Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, June 20
The district administration has started the process of installing low cost-sensors, developed by IIT-Mandi, at 10 landslide-prone spots on the Mandi national highway. The sensors will help monitor landslide and act as an early warning system.Earlier, the administration had approached IIT-Mandi to install these sensors at 10 sites. One of the landslide-prone sites is Kotrupi in Mandi district where 47 persons were buried under the debris following a massive landslide in August last year. A 300-metre stretch of the National Highway-154 was buried under the debris.“Since landslides are a major hazard, we decided to assign the task of installing sensors, developed by students, to IIT-Mandi, as a pilot project to minimise the loss to life and property,” said Rugved Thakur, Mandi DC.He said all 10 sites, five each on either side of the NH-154 near Mandi, would have sensors. Though one sensor was installed at Deod in February 2018, it had to be removed before any conclusive data could be collected due to the start of the four-laning project. The National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO in Hyderabad had undertaken a study of the Kotrupi landslide. The study had pointed out that geologically, the area was in a thrusted contact between the Shivaliks and Shali group of rocks consisting of dolomite, brick red shale, micaceous sandstones, purple clay and mud stones, which are highly prone to landslides.“Normally, the cost of installing one sensor could be around Rs 1 crore, but we have developed these low-cost sensors. Their installation cost will be a mere Rs 11,000, along with Rs 5,000 running and maintenance cost per annum,” said Dr Venkata Uday Kala.He said IIT-Mandi had applied for patenting of this technology with the India Patent Cell and the International Patent Cell at Switzerland.Dr Kala said a company had been set up to render services to those interested in installing these sensors. The sensors could prove to be a watershed in minimising the loss by landslides, which have claimed several lives.
Saving lives
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 15
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) is cracking the whip on unauthorised retention of manpower for personal use by senior serving and retired officers as well as civilian officers.In a signal sent to all formations of the force this week, the ITBP’s Directorate General in New Delhi has sought by June 20 a list of unit personnel detailed with retired ITBP officers, including those who have remained on deputation with the ITBP, at their residences or other places, sources said.According to a senior officer, the orders have been issued based on a recent directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs that had taken cognisance of reports that members of Central Armed Police Forces were being attached with offices and residences of serving or even retired officers in violation of government policy and stipulated regulations.In addition to particulars of personnel detailed for duty other than bonafide government work, details have also been sought of ITBP personnel attached with civilian officers and also of those personnel retained by serving officers who have been posted out of the ITBP after completing their period of deputation.The issue of unauthorised or additional manpower being used by senior officers of the CAPFs as well as the Armed Forces to tend to their personal work or domestic chores has been repeatedly raised at various forums and the matter has also echoed in Parliament.Recent reports of 32 personnel being deployed at the residence of a senior IPS officer in Hyderabad and a top officer deploying Border Security Force personnel at the venue of his daughter’s wedding near Chandigarh point towards this misuse. A few years ago, an Inspector General in Punjab was suspended for allegedly deploying more than 30 personnel for personal errands without any sanction by the state police chief.Directing the formations to furnish the details, duly certified by the unit commander, by June 20, the ITBP headquarters has also warned that in case of any discrepancy found in the information, the unit concerned or formation would be held responsible.
Cessation of operations is in larger interest but cross-currents make extension difficult
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd)Arguments in favour of the initiation of suspension of operations for the Ramzan period in J&K are well behind us. The killing of senior journalist Shujat Bukhari has cast an ominous shadow. It was the extension which was in focus and there were several competing and compelling factors that created confusion and lack of clarity. The government may not extend the suspension of operations, but it needs to be reasoned through with informed debate. It starts with the pertinent question: Was the purpose achieved? If the purpose was peace and calm with zero turbulence, it was a wrong assumption. The expectation should have been a qualified sense of peace prevailing in a region where violence has been an everyday phenomenon. To that end, sporadic incidents continued but the big-ticket event has taken place with Bukhari’s killing may have ended the debate. In the week preceding Id-ul-Fitr, it was important for terrorists and separatists to convey their disagreement and clarify their intent on the continuation of violence as a means to attain their aim. It led to some horrendous violence, with a CRPF vehicle being targeted and a demonstrator being crushed to death. For those who advised against any break in operational momentum, this was adrenaline and the argument for an extension weakened. Bukhari’s killing has capped it.The visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh followed immediately; it is surprising how quickly things change in Kashmir. This time the optics for those favouring continuation appeared strong. The Home Minister appeared inclined towards recommending an extension, but this was an issue beyond just optics. There can be no doubt about the J&K CID report that successful counter-terror operations are paradoxically also fuelling greater militant response and helping in the recruitment of local youth whose sentiments are aroused at funerals of slain terrorists. Yet, the political leadership at the Centre had cross-currents to view. The J&K Chief Minister had a strong argument that her government could not adopt counter-narratives with passions continuing to flow due to offensive operations by the security forces. This argument was reinforced by the fact that while there may have been an upswing in the average number of incidents for the corresponding period, the casualty figures were much lower and funerals had been few and far between, with only two local terrorists killed in operations. The opposite view was equally buttressed: with lower figures of terrorists eliminated, the momentum of operations had seen a decline and that could see an upsurge in violence in coming months, especially in view of infiltration attempts. Two additional important issues were relevant and begged attention. First, the period saw no particular display of energy towards outreach, political activity of any worth, or the spelling of counter-narratives. To this, the counter-argument was that after years of political inactivity at the grassroots, the same would take time to pick up; there existed an element of fear about moving into the rural countryside with the prevailing security situation and would need special persuasion to make it happen. On the issue of outreach, the Home Minister’s visit did showcase some initiatives of the J&K Government, especially in the field of sports and youth power. The peripheral areas not in the vortex of South Kashmir’s violence-prone zone are undoubtedly witnessing such activity and it’s the government’s case that these would subsequently creep into the southern belt. In other words, it was all about time as nothing for effect could be done at break-neck speed. The second significant issue was the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, the security of which, by experience, needs preparation through relentless domination operations. Such domination involves sanitisation of the upper reaches from Pahalgam which does not affect the population. It is the second element of sanitisation, from Ramban, on to Anantnag and Pahalgam, which involves densely populated areas that have been in the throes of militancy. It is near Anantnag that yatris were attacked in 2017. The Centre could ill afford any repetition of the attack. Already under a reasonable degree of electoral pressure, the Centre probably views an extension of the suspension of operations as a dilution of the effectiveness of preparation for the yatra. The question was: Could it afford such a risk? Pragmatic opinion would elicit a negative response, although it would be fair to also inform the public that suspension of operations does not involve any let-up in domination operations. In such situations, it is not reality, but perception which holds the sentiment. The arguments on both sides, therefore, appeared almost equally weighted. The Centre may have been compelled to turn to yet another factor which plays no mean role in influencing opinion — ceasefire at the LoC and the Jammu segment of the international border (IB). There is no tactical connect between the suspension of operations and the LoC ceasefire. However, at the strategic level, it is all about the creation of an environment conducive to taking the next steps towards any form of peace. The decision to go back and implement the 2003 ceasefire arrangement — not agreement as erroneously reported many times — more effectively was well received by most quarters in India due to the unnecessary suffering of the civil population in the IB belt. However, with a sudden upswing in infiltration attempts in North Kashmir, Pakistan army’s intent is under question. The six successful counter-infiltration operations in the last few weeks means that the infusion of foreign terrorists into the Valley remains Pakistan’s priority. That by itself may yet have held water, but the spate of ceasefire violations in the IB belt, culminating in a virtual deliberate ambush of the BSF in our territory, gave no indicator of any change of Pakistan’s heart or intent. When factored into the larger proxy conflict in J&K, these two inputs make the suspension of operations and ceasefire a virtual mockery. Such measures are undertaken to give peace a chance, but if peace is assessed to have virtually no chance then the camp advocating the stoppage of all this perhaps wins. Analysts have been arguing that in view of the ongoing very serious reset in India’s foreign policy, and by implication security policy, perhaps giving peace a chance in J&K may have been an enabler for better things to emerge. However, in view of the lack of seriousness on the part of those who have to clap along with us to make that happen — Pakistan and the separatists — the Centre found it necessary to call it a day on the suspension of operations. Another day, another time; perhaps.
UNION Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s much-anticipated visit to Jammu & Kashmir last week had many irons in the fire. Apart from projecting a policy mix of pacification and pragmatism for the Valley, the Union Home Minister also unveiled a policy package for border residents who are once again living a nightmarish situation because of firing from Pakistan. The contours of the policy for border residents reveal considerable effort in understanding their discomfort following sustained Pakistani violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement. Fresh battalions, especially earmarked for the border belt, will have reservations for the locals to partially ameliorate the problem of joblessness; there will be a hike in compensation for those killed and maimed; and, a promise to construct nearly 15,000 individual and community bunkers. It is clear New Delhi considers Pakistan’s latest ceasefire offer on the border as a tactical milestone and is not prepared to risk the lives of its citizens to Rawalpindi’s capricious changes in policy towards India. But the defensive approach implied in the policy is an acknowledgement of the limitations in India’s approach of proportionate response to Pakistani firing. As monsoon approaches and then winter sets in, the construction of bunkers will take a long time. Rajnath’s offer to position bulletproof vehicles for residents as an interim measure is neither here nor there. The people’s expectation of a bunker in every house is also a bridge too far. The people of border areas have been shortchanged in every aspect of civic life; whether it is education, health, trade opportunities or livelihood issues. While people living along the International Border in Punjab have their set of woes, losing life and limb from sudden eruption of hostilities is not one of them. This year itself, the toll of the killed or injured along the J&K border hovers around the 200 mark. The terrain precludes a foolproof solution even if all the promised bunkers were to be constructed. India needs to leverage the favourable headwinds in the region to once again usher the post-2003 environment for developmental activities to take firm root.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 5
About two years after 18 soldiers, including two officers, were killed in a massive blaze that engulfed the Central Ammunition Depot at Pulgaon, they have been granted the status of battle casualty, thereby entitling their families to higher financial benefits.Representations from the next of kin of deceased personnel had been received by the Ministry of Defence for sanction of liberalised family pension and commensurate ex gratia. Liberalised pension is granted to dependants of armed forces personnel killed in notified operational areas and is equal to 100 per cent of the last drawn pay.“The case for classification of said casualties as battle casualties has been considered by this ministry and it has been decided with approval of the competent authority that as an exception, military personnel who died or were injured or disabled in the aforementioned ammunition accident shall be eligible to battle casualty status,” orders issued by the MoD state.In May 2016, a large quantity of mines stored in Explosive Stores House 192 of the depot went up in flames with as much as 135,275 kg explosives detonating. That resulted in the death of 19 personnel and grievous injuries to 17 military, Defence Security Corps and civilians.Under existing provisions, the deaths and injuries had then been classified as physical casualties attributable to military service, which receive benefits, lower that that given to battle casualties. Several casualties took place during fire-fighting and damage-containment operations.
In the run-up to the 2014 elections, Modi’s expressed intentions and sentiments about the armed forces caught the imagination of a substantial section of the military community, serving as well as veterans. This translated into overwhelming support in the elections, which continued thereafter in debates on mainstream or social media. Some actions by the Prime Minister reinforced this sentiment – spending Diwali with soldiers deployed on the far-flung frontiers as he has been doing every year, for instance. He asked people to acknowledge soldiers in public as is the norm in some other countries. Few doubted the sincerity of his words – least of all soldiers or veterans themselves.
But as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying”. A series of ill-considered decisions by the Ministry of Defence over the past four years has been in stark contrast to these sentiments of the PM. Taken under three successive Raksha Mantri (RM), they have had an adverse impact on the welfare, dignity, and status of the soldier. The fact that the country has had three successive RMs in four years, including a part-time one initially itself raises doubts about the priority of the ministry in the overall scheme of things.
The government took off on a wrong footing with the inordinate delay in implementing the OROP, an election promise made by the Prime Minister himself. Flimsy excuses proffered by the minister and ministry officials – that its a complex issuerequiring complicated calculations – cut no ice in this computerized era. The delay finally led to the sorry spectacle of aged veterans and their families agitating peacefully for months at Jantar Mantar. Adding insult to injury, the peaceful demonstrators were attacked by the police on the eve of Independence Day, something that angered even serving soldiers to no end. The final implementation was preceded by unsavoury haggling and caveats, and what should have been a graceful fulfilling of a promise was turned into an acrimonious battle by the officials and minister involved. To this day, utterances made by the then minister leads a section of veterans to feel that the promise was diluted. The government ended up delivering what the Congress had said was “not feasible” and yet losing out on some of the goodwill that this would have generated had it been handled in a more graceful manner.
Implementation of the 7th Pay Commission for the armed forces was the next sordid episode. The armed forces pointed outseveral anomalies in the recommendations concerning soldiers. While the three chiefs preferred to implement the recommendations only after resolving the anomalies, they were ordered to go ahead and implement nevertheless, while the anomalies would be addressed subsequently.
Some recommendations of the pay commission seemed to specifically single out the armed forces for belittlement. This could possibly be attributed to deliberate sabotage by a pay commission appointed by the previous government. But it was up to the government to decide whether to accept them or not. However, these were, inexplicably, accepted by the government without much application of mind about the negligible savings accruing on one hand and the bad optics of acting against the stated intent of doing the best by soldiers on the other hand.
Three cases stand out – a reduction of disability pension of armed forces personnel (while hiking it for other services), cappingof education allowance admissible to the children of martyrs and disabled soldiers, and stopping entitled rations for officers posted in peace stations, replacing it with a ration allowance. None of these made any sense, and two of them have subsequently been reversed – but not before they caused considerable consternation amongst serving and veteran soldiers and a loss of face for the government in having to roll back its decisions frequently. Even the third is reported to be actively under consideration for reversal because the implementation is causing complications as officers posted in peace stations also become entitled to rations in kind when they move out for training, field firing and operational alerts, which is usually for about four to five months in a year.
Another curious case was a letter issued by a middle-ranking MoD official, downgrading the uniformed officers and JCOs vis a vis their civilian counterparts of the Armed Forces Headquarters cadre. The outrage caused by equating Captains and Lieutenants of the army with non-gazetted civilian officers, and JCOs with clerical grades, once again resulted in the government having to take a U-turn about the decision and restoring status quo ante.
And the latest issue is opening of cantonment roads, that has a serving, veterans, and families up in arms once again. The ill-considered orders were passed by the Raksha Mantri, overruling the objections of the army and disregarding the obvious security implications of allowing free passage of traffic through military areas across the country. While the RM may have been swayed by local MPs and MLAs appealing about inconvenience being caused to local residents in having to take detours around closed roads, the cantonment land has been the target of land grabbers for a long time. Interestingly, the Cantonments Act was amended by the UPA government in 2006, diluting the powers of the military authorities vis a vis the bureaucrats of the Defence Estates department – some of whom have been involved in such land grab instances themselves.
As a veteran who voted for BJP in 2014, and will do so once again in 2019, I am nevertheless amongst many who feel let down by this constant back and forth by a government that we considered had the best interests of soldiers at heart. While one or two incidents can be explained away as errors of judgment, the series of instances described above indicate a pattern. It appears that all these decisions were taken on advice which was either consistently ill-considered or given with malafide intent. The lower bureaucracy in MoD has been notorious for acting against the interest of the services for decades to an extent that they use funds meant for the welfare of veterans to hire expensive lawyers to fight cases against disabled veterans in the Supreme Court. But it is the political leadership that is ultimately accountable to the people, and must, in turn, hold the bureaucrats accountable. In none of the cases where the government has had to rescind a decision, any bureaucrat has been held accountable by the minister.
One of the expectations that people like me had with this government, especially from the Prime Minister, was that with his genuine regard for soldiers, such frequent pinpricks will come to an end. On the contrary, not only have they continued, but the frequent change in Defence Ministers has exacerbated the gap between the political intent of the Prime Minister and actions on the ground. Maybe its time that decisions concerning the armed forces and veterans are not taken purely on bureaucratic advice, but after interactions with the stakeholders to understand the nuances of the impact of such decisions. With the presence of two cabinet colleagues who are senior veterans themselves, the Defence Minister could easily pick up the phone and have an informal chat with them to understand the implications of any such decision on the morale of soldiers and sentiments of the families and people at large.
As the government celebrates the completion of four years of effective governance, and its achievements in areas like electrification, infrastructure, connectivity, ease of doing business etc have been phenomenal, it needs to introspect on how it has fared in dealing with issues related to the armed forces. There may be a need for some damage control, and a year is long enough to do so, while simultaneously ensuring that mistakes of the past are not repeated.
Prince Zaid was briefed by Pakistan’s Special Envoy on Kashmir Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari in March and the UN High Commission for Human Rights report has the Pak print all over it.
Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi
INDIAN Army Chief Bipin Rawat has broken his silence on the recent UN report cataloguing alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. “I don’t think we need to speak on the United Nations report on Kashmir,” he said.That the Army Chief has taken cognisance of the UN report on Kashmir following the vehement rejection of its veracity by the Centre is interesting to note. But merely saying it isn’t worth talking about as it is “motivated” or “fallacious”, “tendentious” and “overtly prejudiced” to build a “false narrative” is not sufficient. Truth has to be told with more intellectual rigour and courage with due respect to international laws.A critical appraisal of the 49-page report prepared by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) unravels its fallibility based on ‘unverified information’. Hence, every unbiased observer took it with a pinch of salt. India was not alone in its strongly worded rebuttal to the OHCHR report. Six more nations rejected the report authored by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein: two from Asia (Bhutan, Afghanistan), one from Africa (Mauritius), one from Eurasia (Belarus), and two from Latin America (Cuba, Venezuela). The report was discussed and dismissed by all these countries during the ‘General debate on the overall update of the High Commissioner on the situation of Human Rights worldwide and on the activities of his office’ at the Human Rights Council. Both the motif and timing of the report were questioned, and rightly so. Taking into account that this ‘probe’ into alleged human rights violations in Kashmir was headed by the Jordanian diplomat and OHCHR chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, it is not difficult to find fallibility in it. The UN High Commissioner’s mandate clearly states that he should conduct his work respecting “sovereignty, territorial integrity and domestic jurisdiction of member states.” But to the utter surprise of the close observers of the Indo-Pak conflict, Zeid was recently seen in pictures with Pakistani Hurriyat faction leader Syed Faiz and other leaders from Pakistan. This has led to the crucial question: where were his facts coming from?Zeid proclaims that his findings are based on documentary evidence in the public domain, including from governmental sources in Kashmir, India and Pakistan. But there is little to support his credentials in the compilation of this report. The Jordanian diplomat-Prince Zeid became the High Commissioner for Human Rights in June, 2014 with the approval of the 193 member-states of the United Nations General Assembly. Several diplomats from western democracies stressed Zeid’s Muslim and Arab background combined with his progressive credentials as crucial for bridging the gap between the UN’s western states and Islamic countries. But there are grounds for growing concern and legitimate worries about how dramatically Zeid is seen as an ‘ally’ in Islamic countries like Pakistan. He is arguably referred to as the ‘most befitting friend’ and an ‘avid advocate’ for the cause of ‘Azaad Kashmir’ at UN. On March 9, 2018, Pakistani news channel Neo Tv Network published photos of Zeid R’ad al-Hussain meeting with Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, a Pakistani politician and Special Envoy of the PM on Kashmir, in his bid to highlight the Pakistan narrative of the Kashmir issue. Tellingly, High Commissioner Zeid thanked the Special Envoy for ‘briefing’ him on the human rights situation, as widely reported. Interestingly, the Pakistani TV channel concludes that the recent report which is the first of its kind released by the UN is an indirect outcome of the meeting between Zeid and Awais. It reports: “On the occasion of Burhan Wani’s killing, Awais Leghari visited Geneva to meet with Zeid al-Ra’ad in order to brief him about Burhan Wani and the Kashmir issue. Only two months after this meet, the UN has broken its 50-year-long silence on the Kashmir dispute, and the credit goes to Zeid al-Ra’ad al-Hussain.” (Source: youtube).This background of the OHRC report on Kashmir raises a pertinent question: Did Zeid look at Kashmir with the same prism as the OIC (Organisation for Islamic Cooperation) where Pakistan flogs its story every year? More particular questions had to be asked in this regard, such as: why did the UN High Commissioner for HR make it a ‘special report’ so selectively, while it does not cite any resolution of the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council or the Security Council as the mandate for it? Worse, Zeid’s report refers to LeT, JeM and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen as “armed groups” while they are all listed as terrorist organisations by the Security Council.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has egregiously violated his mandate by wholly ignoring the scale of violence being peddled by extremist outfits.One of the major reasons why human rights in Kashmir are in doldrums is religious militancy. Faith-based insurgents have perpetrated grave human rights violations in a large section of the clergy-controlled Kashmiri populace, where secular educational institutions are not welcome.Ansar Ghazwatul Hindi, an avatar of the Al-Qaeda ideology in the valley, promotes medieval concepts and exclusivist online narratives to radicalise the Kashmiri youths. Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an all-woman group, advocates ‘full-veiled jihad’ to establish ‘Islamic’ rule in Kashmir and has supported Kashmir’s two-decade long insurgency, declared secular education akin to haram (forbidden) much like the Boko Haram which translates into ‘western education is haram’. Recently, a school bus carrying children was attacked in the militant-infested Shopian district of South Kashmir. the Parents see an increased risk, when schools in the state have been attacked. Shujaat Bukhari, journalist, fell victim of such dastardly designs for speaking of peace and reconciliation in Kashmir on international forums, just as many other intellectuals have met the same end.At this critical juncture, it is distressing to see human rights bodies undermine their own credibility and ignore the violence of militants.
A 40-year-old Army Major was arrested from Uttar Pradesh`s Meerut on June 24, 2018, for allegedly killing a fellow officer`s in west Delhi.
New Delhi: In the Army Major’s wife’s murder case, the Delhi police said on Wednesday that the weapon that they had in their custody was not the weapon with which Shailja Dwivedi was killed.
“The weapon that we have in our custody is not the weapon with which Shailaja was killed. Accused Major Nikhil Handa is giving us misleading information day after day. We have done 90% of the work and in coming days the truth will come out,” Vijay Kumar, DCP West Delhi said, as per ANI.
The 40-year-old Army Major was arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut on June 24, 2018, for allegedly killing a fellow officer’s wife in west Delhi.
The woman’s body was found with her throat slit near the Brar Square in the Delhi Cantonment area on June 23. Kumar had said earlier that the accused, Major Handa, was “obsessed” with the victim and wanted to marry her.
Another police officer had claimed that the woman and the accused had an affair, PTI reported. Major Handa, who is married with two kids, knew the women and her husband, also a Major in the Army, since 2015, when they both were posted in Nagaland, the DCP had said.
Also Read – How police traced and arrested accused Major Nikhil Handa
The woman’s husband had spotted Major Handa in the CCTV footage of the hospital, where his wife had gone for a physiotherapy session and went missing from there and had told the police that he suspected him.
The police had then started looking for Handa and had found that he was in touch with a couple of friends and was hiding at the officers’ mess in Meerut Cantonment.
A Delhi Police team had reached Meerut and had nabbed Major Handa when he was trying to escape from there in his silver-coloured car. After the arrest, they had informed their counterparts in Meerut.
The accused had come to Delhi from Dimapur on the pretext of treatment.
On June 23, he had met the woman and they had an argument while they were sitting in his car and he had allegedly slit her throat and thrown her out of the vehicle, police officers had said.
The woman had held on to the car after being thrown out, but the accused had run over her and had fled from the spot.
Two knives were found in his car, which indicates that he might have planned it in advance, the police had said.
Initially, the police were informed that a woman had died in an accident. Later, when they had inspected the body, it was found that her throat was slit.
Earlier, the woman was dropped at the Army Base Hospital in her husband’s official vehicle by a driver on June 23.
Later, when the driver had come back to pick her up, he could not find her and had learnt that she did not attend her scheduled physiotherapy session.
Faure, who is on his first bilateral visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Modi on Monday morning.
The airman had faited when the guard of honour was being presented to the visiting dignitary. He was attended by his colleagues and others present there.
