Monthly Archives: August 2018

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15

The Ministry of Defence has issued orders to revise the salary of superannuated officers who have subsequently opted for re-employment in the armed forces, consequent to the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.Re-employed officers in the defence services after retirement have been excluded from the purview of the respective Army, Navy and Air Force Officers Pay Rules 2017 that had re-fixed the salaries of regular officers last year.The pay revision for re-employed officers will cover all such officers who were under re-employment on or after January 1, 2016, the date of effect for the Seventh Pay Commission, the ministry’s orders issued earlier this week state. As a welfare measure and also to mitigate shortage of officers, the defence services offer re-employment to retired officers up to the rank of Brigadier for a maximum four years.The existing ceiling of Rs 80,000 per month for drawing pay plus gross pension on re-employment has been enhanced to Rs 2.25 lakh per month, the maximum basic pay prescribed for officers under Level 17 of the new pay matrix. The ‘ignorable part’ of pension, which is the amount that is not considered for deduction while calculating the pay for re-employment, has been enhanced from Rs 4,000 to Rs 15,000.The initial pay of a re-employed officer will be fixed in accordance with Rule 7 of the Army, Navy and Air Force Officers Pay Rules, which deals with the methodology of pay fixation of regular officers in the revised pay matrix as per their rank and seniority and the recommendations of the pay commission thereof.Revised pension under the Seventh Pay Commission, as applicable to the officer on retirement, excluding the ‘ignorable part’ of the pension, shall be deducted from the pay on re-employment in live with the general policy of the government, though they will be entitled to dearness allowance and military service pay with effect from January 2016. In addition to the revised pay, re-employed officers will continue to draw retirement benefits that they were permitted to get under pay commission recommendations.

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat reviews security in Rajouri sector. Tribune file Photo

New Delhi, January 14

Political initiative must go “hand in hand” with military operations in Jammu and Kashmir to bring peace, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said today, and favoured ramping up the military offensive to pile up heat on Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism in the state.General Rawat said the armed forces operating in the state cannot be “status quoist” and must evolve new strategies and tactics to deal with the situation, which he feels is “marginally” better since he took over a year ago.In an interview, the Army Chief asserted that there was room for ramping up heat on Pakistan to cut the flow of cross-border terror activities, clearly indicating that the Army will continue its policy of hot pursuit in dealing with militancy.“The political initiative and all the other initiatives must go simultaneously hand in hand and only if all of us function in synergy, we can bring lasting peace in Kashmir. It has to be a politico-military approach that we have to adopt,” the Army Chief said.In October, the government had appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for a “sustained dialogue” with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir.“When the government appointed an interlocutor, it is with that purpose. He is the government’s representative to reach out to the people of Kashmir and see what their grievances are so that those can then be addressed at a political level,” the Army Chief said.Asked whether there was room for ramping up pressure on Pakistan to force it to stop sending terrorists to the state, he said, “Yes, you cannot be status quoist. You have to continuously think and keep moving forward. You have to keep changing your doctrines and concept and the manner in which you operate in such areas.”General Rawat said the Army would have to evolve new strategies and new tactics to deal with the situation. At the same time, he said an overall approach was required to deal with the Kashmir issue.Since the beginning of last year, the Army pursued an aggressive anti-terror policy in Jammu and Kashmir and, at the same time, forcefully responded to all ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control with a tit-for-tat approach.“Military is only part of the mechanism to resolve the Kashmir issue. Our charter is to ensure that the terrorists who are creating violence in the state are taken to task and those who have been radicalised and are increasingly moving towards terrorism are prevented from doing so,” he said.The Army’s aim is to ensure that it continues to maintain the pressure on the terrorists and those fomenting trouble there, General Rawat said. “But at the same time, we have to also reach out to the people.”Asked whether the situation in Kashmir has improved since he took over as the Army Chief a year ago, General Rawat said, “I am only seeing a marginal change in situation for the better. I do not think it is time to become overconfident and start assuming that the situation has been brought under control because infiltration from across the borders will continue.”According to official figures, 860 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops were reported in 2017 as against 221 the year before. — PTI

In an unprecedented move, four Supreme Court judges today came out against the Chief Justice of India, saying that events in the Supreme Court left them with no choice but to address the nation.

Justice J Chelameshwar said the administration of the nation’s top court was not in order.

He said this was an extraordinary event in the history of the institution, and that they were compelled to act in this way because the Chief Justice could not be persuaded to mend th .. to mend the ways of the court.

“We met CJI this morning. We collectively tried to persuade CJI that certain things aren’t in order so take remedial measures but unfortunately our efforts failed,” says Justice Chelameswar.

“The four of us gave a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) some months ago,” the Justices revealed. “It is discharge of debt to the nation which has brought us here, Justice Ranjan Gogoi told the media. Chelameshwar said democracy in this country would not survive without an institution as important as the Supreme Court, and a free judiciary.
We owe a responsibility to the institution and the nation. Our efforts have failed in convincing CJI to take steps to protect the institution,” the judges said.

“It is with no pleasure that we have been compelled to do this, administration of Supreme Court is not in order,” they said.

In response to a question on whether the CJI should be impeached, Justice Chelameshwar said that it was for the nation to decide.

Justice Gogoi, who would be succeedi present CJI in October this year, said that, “it’s a discharge of debt to the nation which we have done.”

The other judges involved included Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Kurien Joseph.

The press conference was called at Justice Chelameswar’s residence here at Tughlaq Road.

In response, a special CJI hearing has been scheduled for 2 PM after Justice Dipak Misra also met the Attorney-General KK Venugopal.

Is this the case that left the judges aggrieved?
Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the difference with the Chief Justice arose during the assignment of the case regarding the death of Justice Loya. He said the the death of Justice Loya left all four of them aggrieved.

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear two separate pleas seeking independent probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Loya had gone to Nagpur to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter on November 30, 2014, when he apparently fell ill suddenly and died of a heart attack. After Loya’s death, Judge MB Gosavi took over the Sohrabuddin case. Loya had gone to Nagpur to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter on November 30, 2014, when he apparently fell ill suddenly and died of a heart attack. After Loya’s death, Judge MB Gosavi took over the Sohrabuddin case.

Mumbai, January 11

There are no easy and quick solutions to issues between India and Pakistan, a former diplomat has said.

T C A Raghavan, the former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, said the issues between the two countries are characterised by lack of trust and they can only be addressed through diplomatic and political channels.

“I do not think there is an easy descriptive solution anyone can offer on India-Pakistan issues,” Raghavan said here yesterday.

“The issues are of mistrust. You can only address issues of mistrust through diplomatic and political processes. There are no easy, quick solutions,” he said.

India-Pakistan ties have nose-dived over a host of sticky issues, including cross-border terrorism.

The last year’s sentencing to death of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani court further deteriorated the bilateral ties.

New Delhi has been insisting on an end to cross-border terrorism before a meaningful dialogue process can start with Islamabad.

Raghavan said visas have also been a factor in the relations between the two neighbouring countries.

“In the present context, visas have lost the kind of resonance they used to have, could be because technology could also be impacted in so many other ways through the Internet, through other communication platforms and so on,” he said.

Notably, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been prompt in responding to distress calls of Pakistani nationals seeking visas for medical emergencies.

Raghavan was speaking during a discussion at the launch of his book – ‘The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations’. PTI

The three grounded heavy-lift copters will get additional 100 flying hours each. File photo

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 17

Even as the Indian Air Force prepares to induct the US-made Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, it has set in motion the process for life extension of the ageing Soviet-origin Mi-26 that has been forming its heavy-lift component since 1985.The IAF has three Mi-26, the world’s largest helicopter, based at Chandigarh with 126 Helicopter Flight. The Total Technical Life (TTL) of two of these machines expired in September 2013 and August 2014 and these have since been non-operational.The IAF has contracted for 15 CH-47 Chinooks, which are expected to start arriving in 2019. The IAF at present is constrained to rely on a single heavy-lift helicopter to carry out strategic tasks. At 20 tonnes, the payload capability of the Mi-26 is almost double that of the Chinook.Two Mi-26s were initially procured in 1986 with two more in 1989. One was lost in a freak accident in 1998, when it toppled over due to a gust of wind. This was replaced by a new helicopter in October 2002. A second Mi-26 was lost in a crash during take-off from Jammu in 2010.Sources say the IAF has approached the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant in Russia, seeking a proposal for ferrying all three helicopters to Russia for overhaul as well as undertaking a special life extension programme.The IAF is looking at extending the TTL of the helicopters by 100 flying hours each, an officer said. As of December 2017, the two older machines had put in a total of about 2,400 flying hours each, which comes to an average of about 85 per annum till the time they were operational.The third helicopter, which has a TTL of 8,000 hours as stipulated by the manufacturer, has logged about 1,450 till December 2017, averaging 96 hours annually. It had been given special life extension for two years during an overhaul and inspection done earlier, sources said.Only one operational

• The IAF currently has only one operational heavy-lift Mi-26 to carry out its strategic tasks. The world’s largest helicopter can carry 20 tonne payload
• The IAF has approached a Russian plant to ferry the three copters in its fleet for undertaking a special life extension programme
• US-made CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter will replace the ageing Mi-26. The first of 15 are likely to start arriving in 2019

THE optics of the six-day visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been heady. If the two Prime Ministers walked barefoot in the Mediterranean Sea near Haifa during Modi’s visit to Israel, there was the prolonged hug this time besides forced humour, a private dinner and the Taj visit. Even if Israel did not agree to mention Pakistan in the joint statement, the subtext of Netanyahu’s Mumbai leg will be the 2008 attacks, much to South Block’s pleasure. Once passed off as a Front Office for the US — Israel sold military hardware and surveillance equipment to India that the US could not because of export control laws or fear of upsetting Pakistan — the rather overdone bonhomie signals the desire of the two countries to strike out an independent path of their own. By this time, the two PMs would have realised the honeymoon phase is over. The Indo-Israel relationship is beginning to encounter rough bumps and the complexities of geopolitics. India’s cancellation of a large defence deal and its abrupt restoration a day before Netanyahu’s arrival demands a few answers. India might not have the earlier latitude and comfort in conducting defence trade with Israel because of its expanding ties with China. Israel may have tried to offset that apprehension by offering a step-up in ties with India: initial approval for Indian energy companies to explore for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.The mutual glad-handing also obscures the political gulf between the two nations. The Indo-Israel joint statement did avoid a reference to the “two-state solution” which is anathema to the hardliner in Netanyahu. But the overhang of New Delhi’s vote opposing the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital suggests that when it matters, India and Israel will find themselves on different sides of the fence. Notwithstanding the greater stress on older areas of collaborations, an overdose of bonhomie veils the fact that the two sides are still struggling to move away from a transactional arrangement to establishing the principles of a more durable relationship.

New Delhi, January 16

BJP leader Ajay Agrawal, who fought the 2014 LS election against Congress  leader Sonia Gandhi from Rai Bareli, had a difficult time on Monday in the SC which questioned his locus standi to file a special leave petition to revive the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-offs case.“You need to satisfy us that a third person can file a special leave petition in a criminal case,” a bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra told Agrawal, who went on to argue about threat to national security due to the scam, rather than the legal point raised by the Bench. He accused the CBI of being hand in glove with the accused Hinduja brothers.The Bench pointed out that the CBI had not filed any appeal before it against the 2005 verdict of the Delhi HC and wondered how a person not connected with the case could move the SC. — TNS

New Delhi, January 15In a stern message to Pakistan, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat asserted today that the Army would not allow anti-India activities to succeed in Jammu and Kashmir and it was ready to escalate military offensive to combat cross-border terrorism if Islamabad forced it to do so.Addressing Army personnel on the occasion of Army Day, Rawat said disputes along the Line of Actual Control with China were continuing and the Army was trying to stop the Chinese transgressions.“Ensuring security along the Line of Actual Control (with China) is our main duty,” he said without elaborating further.Talking about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the Pakistan army has been continuously trying to help terrorists sneak into India along the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K.“We will not let these anti-national elements succeed at any cost. If we are forced, then we may escalate our military action and carry out (the) other action,” he said.The Army has been adopting a ‘tit-for-tat’ approach in dealing with ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops as well as foiling infiltration bids by terrorists.“The Army is using its might to teach them a lesson. Terrorists and their handlers are creating various challenges within the country by adopting new tactics,” the Army Chief said. — PTI

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat. — PTI

New Delhi, January 14

Political initiative must go “hand-in-hand” with military operations in Jammu and Kashmir to bring peace, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said on Sunday, and favoured ramping up military offensive to pile up heat on Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism in the state.Gen Rawat said the armed forces operating in the state cannot be “status quoist” and must evolve new strategies and tactics to deal with the situation, which he feels is “marginally” better since he took over a year ago.In an interview to PTI, the Army chief asserted that there was room for ramping up heat on Pakistan to cut flow of cross border terror activities, clearly indicating that the Army will continue its policy of hot pursuit in dealing with militancy.”The political initiative and all the other initiatives must go simultaneously hand-in-hand and only if all of us function in synergy, we can bring lasting peace in Kashmir. It has to be a politico-military approach that we have to adopt,” the Army chief said.In October, the government had appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for a “sustained dialogue” with all stakeholders in J-K.”When the government appointed an interlocutor, it is with that purpose. He is the government’s representative to reach out to the people of Kashmir and see what their grievances are so that those can then be addressed at a political level,” the Army chief said.Asked whether there is room for ramping up pressure on Pakistan to force it to stop sending terrorists to the state, he said, “Yes, you cannot be status quoist. You have to continuously think and keep moving forward. You have to keep changing your doctrines and concept and the manner in which you operate in such areas.”Gen Rawat said the Army will have to evolve new strategies and new tactics to deal with the situation. At the same time, he said an overall approach was required to deal with the Kashmir issue.Since beginning of last year, the Army pursued an aggressive anti-terror policy in Jammu and Kashmir and, at the same time, forcefully responded to all ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control with a tit-for-tat approach.”Military is only part of the mechanism to resolve the Kashmir issue. Our charter is to ensure that the terrorists who are creating violence in the state are taken to task and those who have been radicalised and are increasingly moving towards terrorism are prevented from doing so,” he said.Gen Rawat said some youths continue to be radicalised and are joining militancy. The Army has been trying to maintain pressure on terror groups, he said.The Army’s aim is to ensure that it continues to maintain the pressure on the terrorists and those fomenting trouble there, Gen Rawat said.”But at the same time, we have to also reach out to the people,” he said.Asked whether the situation in Kashmir has improved since he has taken over as the Army chief a year ago, Gen Rawat said, “I am only seeing a marginal change in situation for the better.”I do not think it is time to become over confident and start assuming that the situation has been brought under control because infiltration from across the borders will continue.”The LoC has remained volatile in the last year. According to official figures, 860 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops were reported in 2017 as against 221 the year before.India has also been effectively retaliating to Pakistani firing and even crossed the LoC to punish Pakistani troops on several occasions as part of tactical operations. — PTI