Sanjha Morcha

High Court: No sexual assault if no skin-to-skin contact

High Court: No sexual assault if no skin-to-skin contact

Mumbai, January 24

Groping a minor’s breast without “skin-to-skin contact” cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Bombay High Court has said.

Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, in a judgment passed on January 19, the detailed copy of which was made available now, held that there must be “skin to skin contact with sexual intent” for an act to be considered sexual assault. She said in her verdict that mere groping would not fall under the definition of sexual assault.

Justice Ganediwala modified the order of a Sessions Court, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. — PTI


Marathon military talks on Ladakh standoff PM mum on chinese occupation: rahul

Marathon military talks on Ladakh standoff

India and China on Sunday held the ninth round of military talks

New Delhi, January 24

After a gap of over two months, India and China on Sunday held the ninth round of military talks specifically focusing on ways to move forward on the long-negotiated disengagement process in eastern Ladakh as thousands of their troops remained deployed at friction points under freezing conditions.

The Corps Commander-level meeting began around 10 am at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and was continuing late till night, sources said.

People familiar with the negotiations said India insisted that the onus was on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points. India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all friction points and a selective approach was not acceptable to it.

Close to 1 lakh Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long haul amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution.

Sunday’s talks took place nearly two weeks after India handed back to China a soldier of the People’s Liberation Army after apprehending him on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. It is learnt that India’s gesture generated a positive atmosphere. The Indian delegation was led by Leh-based 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen PGK Menon. — PTI

Pullback Onus on Beijing: India

  • The ninth round of talks were aimed at initiating steps to disengage troops from all friction points in eastern Ladakh
  • The eighth round of talks on November 6 , 2020, had broadly discussed disengagement from specific friction points
  • Close to 1 lakh Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh

Pak terror groups switch to new messaging apps

Pak terror groups switch to new messaging apps

Terrorist groups and their handlers from Pakistan are switching to new applications

Srinagar, January 24

Amid a raging debate over privacy offered by messaging platforms like WhatsApp, terrorist groups and their handlers from Pakistan are switching to new applications, officials here said.

The three new applications came to light after evidence was collected following encounters with terrorists or those who surrendered before the Army gave details about their mode of radicalisation by Pakistan-based terrorist groups, they said. The names of the messaging apps have been withheld for security reasons.

Slow internet no bar

  • Names of the apps have been withheld for security reasons
  • One of these is owned by a US firm, second is from Europe and third by a Turkish firm
  • Can work with the slowest Internet connections

While one of the applications is owned by a company based in the United States, the second is from Europe. The latest is an application developed by a Turkish company that has been frequently used by terrorist group handlers and their prospective recruits in the Kashmir valley.

The new applications have the ability to work with the slowest Internet connections where Enhanced Data for Global Evolution (EDGE), used in the late 2000s, or 2G is in operation.

The government suspended Internet across Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state in August 2019. Early last year, 2G Internet services were restored. Terror groups had virtually stopped using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Later, it was found that they had switched over to new applications available free of cost, a security official said.

One of the new messaging apps used by terrorists to radicalise the youth in the Valley does not even ask for phone numbers or emails for enabling complete user anonymity, officials said.

Efforts are on to block such applications in Jammu and Kashmir, they added. — PTI


7 reasons why Modi govt is in retreat on farm reform laws Farm reform could’ve been high point of Modi’s second term. But lack of patience, understanding and contempt for history have turned it into a disaster.

Illustration: Soham Sen | ThePrint

llustration: Soham Sen | ThePrint 

Cop-out, mission abandoned, cold feet, tactical retreat, stalemate. You choose the description for the Modi government’s predicament on its farm reform laws. It is a setback if not an outright defeat or surrender. Which is tragic, because these laws are reformist, bold, and would help farmers by and large, rather than harm them.

Nevertheless, all substantive reform has to be marketed politically. The days of incremental reform by stealth are over. There isn’t any low-hanging fruit left in the reform orchard. That’s why it is important that we understand what went wrong here. Because, an idea is only as good or as bad as those most affected find it.

In our view, here are the seven main reasons why the Modi-Shah BJP has failed to convince the farmers.

– They cannot accept that there is a non-Muslim state in the north where Narendra Modi doesn’t hold the same magisterial sway over public opinion as in the Hindi heartland.

– Because they do not accept it, they never saw the need for a local ally. That’s why they dumped the Akalis so contemptuously. The Sikhs of Punjab are not like the Hindus of Assam who will vote for Modi even when you marginalise their pre-eminent regional party and steal its leaders.

– We have said this before in a National Interest, they do not understand the Sikhs. They see them essentially as Hindus if sartorially different. Fact is, they are, and yet they aren’t. But understanding subtleties isn’t exactly the Modi-Shah BJP’s strong point.

– They never appreciated the deep Left influence among the Punjab peasantry, going back to the early 20th century, since even before Bhagat Singh. Sikhism, the institution of the gurdwara, has a unique tradition of community mobilisation. Add to that the organisational skills and political savvy of the Left. That is what Narendra Singh Tomar and Piyush Goyal face session after session.

– It is because of a combination of these that the Modi government didn’t bother to market the reforms ideas early on. You do not tell surplus-producing farmers of the Green Revolution states that the very regime under which two generations have prospered is broken, and make three laws to fix them.

 – You cannot use force against the Sikhs. To put it more rudely, you can’t treat them like Muslims. And you can’t question their patriotism. You do the first, the entire country will protest. You do the second, the Sikhs would laugh at you and the rest of the country would ask what’s wrong with you. This crisis denies you all your usual weapons: Force, agencies, propaganda, hyper-nationalism and so on.

– And finally, there is the Modi-Shah BJP’s hallmark: Contempt for history. Because, you presume history of the Republic only began in the summer of 2014 and anything that happened before that was a disaster and not worth learning from.

Also read: Shambles over farmers’ protest shows Modi-Shah BJP needs a Punjab tutorial


Let’s discuss the seventh point in some detail. If the post-2014 BJP leaders had not been so caught up in the headiness of power and adulation, they would have asked somebody to fill them in on some earlier experiences of India. Besides all the supposed follies of Jawaharlal Nehru they’d been taught about in the “Sangh”. They would then have known how a supremely powerful leader, at the peak of her popularity, can go wrong and be forced to retreat.

Because then, Narendra Modi would have known how Indira Gandhi erred in 1973, by nationalising all of India’s grain trade. This was her socialist peak, she was riding her post-Bangladesh ‘Durga’ crest and could do nothing wrong. This is also when the economy, reeling from the ravages of war, her dictatorial socialism and then the oil price shock following the Yom Kippur War, was in a tailspin and inflation had reached 33 per cent. A good account of the period is found in historian Srinath Raghavan’s essay in Builders of Modern India, edited by Ramachandra Guha.

This was also when Mrs Gandhi had ushered in her perfect world — a Soviet-style socialist utopia in which prices of everything, including cars, were fixed. Business Standard’s editorial chairman T.N. Ninan described this period in this 2014 article, and called grain trade nationalisation Mrs Gandhi’s greatest folly.

The short version of the story is, she was persuaded by her deep pink counsels, especially her chief commissar and Planning Commission deputy chairman D.P. Dhar, that the best way to control prices was to take the markets out of grain trade by nationalising it. Of course, no public opinion was built. What’s the point of being a strong, supremely popular leader if you still have to do those tedious things?

This led to a disaster. Farmers, traders and consumers were all furious. Further, prices went up, grain shortages were back and farmers were driven deeper into poverty. The one person in her ‘system’ who saw the looming disaster and tried to caution her was a noted economist and, predictably, a Punjabi: B.S. (Bagicha Singh) Minhas, a graduate of Khalsa College, Amritsar, who also studied at Panjab University and got a PhD from Stanford. He knew the farming business and the farmer’s mind. But he was overruled.

This was the only major decision that Mrs Gandhi was forced to withdraw, when she had no political challenge. Once she blinked, it gave impetus to her opponents, and Jayaprakash Narayan’s Navnirman Movement picked up momentum.

We do accept the contrasts in the two situations. Mrs Gandhi tried to take the private markets away from farmers and lost. Modi is bringing more markets to the farmers, and they don’t want them.

In terms of the philosophical direction of the economy, the two situations are contrary to each other. But there is no contradiction politically. In each case, unassailable, supremely powerful and popular leaders failed to see their limitations. Mrs Gandhi, then, of 352 seats in the Lok Sabha; Modi, now, of 303.


Also read: Neither ‘udta’ nor ‘padhta’ Punjab. Question is how India’s no. 1 state in 2003 fell to 13


Even in a classical dictatorship, like China or Russia today, there are limits to a leader’s powers. India is nowhere near that league. In a diverse democracy, there are also limitations to any leader’s popularity. That’s why leaders have to know the art of persuasion.

Which Modi knows well. That’s why his government talks of ‘nudge’ economics. Or, to put it more accurately, a ‘nudge’ approach to political economy. Modi did it where it was easy, as say with the ‘Give It Up’ LPG campaign, when much larger populations were involved, including his base. He neither enjoys the same popularity in Punjab nor the unquestioning trust that he’s used to in Gujarat and the Hindi heartland.

If his dispensation wasn’t so overconfident, if there was still a culture of his political aides and bureaucracy intervening with some counsel and caution, he might have understood that this situation was different. And the need for persuasion, nudge, preparing the ground. In politics, if your objective is only winning elections, just Chanakya neeti (strategy) might do. For governance, you need both Chanakya neeti and Ram rajya (listening to others, give-and-take). You can neither beat up the farmers into submission, nor dismiss them as ‘Khalistanis’. We cannot answer these questions. But it is evident that this ground work was missing.

It is from this lack of patience and non-understanding the limitations of personal popularity in Punjab that we face this looming disaster over farm laws. This explains the first six points listed by us.

This deserved to be the high, reformist point of Modi’s second term after a messed-up economy in the first. But, as we well know, what is economics in a democracy if not politics by another name?

This article has been updated to correct the fact that D.P. Dhar was the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission during grain trade nationalisation and not P.N. Haksar. The error is regretted.


Women army officers once again move SC for grant of permanent commission, promotions and benefits Petition says court’s direction last February not complied with n ‘letter and spirit’

Women army officers once again move SC for grant of permanent commission, promotions and benefits

PTI file photo

New Delhi, January 23

Eleven women army officers have moved the Supreme Court seeking compliance of its February last year directions to the Centre for grant of permanent commission, promotions and consequential benefits to them “in an inclusive, fair, just and reasonable manner”.

In a plea, Lieutenant Colonel Ashu Yadav and 10 other women Army officers alleged that the directions were not being complied with in “letter and spirit”.

The procedures for grant of permanent commission is “vitiated with arbitrariness, unfairness and unreasonableness”, they alleged in the petition, which is scheduled to be taken up for hearing by a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud on January 27.

“The respondent institution is not leaving any possibility of thrusting their stand of unequal treatment to the women officers indirectly by trapping them into technical and procedural formalities and consequential denial of their rights,” it said.

The conduct of the Centre suggests that it is “playing a psychological warfare with these women officers” to avoid every possibility of granting them the benefits of permanent commission, promotion and consequential benefits, which is in clear violation of the order dated February 17, 2020, the plea said.

“Hence, it is most humbly prayed before this court to direct the respondent institution to determine a fair, rational road map and a well-reasoned policy for women officers on all the aspects, including grant of Col (Colonel) TS (time scale) rank and long outstanding financial dues, so as to promote inclusiveness rather than elimination techniques,” it said.

The plea challenged the general instructions, dated August 1, 2020, regarding the requisites of Special Board-5 (SB-5) for grant of permanent commission to short service commissioned (SSC) women officers.

It has also challenged the absence of any policy for organising the SB-3 board which is the promotion board for women officers who will be approved by the permanent commission board.

The plea also questioned the terms regarding substantive promotion by time scale on the rank of Colonel to women officers after completing 26 years of reckonable service in light of the terms of a notification dated December 21, 2004.

Pointing out the shortcomings of the SB-5 board criterion, the women officers said that the general instructions of August 1 last year, “are a set of arbitrary norms/criterion and pre-requisites, for the consideration of women officers by the SB-5 board that is the board for granting permanent commission”.

It said that the medical criterion laid down in the general instructions is inconsistent with the basic tenets of equality as laid down in Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

The general instructions released by the Indian Army on August 1 last year are “full of ambiguities as it contains provisions which seek to eliminate the women officers rather than giving them a fair chance or opportunity of permanent commission”, the plea said.

The petitioners said that it is apprehended that applying such procedure on women officers is only to render them unfit.

“For instance, women officers above 45 years (approaching menopause) and unmarried women officers were also made to undergo pregnancy test overlooking their age and marital status,” they claimed in their plea.

The plea said that women officers subjected to the permanent commission board include those who have continued in service beyond 14 and 20 years performing all such duties that have been performed by their male counterparts without any obstruction due to physiological changes.

“Thus, the medical conditions not being an impediment in career progression and promotions for male officers in the similar service length bracket cannot be so for the women officers,” it said.

The petitioners said that in a hierarchical organisation like the army, where stiff competition exists for each vacancy in promotion boards (SB-3), objectivity of ACRs of senior women officers having been rendered by male counterparts who were many batches junior to them, in some cases their students, cannot be considered at such a belated stage or for that matter at any stage to avoid unparalleled prejudices.

“It will be in clear breach of the provisions of the Army Order… consisting of the terms of protection of rights of a batch,” the plea said.

The officers submitted that they have been deprived of the provision for time-scale promotion recognised by the Indian Army which was introduced through the notification of December 21, 2004, wherein all officers who have completed the service period of 26 years without promotion to the rank of Colonel by selection shall be so promoted by time scale.

They said that the purpose of filing the plea is to “highlight the remaining hurdles to the battle of permanent commission, promotion and consequential benefits which has been fought and won over a period of 15 years with a hope of achieving their rightful claims”.

On February 17 last year in a landmark verdict, the top court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted permanent commission, rejecting the Centre’s stand of their physiological limitations as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.

The apex court had directed that within three months, all serving SSC women officers have to be considered for permanent commission irrespective them having crossed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service.


Farmers agree to hold Republic Day rally on Delhi’s inner roads Unions say tractor rally to steer clear of Outer Ring Road

Farmers agree to hold Republic Day rally on Delhi’s inner roads

Farmers at Singhu border during their ongoing agitation against the new farm laws in New Delhi on January 22, 2021. PTI file photo

Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 23 

Farmers’ unions and Delhi Police have reached a consensus over a Republic Day Tractor Parade that farmers will hold on January 26—a development that comes after several rounds of talks.

According to the new arrangement, farmers will steer clear of the Outer Ring road on January 26 and will instead hold their rally on the inner roads of the city,  Rajinder Singh Deep Singhwala, vice-president of Kirti Kisan Union who was part of a meeting between farmers’ unions and Delhi Police, said.

READ: Decision to allow farmers’ parade only after completing modalities, say Delhi Police

The parade will now take place in five routes and on a stretch of over 60 km, at least 30 of which will be inside Delhi.

The routes, he said, will be announced later.

The breakthrough came after Delhi Police have agreed to remove their barricades from Singhu and Tikri borders to allow the rally to enter Delhi, the leader said.

Police intelligence reports estimated 70,000 to 1 lakh tractors to be part of the farmers’ rally, the leader said.

“They said that it may take 48 hours to complete the march and asked us to reconsider the route as it may sabotage the official Republic Day parade,” Singhwala said.

Delhi Police and farmers had been stuck in an impasse over routes for the past few days.  Farmers had previously announced that they were holding the parade in the Outer Ring Road, causing Delhi Police to worry about the impact it would have on the central government’s Republic Day Parade.

Dr Darshan Pal, Yogendra Yadav, Gurnam Singh Charuni, and Raminder Singh Patiala represented the farmers in the meeting with Delhi Police’s Special Commissioner Dipender Pathak and Joint Commissioner Surender Yadav.

Sources said that the farmers’ leaders who had gone for the meeting had been told to not walk out of the negotiations.

“In a breakthrough with police officials of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Samyukt Kisan Morcha leaders were able to jointly finalize routes for the Kisan Republic Day Parade. Preparations are in full swing for disciplined conduct of the same. Response from farmers and their supporters has been tremendous from all over the country,” the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said in a statement.

“Farmers across the country supported the call of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha to celebrate Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday as “Azad Hind Kisan Diwas”. Today, farmers protested in different places for demanding the repeal of three farm laws and legalising MSP,” the statement, which bore the name of Darshan Pal Singh, said.

“So far at least 151 peoples (sic) have lost their lives in this movement. We extend our deep condolences to all martyrs,” the statement said.

 


Veterans hold roadshow, say will join protesters at Delhi borders on R-Day Condemn Centre’s stance, demand repeal of farm laws

Veterans hold roadshow, say will join protesters at Delhi borders on R-Day

A cavalcade of ex-servicemen’s vehicles proceeds from Bathinda to Mansa on Saturday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 23

Ex-servicemen from Bathinda and Mansa districts today. carried out a roadshow from Bathinda to Mansa in support of the farmers’ agitation against the central agricultural laws.

Responding to the farmer unions’ call for Republic Day, they announced that they would be participating in the parade in the national capital in a show of solidarity with the protesters. The cavalcade of vehicles started from the Thermal Lake in Bathinda and after crossing through several parts of the city reached Mansa.

Darshan Singh, an ex-serviceman from Mansa, said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers in their struggle against the new agricultural laws. We strongly condemn the obdurate stance of the central government and firmly stand with farmers’ demand for the rollback of the new laws.”

Captain Jeet Singh (retd) said: “We are also making plans to join farmers on Republic Day at Delhi borders. We also appeal to the union government to make payments of pending DA installments to retired armed forces personnel and other central government employees.”

Ex-servicemen stated that the farmers’ agitation needed to be strengthened further. They appreciated farmers for keeping their protest apolitical and, most importantly, peaceful. Ex-servicemen extended their full support to farmers for keeping the agitation peaceful in the future as well.


Steps being taken to create joint theatre command: Lt Gen Mohanty

Steps being taken to create joint theatre command: Lt Gen Mohanty

Vice-Chief of Indian Army Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty. PTI file

Pune, January 23

Newly-appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Chandi Prasad Mohanty on Saturday said the Armed Forces are taking progressive steps to increase integration between the three services to create a “joint theatre command”.

Lt Gen Mohanty, who is currently the Southern Command chief, will take over from Lt S K Saini after he retires on January 31.

Speaking to reporters here, Lt Gen Mohanty said, “We are working towards integration. Right now, we all function in different domains and coordinate our resources as when the need arises.”

However, the moment a joint theatre command comes in, there would be integration in terms of planning, training and operations, he said.

“We are studying modern models available all over the world and a best-suited model will be adopted for the Indian Armed Forces in due course of time and will be executed in a phased manner,” he said.

The Indian Army is also looking at new technologies available with the most modern armies in the world, he said.

The army commander further said maritime and amphibious capabilities of the Indian Army need to be developed.

“We are a regional power and I am sure that there will always be requirements of more amphibious corps, enabled troops in every sphere,” he said.

To ensure the security and integrity of India’s off- shore islands, the amphibious capabilities need to be improved, Lt Gen Mohanty said.

Asked about fresh threats emerging in the southern sectors, Lt Gen Mohanty said the intelligence and security agencies are working round the clock to keep citizens safe. PTI


India working on 5th-gen fighter, some 6th-gen capabilities will be incorporated in it: IAF chief

India working on 5th-gen fighter, some 6th-gen capabilities will be incorporated in it: IAF chief

Chief of Air Staff Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria with Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain during a joint air force exercise between India and France, codenamed Desert Knight-21, at Jodhpur air force station, on Saturday, January 23, 2021. PTI

Jodhpur, January 23

Eight Rafale aircraft have already arrived in India and three more are expected by the end of this month, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria said here on Saturday.

The IAF chief was speaking at a press conference after the conclusion of ‘Exercise Desert Knight-21’ held in Jodhpur by the air forces of India and France.

He said IAF has initiated a fifth-generation fighter aircraft programme with the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and plans to incorporate some sixth-generation capabilities in it as well.

“Our present vision is to incorporate all the latest technologies and sensors in our fifth-generation aircraft,” Bhadauria said.

“We started work on fifth-generation aircraft a little late. So technologies and sensors contemporary to that period of development would be added into fifth-generation fighters,” he added.

Bhadauria said when IAF received the Rafale aircraft, the first priority was to operationalise it and integrate it with the existing combat fleet.

“It has already been done, and the current exercise Desert Knight was the result of that,” he said.

“We have some Indian pilots training in France and some in India itself. We have enough pilots to have a right pilot-cockpit ratio,” the Air Chief Marshal said, adding that the entire induction would be completed by next year.

Earlier, Bhadauria congratulated both the air forces for successfully completing the exercise in just four days. Desert Knight-21 was scheduled to be held over five days.

“It is not in terms of interoperability which has been learnt in this exercise, but employment of best practices, operational philosophies and mutual as well as professional interaction,” he said.

Later, talking to the media, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said bilateral cooperation between the two countries has been going on ever since the first French aircraft landed in India in 1953.

“Now Rafale is the reflection of this strengthened cooperation and partnership,” Lenain said.

He said this partnership has persisted through good and bad times.

“When India faced difficulties during its atomic test in Pokran in 1998, we were at your side while other countries opposed and objected. And we were also by your side in cooperational manner when you had difficulties with one of your neighbours,” the ambassador said.

He said this exercise would further help in building mutual trust and pave the way for more cooperation. PTI


How Army and Navy are keeping Republic Day parade participants safe amid Covid

Bangladesh armed forces contingent during the full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day Parade, in New Delhi on Saturday | ANI

Bangladesh armed forces contingent during the full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day Parade, in New Delhi on Saturday | ANI

New Delhi: From the Navy booking 14 hotels in Delhi’s Karol Bagh to the Army creating a bio bubble in the heart of the cantonment in the national capital, armed forces are taking every step to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic as they prepare for the Republic Day parade.

An additional task cut out for those involved in the planning of the parade was to ensure that the Bangladeshi contingent taking part in it remained safe amid Covid.

“It was a herculean task as the contingents and bands came from across the country. But we have managed to ensure that everyone is safe,” Chief of Staff, Delhi Area, Major General Alok Kacker said, replying to a query by ThePrint on how tough the Covid challenge was.

He was briefing reporters on the preparations for the Republic Day parade on 26 January.

In November, when the Army contingent and bands started arriving in the capital, a total of 260 tested positive, out of about 3,000 who had landed.

“The Delhi area was the first to set up quarantine facilities. We ensured that all soldiers were tested and those who were positive were treated,” Kacker said.

He also mentioned that the Army had created a bio bubble at the parade ground in the Delhi Cantonment to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

‘Here to have a better friendship’

The Navy, meanwhile, booked 14 hotels in Karol Bagh to house sailors, who have come from across the country.

Navy sources said one of the hotels was turned into a central kitchen, which served meals to everyone in other hotels.

“Dedicated buses are there for them to be picked up and dropped back from training. Nobody steps out because of the Corona pandemic,” a source said, explaining the steps taken to counter the pandemic.

The over 120-member Bangladeshi delegation was tested for Covid before they left for India, and they have been put up in a five-star hotel and every Covid protocol is being followed.

“We are here to have a better friendship,” said Colonel Mohtashim Hyder Chowdhury, who led the delegation.

The Modi government had last month kicked off the celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

On 16 December — the day when Bangladesh got liberated in 1971 — Modi lit the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial in New Delhi, marking the beginning of the golden jubilee celebrations.


lso read: No kids under 15, no standing spectators, shorter parade — Covid forces a ‘different’ R-Day


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