central Government job then after he retired from that post he will get two Pensions I.e., one from Military side and second one is from Civil side as he is eligible for two pensions but if an Ex servicemen Expired wife (spouse) is eligible only one family pension i.e., Military pension or Civil Family pension either one only eligible…. 

in the year 2013 Government of India (MOD) has issued orders that the wife(spouse) also eligible two family Pensions and CDA Allahabad also issued circular No.504 the widow is eligible both the pensions i.e., Military pension as well as Civil pension with effect from 24th September, 2012. 

Telangana State Government has also issued Orders duly sanctioning Dual Family Pension (if widow opt military pension on the death of Ex.serviceman).

 

*NOTE*

Even Now many Ex.Servicemen and widows of Ex.Serviceman  are not Aware of the above rules so kindly give wide publicity among all Ex.serviceman & their families on this…

 

Regards

TBRL scientists (from left): Devarati Bhattacharya, Rajesh Kumari, Meenakshi Bhatkula, Vandana Arya and Sakshi Arora.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 7

As soldiers strap on bulletproof jackets that prevent injuries from small arms fire during anti-terror operations or climb into armoured vehicles that can withstand improvised explosive device blasts, a handful of women scientists have been plugging away in laboratories hundreds of kilometres away to ensure the gear being used meets the requisite standards of protection.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Not many women in India get to work with bullets and bombs, but a small but select group of women scientists have successfully made a career at the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a Defence Research and Development Organisation unit that evaluates the performance of ammunition and warheads.Speaking to The Tribune on the eve of International Women’s Day, some of them shared their experiences and perception of being associated with what is considered by many as a “dangerous field”.“It is a highly challenging subject and we have been involved in establishing test protocol of various types of ammunition and explosives, for which no well-defined parameters existed earlier,” says Dr Rajesh Kumari, a senior scientist who has been associated with the subject for 25 years. “The safety aspect is very important in our work and all activities involve a lot of planning and deliberations under set procedures,” she adds.“It’s a great responsibility,” says Dr Devarati Bhattacharya, an engineer who joined the DRDO 11 years ago. “The most satisfying aspect of our job is that the soldiers on the borders are able to get better protectionbecause of the work we do,” she says. While women still form a small percentage of the technical workforce, their number in the DRDO has steadily grown over the years. “In 1989, there were only three women scientists in the TBRL. We now have 25 women scientists and an equal number of technical officers,” says Meenakshi Bhatkula. “We do the same work as our male counterparts and are adjudged equally,” she says.The relatively low number of women in the DRDO is a societal reflection and the ratio is similar in other fields, points out Dr Vandana Arya, a veteran of 14 years.Women scientists also need to balance their profession with household responsibilities. A lot of what they do at the laboratories remains under wraps and only a few broad details get shared with family members. “Unlike most male colleagues, women also have additional domestic responsibilities to take care of and time management becomes imperative,” says Sakshi Arora, who joined the defence establishment 10 years ago.“There are times when you have to work late into the night during important tests or travel away from home,” she adds. At times an important demonstration may be held up for hours or even days simply because of a cloud overhead.How family members look at an explosive expert amongst them is summarised by Dr Vandana, when she says: “There have been instances when I have returned home and my daughter has simply told me, ‘Mom, your clothes smell bad,’ as I had been working with chemicals and explosives the whole day.”

SHIMLA: At the time when China is gradually building up it’s infrastructure along the Indian border, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has sought more sentinels to guard it’s borders in tribal Lahual and Spiti along with Kinnaur districts of Himachal.

The state shares around 190 kilometres of its boundary with China of which, 80 kilometers is in Kinnaur and 110 in Lahaul and Spiti. The borders areas have usually been peaceful but lately, China has been expanding its infrastructure along the borders of Himachal.

ITBP, which mans the frontiers along China, has now demanded more posts for guarding the porous borders in Lahaul and Spiti district. “We have sent our proposal to the government. Lets us see how things shape up,” an ITBP official told Hindustan Times, requesting anonymity. “There are nearly 20 ITBP posts along the Chinese border,” he added.

What makes matter worst is the fact that there is no fencing along the border. Shipki La is a high mountain pass and border post on the Indo-China border at a height of 18,599 feet above the sea level. It is through this pass, the Sutlej river enters India from Tibet. Shiplki La pass is the main pass through which, the IndoChina trade gets carried out annually. There are many other mountain passes including Lepchala Rangla and Ranisha Dob Rang.

But, between the passes, there are many transit routes which are used by the villagers of bordering Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti to cross over to meet their relatives across the border.

Youth Congress workers protest hike in LPG price

Youth Congress workers protest against the hike in the price of LPG gas cylinders at Partap Nagar in Bathinda on Saturday. A TRIBUNE photograph

Bathinda, March 4

Youth Congress workers headed by former Youth Congress city president Ashu Thakur today staged a protest against the hike in price of LPG cylinder by the Union government at Partap Nagar.The protesters raised slogans against the Narendra Modi-led Union government and demanded a rollback of the decision.Ashu Thakur said people were not over with the problems of demonetisation and the government had given yet another blow.The Modi government has hit at people who can hardly make their both ends meet, he added.He claimed that the double face of the BJP had been exposed as in 2012, BJP leaders were on road raising slogans when the LPG cylinder price was increased to Rs 399 but now the same leaders were proud of the hike to Rs 810. — TNS

BJP LEADERS MADE HUE AND CRY WHEN LPG RATES WERE JUST HALF THAN NOW ::LISTEN TO THEM .DO BJP DESERVE TO REMAIN IN POWER

Lance Naik Roy Mathew

New Delhi, March 3

A “sting operation” by a website is being blamed for having triggered a series of events that led to suicide by Lance Naik Roy Mathew, 33.Posted at Devlali, near Nashik, he was found dead yesterday in an abandoned barrack at the military station which is the artillery centre of the Army. He had been missing since February 25 and was being treated as “absent without leave”. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Mathew’s battalion is presently on field firing practice in Rajasthan and he formed the “rear party” — some soldiers staying back at “other designated stations”.A press note said the probe revealed the death “may be a result of the series of events triggered by media personnel managing to videograph the deceased by asking leading questions on his duties as a buddy (‘sahayak’) without his knowledge”. The video has been removed from the website.It was “very likely”, said the ministry, that the “guilt factor of letting down his superiors or conveying false impression” pushed him over the edge. The Army has denied that Mathew was questioned after the video; as the soldier’s face was masked, so he could not be identified. But sources say he did send a one-word SMS to an officer saying “sorry” last Saturday.The soldier’s family approached the police as his phone had been switched off since February 25.  — TNS

Gurmehar stands by her father pic

New Delhi, February 28

Capt Mandeep Singh, father of Gurmehar Kaur, had died in an Army operation on August 6, 1999 — 10 days after the Kargil war that ended on July 26.Capt Mandeep Singh of the 49 Army Air Defence unit was posted at Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir when the unit fought terrorists and seven of them died. Sources said all those martyred in such operations were treated on a par with battle casualties. Though Kargil war, termed Operation Vijay, had ended after international intervention, some “mopping up” operations were conducted in the areas located east of Kargil. Capt Mandeep Singh had died on the spot in an encounter with terrorists that had commenced at 1.15 am on August 6. — TNS

Won’t be cowed, says Jalandhar girl’ s grandpa

Kanwaljeet Singh

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 28

Kanwaljeet Singh, grandfather of Gurmehar Kaur who has been facing hate messages and rape threats on the social media, today said he was not intimidated by the threats. “What harm can these trollers do to my granddaughter? They can kill her at the most. So what? We, who have faced the martyrdom of our young son, are bold enough to withstand any eventuality. My son was martyred on August 6, 1999, after killing 26 men on the enemy side,” he told the media here.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)He said he stood by his granddaughter’s statement. “I am shocked at the treatment meted out to a martyr’s daughter. There is a campus fight going on. This young girl has something to say on the issue. At least, hear her out patiently. Is this the tribute the country is paying to my son’s martyrdom?”Blaming the BJP for the trolling, he alleged when his son was killed the then BJP government did not even ensure that they were issued ID cards. “Today when my granddaughter is being victimised and branded anti-national, it is again the BJP in power,” Kanwaljeet said.Gurmehar’s paternal uncle Davinder Singh, who teaches English at a Nakodar college, said Gurmehar was mature enough to have said what she wanted to. ” I am a little upset over the discussion on the place, date and time of my brother’s martyrdom. We as a family stand by Gurmehar.”A worried Rajwinder Kaur said she wanted the controversy around her daughter to end. “My daughter’s security is an issue bigger than any other,” she said.“No statements from me, my family or my behalf. I request to be given privacy. Thank you,” Gurmehar tweeted. She later closed her Facebook account.

Now, Yogeshwar mocks Gurmehar

Day after Sehwag, Haryana wrestler joins slugfest on Twitter, Phogat sisters too pitch in

Unsocial war: A picture posted by Yogeshwar Dutt on Twitter in response to Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur’s message

New Delhi, February 28

Olympic wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt has become the latest celebrity to join the social media slugfest that was triggered by Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur.Dutt took to Twitter comparing the student, who belongs to Nakodar in Punjab and is daughter of martyr Capt Mandeep Singh, with Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden and a black buck in Salman Khan’s alleged poaching case.Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag had yesterday appeared on Twitter with a placard post reading: “I didn’t score two triple centuries, my bat did”. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)It all started in the aftermath of Ramjas College violence in Delhi when Gurmehar tweeted her picture holding a placard that read: “I am a student of DU. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me.” Sehwag’s tweet yesterday, however, came in response to another post by Gurmehar a few months ago amid India-Pakistan tension when she wrote: “Pakistan did not kill my father, but war did.”Also to join the fight on social media were famous wrestler sisters from Haryana, Babita and Geeta Phogat. Babita condemned alleged rape threats to Gurmehar, but refused to stand by her saying she supposedly “did not speak up for her country”. “When I saw Gurmehar’s video, I tweeted on one thing that I found wrong. She said her father was killed by war, and not Pakistan. I found it wrong as it is an insult to our nation and bravehearts. How can her father’s soul rest in peace if she speaks against the nation?” said Babita.Echoing similar views, Geeta said it was obvious the countrymen would “not spare her if she spoke against India”. “If someone goes against the nation, he or she won’t be spared irrespective of gender,” she said. — Agencies

Tharoor takes on Viru

• Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday voiced regret over cricketer Virender Sehwag’s move to “trivialise a serious issue like war”. I am disappointed that my cricket hero Virender Sehwag chose to enter the wholly politicised debate over Gurmehar Kaur’s words on Twitter.

DSGMC out in support

• Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjit Singh GK has announced support for Gurmehar Kaur after she received “rape threats”. In a message sent to Gurmehar and her family, GK assured them of his support “under all circumstances.” “Threats to daughter of a martyr can never stand for nationalism.”

It’s moral bankruptcy: BKU

Chandigarh, February 28

Bharti Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal said his organisation was with Gurmehar Kaur and that the BJP and its affiliates had exhibited moral bankruptcy by targeting a young girl whose father had sacrificed his life while defending the country.He said film actor Randeep Hooda should tender an unconditional apology to Gurmehar or the BKU would oppose the screening of his films in Punjab. Former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh said Gurmehar Kaur had taken a brave step. “Students in universities and collages are not captive slaves of the ABVP”, he said. “Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of a Kargil hero, deserves all our support in her bold endeavour to strengthen free voice in secular India,” he added. — TNS

Ramjas issue: DU students, teachers take out protest march

Students and teachers of Delhi University, JNU and Jamia during their protest march against ABVP at North Campus in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI

New Delhi, February 28Angered by what they say is “stifling of voices,” hundreds of university students and teachers took out a protest march on Tuesday aimed at the ABVP as a controversy over free speech in the country gathered pace.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The large-scale participation of Delhi University students, said to be largest in recent times, was remarkable given that the institution is not known for volatile students activism like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, whose students also added their voice at the march besides many eminent academicians and scholars of other colleges.”The protest is essentially against stifling of voices on campuses across the country, including the Delhi University. We want to reclaim the space to discuss and dissent,” said All India Students Association leader in DU, Kanwalpreet Kaur.ABVP, which is also backed by the RSS, faced criticism after it was involved in violence at Ramjas college last week.Several students and teachers of the college were beaten, allegedly by ABVP members, for inviting JNU students Umar Khalid and Shela Rashid to a seminar on free speech which was eventually cancelled.Twenty-year-old DU student Gurmehar Kaur became the centre of the controversy after she launched a social media campaign against ABVP, which immediately drew threats of rape, allegedly by ABVP members, and ridicule by a Union minister, a BJP MP and former cricketer Virender Sehwag.Today, as the march made its way through the North Campus of Delhi University, with hundreds of students of JNU, DU and Jamia, she tweeted, “All my friends. Our lovely faculty! how I wish I was there.”JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, also joined the anti-ABVP protest march at DU.”You (ABVP) can’t enforce one particular ideology on anyone and there should be room for discussion,” he said while addressing the protesters.Slogans of ‘Azaadi’ and ‘cheeky ABVP why so creepy’Cries for ‘azaadi’ and the ‘cheeky ABVP why so creepy’ reverberated the DU campus during the anti-ABVP march.Students, teachers and non-teaching staff from various universities including JNU, Jamia and Ambedkar University, participated in the protest march.Massive police deployment was in place at the North Campus.Two AISA members were allegedly attacked by ABVP supporters following which an FIR has been registered by Delhi police.The protest march which comes a day after ABVP’s ‘Tiranga March’ was also joined by few politicians, including Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, Swaraj Abhiyan’s Yogendra Yadav and AAP’s Pankaj Pushkar, who discarded the ABVP’s “idea of violence for nationalism”.Fearing rerun of last-week violence, massive police deployment was seen on the varsity’s North Campus as protesters continued with their march till they reached the Vivekananda statue in the Art’s faculty– the traditional protest site of ABVP.Buoyed by the turnout at today’s protest, DU students have decided to take out another march from Mandi House to Parliament on March 4 in protest against ABVP.Addressing the protesters, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said, “We will learn our nationalism from Bhagat Singh and not from them whose forefathers never hoisted the national flag at their headquarters. Neither will we tolerate nor will we engage in violence. The protest is not about Left or Right but wrong and right”.Yadav was apparently referring to RSS which till recently did not hoist the tricolour at their Nagpur headquarters.CPI leader Sitaram Yechury said, “They cannot win this with their intellectual skill and want to replace it with violence. Humara nationalism is “we are Indian’ and not ‘who is a Hindu’?””This is a collective fight to defend our constitutional rights. We will be raising the issue of DU in Parliament,” CPI (M) leader D Raja said.Later in the evening, the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) took out a “mashal rally” against “ABVP’s attempts to curb students’ freedom of expression and misusing ‘nationalism’ to further their agenda”.The NSUI, at the same time, condemned the “violent ways” of the Left in handling of the situation. PTI

A security man with a pellet gun stands guard during curfew in Srinagar. PTI file photo

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 27

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to look for an alternative to pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir where hundreds of youngsters have suffered serious injuries during various protests since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in July last year.A three-Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar, however, agreed with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s submission that the nature of weapons used by the forces could not be judicially determined.It said the alternative weapon and strategy for its use could be tested at four or five places where protests were frequently held.The Attorney General, who submitted a sealed cover report to the court, said the interim report prepared in October last was still being examined by security experts. The court asked him to come up with further suggestions in four weeks. Expressing concern over the death of youngsters, the court told Rohatgi, “Go by our spirit.” The suggestion came during a hearing on a petition by the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association (Kashmir) against an order of the state High Court, refusing to ban the use of pellet guns.Senior counsel Zafar Shah told the Bench that many a young boy had lost an eye. Fifty persons had died and 300 had been partially or totally blinded. Pointing out that “4,000 more pellet guns have been imported,” Shah said pellet guns were not being used in any other state, save Kashmir. “It wasn’t used in Haryana where so much violence and damage to property took place,” he said.Shah suggested that instead of targeting the crowd by pellet guns, rifles could be used against selected protesters resorting to violence. “Are you saying that the security forces should use actual guns,” the Bench asked. As Shah answered in the affirmative, the Attorney General disapproved of the use of actual guns.Rohatgi said it was difficult to distinguish between young and adult protesters. “It is not a simple protest… There are anti-national protests…Protesters are often used as shield by militants to attack security forces. I am not justifying the casualties. But that’s the situation there,” he said.Rohatgi drew the court’s attention to the 1,522 attacks on the CRPF between July 8, the day Wani was killed, and August 11, 2016. On behalf of Jammu and Kashmir, Advocate General Jahangir Iqbal Gabi said pellet guns were being used as the last resort to contain mob violence, pointing out that between July 8 and August 11 last year, 3,777 policemen had been injured and two had died in mob violence. At one point the Bench suggested that parents of the boys indulging in violence be acted against.“Why don’t you take action against the parents of these children,” the Bench asked. But the Attorney General said, “If we start acting against parents, it will create an upheaval.” He said a 17 or 18-year-old boy was not under the “complete control of his parents”.

What court said

• A three-Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar agreed with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s submission that the nature of weapons used by the forces could not be judicially determined
• It said the alternative weapon and strategy for its use could be tested at four or five places where protests were frequently held

Vikramdeep Johal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 27

Private Sarn Singh’s name won’t ring a bell in India, but he is being remembered with reverence in Australia. This year marks the death centenary of the soldier who was killed in the Battle of Messines in West Flanders, Belgium, during World War I.Part of the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion, Sarn Singh was originally a farmer hailing from Chhokran village in Phillaur subdivision of Jalandhar district.Son of zaildar Kishan Singh, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Adelaide in May 1916. Three months later, this pint-sized Punjabi—described as “63.25 inches tall, 136 pounds in weight, chest 34 to 36 inches”—was sent to the UK. Fighting in one of the bloodiest battlefields of WWI, he lost his life on June 10, 1917. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, which were given to his widow, Partap Kaur, in 1922.“The Australian Sikh Heritage Association (ASHA), along with local South Australian Sikhs and the wider Australian community, is organising a special commemorative event in Adelaide on June 10 to remember Private Sarn Singh’s ultimate sacrifice,” says a statement issued by ASHA, whose team includes Harjit Singh, Kuljit Kaur Jassal and Tarunpreet Singh.Earlier this month, the association had commemorated the 75th death anniversary of Manmohan Singh, a Flying Officer of the British Indian Air Force who died in Broome, Western Australia, during World War II. Rawalpindi-born Manmohan, regarded as one of the first Sikh aviators, had served as the chief pilot for Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, the then ruler of the Patiala princely state.When WWII broke out, he was picked as the leader of an Air Force batch of pilots sent to England for training and active duty. As the oldest of the group, he was fondly called chacha (uncle). Manmohan was known to have a cold shower every morning and not eat anything until he had recited the Japji Sahib. He was killed in a Japanese air attack on the Broome harbour on March 3, 1942.The pilot has been immortalised on the ‘Memorial Wall to the Allied Dead of World War II in Northern Australia’ in Darwin, while Private Sarn Singh’s name is inscribed on the war memorials in Adelaide and Canberra and the Menin Gate in Ypres (Belgium).