Monthly Archives: August 2018

IANS

Yavatmal (Maharashtra), February 12

In a sad and shocking development, a ‘langar’ which fed over two million hungry migrants during the first lockdown year, has been demolished ostensibly owing to certain disputes among the landlords, on a remote corner of Yavatmal National Highway.

The 84-year-old Sikh ‘sevak’ Karnail Singh Khaira, who managed the ‘langar’ to serve the masses for the past 35 years on the Yavatmal NH-7, has been rudely evicted and is practically living on the street.

The ‘langar’ — which became the saviour for lakhs of poor villagers, tribals and migrants on the move during the lockdown period starting March 24, 2020 — was famed as ‘Dera Kar Seva Gurdwara Langar Sahib’, or simply ‘Guru Ka Langar’ near Karanji village.

It was run by Khaira, who is revered as ‘Khaira Baba’ in the region, and immediately after the first nationwide lockdown was clamped, he fed droves and hordes of hungry people landing there, 24×7, free of cost, running only through donations.

“Owing to some disputes among the land owners, a few days ago, the authorities came and demolished the entire 3,000 sq ft ‘langar’ which I had started from scratch, nurtured and built for 35 years,” the dejected Khaira Baba told IANS.

Shiv Sena (UBT) farmers’ leader Kishore Tiwari rushed there for a spot assessment and pointed fingers at the state administration for bringing down the ‘langar’ linked to the historic Gurudwara Bhagod Sahib in Wai, some 11 km away in a forested area.

“There was some bickering among the owners, but this ‘langar’ has been working undisturbed for over 35 years… It rendered yeoman services to millions of hungry people before, during and after the lockdown. The present state government came just seven months ago and ordered its demolition,” fumed Tiwari.

The Sena (UBT) leader assured Khaira Baba that he would demand a proper rehabilitation in the same vicinity, a suitable compensation for all his losses and ensure that the ‘langar’ resurrects again to serve the poor.

On his part, Khaira Baba claimed that it is surprising that although the matter among the owners was pending in the court, the government ordered the demolition and ousted him from there.

“This is a very sensitive issue that has been rashly handled by the state administration. We shall take up the matter seriously with the concerned departments and ministers,” said Tiwari.

It may be recalled that after IANS first highlighted Khaira Baba’s humanitarian services, he and his small team attained global fame for the selfless ‘seva’ provided non-stop to the snaky queues of starving people for months, with nothing available for around 450 km on that desolate highway stretch.

The ‘langar’ was linked to the historic Gurdwara Bhagod Sahib, where the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, had stayed in 1705, while enroute Nanded, around 250 km away, where he was assassinated on October 7, 1708.

Nearly 125 years after his martyrdom, the world-famous ‘Gurdwara Takht Hazuri Sahib Sachkhand’ (Nanded) came up and is one of the five Takhts of Sikhism, visited by lakhs of devout Sikhs from all over the world every year.

“As the main Gurdwara Bhagod Sahib is in the jungle, in 1988 this ‘langar’ came up here on the highway and I was assigned to manage it, with the guidance of the Nanded Gurdwara Sahib’s Baba Narinder Singhji and Baba Balwinder Singhji,” recalled Khaira Baba.

After getting the eviction order late in January, Khaira Baba ran helter-skelter, sought the help of FDA Minister Sanjay Rathod in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Cabinet, besides other officials.

“The minister and the officials promised that they would save the ‘langar’, but in the past fortnight, a demolition team with police forces bulldozed the entire place to rubble,” said Khaira Baba, who has nowhere to go now.

Tiwari said that if it was a matter of restoring a tribal property to the owners, as claimed, “then why the huge lands belonging to tribals that have been illegally usurped by many politicians are spared of the government’s bulldozer while a small charitable ‘langar’ of a Gurdwara was singled out for action”.

Senior police inspector of Pandharkawada, Jagdish Mandalwar, confirmed the development but said “we were merely following orders” and had no knowledge about any other issues.

When asked what inspired him to serve millions at the ‘langar’ for 35 years, the Meerut-born Khaira Baba looked at the sky and said: “It’s the Wahe Guru’s ‘marzi’ (decree)… I am only his instrument to serve humanity. I lived and slept at the ‘langar’, ate the same food given to all the people, and my sole belongings on earth are three sets of clothes. Everything came in selfless donations.” The man who fed millions for 35 years is now himself surviving on the dole of some kindly locals. He sleeps in his vehicle at night but remains optimistic that Tiwari and others shall help him restart the ‘langar’ at the earliest.

But I invite them to read on…
19 December 1971
0745 hours
B-24, Naraina, Delhi
Brigadier K L Khetarpal is in his dressing gown, shaving, when the bell rings. Running his razor along his foamy chin, he hears the soft scrape of his wife’s slippers against the floor and her footsteps leading to the front door.
The latch clicks and the door creaks open.
There is hushed conversation.
He hears the distinct rustle of paper changing hands. And then a scream and a dull thud.His wife appears to have fallen down.
His face still soapy, Brig Khetarpal rushes out of the bathroom.
He finds Maheshwari Khetarpal collapsed on the floor and a postman at the door.In her hand there is a telegram.
Gentle, soft-spoken Mukesh, the Khetarpals’ younger son — barely twenty and a student of IIT Delhi — is home too. He also hears the noise and comes out of his room, still in his pyjamas.As Brig. Khetarpal bends down to assist his wife, Mukesh takes the piece of paper from his mother’s loosely clasped fingers.Tears spring to his eyes as he reads the telegram and then wordlessly passes it on to his father.’Deeply regret to inform your son IC 25067 Second Lt Arun Khetarpal reportedly killed in action sixteenth December. Please accept sincere condolences,’ it says.
May 2020
Khetarpals’s bungalow
Forest Lane, Ghitorni
Delhi
Fifty years have passed.
Mukesh Khetarpal is now seventy years old, while his elder brother, Arun, who smiles rakishly from a portrait on the wall, dressed in army fatigues, is an eternal twenty-one.
Mukesh points that out himself. ‘I have aged but Arun never will,’ he says, his eyes crinkling up at the corners as he smiles.
He says he clearly remembers the cold Delhi winter of 1971 when he was studying in IIT Delhi and Arun’s Young Officers course at Ahmednagar had been interrupted by the war.
Arun was recalled to his unit like all the other officers, and he had taken a train to Delhi, travelling in the pantry car since he could not get a reservation at such short notice.
He had carted along his beloved Java motorcycle, a gift from his dad.
Since there were a few hours before he had to catch the Punjab Mail to Jammu, he had unloaded his bike at Delhi and decided to ride it home.
‘I was home that day,’ remembers Mukesh.
‘Arun parked his bike and walked in, looking extremely handsome in his black Armoured Corps dungarees.
‘I was so envious, particularly of his uniform.
‘He was in the peak of his physical health, just as most young officers are after their intensive physical training, and he knew it.
‘He had the lithe body of a panther, a confident prowl, and he was so extremely proud of his uniform, his regiment, his country that it showed.’
‘We were so young then. I never once thought that Arun might not come back. For me, he was just going on an adventure.’
Arun had packed up his golf clubs and his Blue Patrol uniform, explaining to Mukesh that he planned to play golf in Lahore and that he would need his ceremonial dress to attend the dinner night that would surely be held after the war was won.
The Khetarpals had an early dinner, and it was at the dining table that Mrs Khetarpal said to Arun those famous words that would become part of army folklore.
Recounting to him how his father and grandfather had both fought in wars, she had said, ‘Sher ki tarah ladna, Arun, qayar ki tarah wapis mat aana.’
Arun had looked into her eyes and smiled.
Later in the evening, Brig. Khetarpal had taken out his grey Standard Herald car and, giving a warm hug to Mukesh and his mother, Arun had got in.
Arun, sitting next to his father, had pushed his head out of the car window and saluted his mother as she fought back tears and the car sped out of the driveway.
Early December went by in a haze.
‘We had an imported Hitachi transistor. We would carry it around and spend all our time listening to Radio Ceylon, which was reporting the war in detail. Sometimes the signal was good and sometimes we could hardly hear anything, but we all sat around with our ears glued to it,’ Mukesh remembers.
On the evening of 16 December, Radio Ceylon reported that a massive tank battle had happened in Shakargarh.
‘We knew Arun’s regiment was in that area and our hearts sank. There was a dreadful stillness in the house all evening. In our hearts there was this terrible fear about Arun’s wellbeing, but nobody wanted to say it out loud.’
The next morning, there came the announcement that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had declared a ceasefire.
The war had finally ended.
‘It was such a relief to us,’ Mukesh recollects.
‘We started smiling and talking once again.
‘My mother got Arun’s room cleaned up and we started looking forward to the day he would be back home, recounting stories from the battlefield.’
And then, on 19 December, the bell rang, and his mother opened the door to the postman.
‘That telegram shattered our lives forever,’ remembers Mukesh.
‘After that, a sadness seeped into our lives.
‘My father, who was bursting with pride when Arun graduated from the Indian Military Academy and joined Poona Horse, was never the same again.
‘He had so many dreams for Arun. But Arun left us all so suddenly.
‘Both my parents never recovered from the loss. My mother immersed herself in household chores. Papa became quiet and withdrawn. He stopped going to the Delhi Gymkhana Club and meeting people, something that he used to love doing earlier. He would spend most of his time locked up in his room,’ Mukesh remembers.
Thirty years passed as the Khetarpals slowly accepted their loss and came to terms with their grief. Mukesh studied at IIT Delhi, found a job, got married and had a daughter, though he continued to stay with his parents.
And then one day, he and Mrs Khetarpal were surprised to see Brig. Khetarpal smiling again. He looked happy. He said he was going to Sargodha, his ancestral place in Pakistan where the family had lived before Partition,’ says Mukesh.
Both Mukesh and Mrs Khetarpal tried their best to dissuade Brig. Khetarpal, but he would not hear a word from them.
“You are eighty-one. Where will you go?” we asked him, but he dismissed all our pleas.
“It is decided. I am going,” he told us.
“Don’t argue with me.”
‘I am staying with another graduate of our college, a Pakistan Army officer who lives in Lahore,’ he told her.
‘That reassured us a little, and finally, when the day arrived, we drove him to the airport, where he got on to the Air India flight and waved us a happy goodbye.
‘He was as excited as a schoolboy,’ says Mukesh.
Brig. Khetarpal called his family from Lahore.
He told them his host was a perfect gentleman who had come to receive him at the airport and was taking very good care of him.
Three days later, it was time for Brig. Khetarpal to return, and Mukesh drove to the airport to pick up his father. He found in him none of the excitement with which he had gone.
A week later, the Khetarpals were visited by 1971 war veteran Maj Gen Ian Cardozo, who was releasing a book on Param Vir Chakra award winners.
Since Arun’s story was also in the book, he had come to invite Brig. and Mrs Khetarpal to the book launch at the Ashok hotel.
A week later, Mukesh was reading India Today magazine when he came across an article that talked about his father’s Pakistan trip and his meeting with the Armoured Corps officer who had been the cause of his son’s death.
A shocked Mukesh read it and then went looking for his father.
‘I confronted him and asked if what I had read was true.
‘He said it was.
‘When my mother and I asked him why he had not shared this with us, he said what could he have told us.
‘It was not a pleasant episode.’
And that was when a shocked Mrs Khetarpal and Mukesh heard what had transpired in Lahore when Brig. Khetarpal had been a revered guest at Brig Khwaja Mohammad Naser’s house in Lahore.
1 March 2001
Lahore
It is day three of Brig Khetarpal’s Pakistan visit.
He has just returned from Sargodha and is tired, but is also touched by the fact that Brig Naser has gone out of his way to make the trip comfortable for him. Brig Khetarpal is surprised to notice discomfort in the Pakistani officer’s eyes.
Brig Naser is looking at the grass. He looks up to find Brig Khetarpal’s eyes on him.
‘Main kuchh qubool karna chahta hun, brigadier sahab,’ he says softly.
‘Kahiye, beta, main sun raha hun,’ Brig. Khetarpal replies, looking affectionately at his host, who is younger than him by around thirty years.
‘Sir, I too participated in the 1971 war.
‘I was then a young major, squadron commander of the Pakistan Army’s 13 Lancers,’ he says.
Brig Khetarpal is surprised — 13 Lancers is the same regiment which had exchanged its Sikh squadron with the Muslim squadron of Poona Horse (his son’s regiment) during Partition in 1947.
On 16 December 1971, in a sense, the Indian and Pakistani soldiers had fought their old regiments.
‘We fought Poona Horse in the Battle of Basantar,’ says Naser, ‘Sir, I am the man who killed your son.’
A speechless Brig. Khetarpal listened quietly.
‘On the morning of 16 December 1971, I was leading the counter-attack of 13 Lancers against the Indian bridgehead at Basantar,’ Brig Naser recounts.
‘Your son was on the opposite side, standing there like a rock.
‘In the battle, tank casualties were high.
‘He destroyed many of our tanks, and finally, it was just the two of us left facing each other with our tanks just 200 m apart.’
We both fired simultaneously, and both our tanks were hit.
It was, however, destined that I was to live, and Arun was to die,’ Naser says.
‘Your son was a very brave man, sir. He was singularly responsible for our defeat.’
Stunned, Brig. Khetarpal can only ask, ‘How did you know it was Arun’s tank?’
Naser tells him that ceasefire was declared the next morning (17 December), and with that the war ended.
When he went to collect the bodies of his dead comrades, his arm in a bandage from the injuries he had suffered in the battle, he also checked on his damaged tank.
That was when he saw Indian soldiers trying to extricate the tank he had battled with a day before.
Curious about the identity of the brave man who had fought him so fiercely, Naser walked up to the soldiers and inquired who had been commanding the tank.
He was told it was 2nd Lt Arun Khetarpal of Poona Horse.
‘Bahut bahaduri se lade aapke sahab. Chot toh nahi aayi unhe?’ he asked the soldiers.
They told him that Arun was martyred on the battlefield.
‘Sahab shaheed ho gaye.’
A crestfallen Naser returned to his tent.
Brig Khetarpal is listening in complete silence.
Naser tells him that he realized much later, when Arun got the Param Vir Chakra and became a national hero, how young he was.
‘I didn’t know he was only twenty-one, sir,’ he says. We were both soldiers doing our duty for our nations. I salute your son for what he did. And I salute you too, because I now know where he received his values from.’
The two officers sit quietly under the moonlight for some time.
Then Brig Khetarpal slowly gets up from his chair. Naser springs to his feet as well. The two stand together in an awkward silence, the moon lighting up Naser’s grief-ridden face.
Brig Khetarpal looks at his moist eyes and moves forward to gently hug the man who killed his son.
[This edited excerpt from 1971: Charge Of The Gorkhas And Other Stories by Rachna Bisht Rawat.]

Kyiv, February 12

Russian forces over the weekend continued to shell Ukrainian cities amid a grinding push to seize more land in the east of the country, with Ukrainian officials saying that Moscow is having trouble launching its much-anticipated large-scale offensive there.

One person was killed and one more was wounded on Sunday morning by the shelling of Nikopol, a city in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Serhii Lysak reported.

The shelling damaged four residential buildings, a vocational school and a water treatment facility.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, one person was wounded after three Russian S-300 missiles hit infrastructure facilities overnight, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

The Russian military said they hit armored vehicle assembly workshops at the Malyshev machinery plant in the city.

Ukrainian forces also downed five drones — four Shahed killer drones and one Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone — over the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions on Saturday evening, Kyiv’s military reported.

Overall, Russian forces carried out 12 missile and 32 air strikes in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, as well as over 90 rounds of shelling from multiple rocket launchers, Ukraine’s General Staff reported in its daily update.

The attacks come as Russian forces push to take over more land in the eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia could launch a new, broad offensive there to try to turn the tide of the conflict as the war approaches the one-year mark.

But Ukrainian officials say that Moscow is having trouble mounting such an offensive.

“They are having big problems with a big offensive,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told Ukrainian television on Saturday night.

“They have begun their offensive, they’re just not saying they have, and our troops are repelling it very powerfully. The offensive that they planned is already gradually underway. But (it is) not the offensive they were counting on,” Danilov said.

A U.S.-based think tank noted that it is also Russia’s pro-Kremlin military bloggers who question Moscow’s ability to launch a broad offensive in Ukraine.

They “continue to appear demoralised at the Kremlin’s prospects for executing a major offensive,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report.

Earlier this week the owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine said that the war could drag on for years.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview released late Friday that it could take 18 months to two years for Russia to fully secure control of Donbas.

He added that the war could go on for three years if Moscow decides to capture broader territories east of the Dnieper River.

The statement from Prigozhin, a millionaire who has close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was dubbed “Putin’s chef” for his lucrative Kremlin catering contracts, marked a recognition of the difficulties that the Kremlin has faced in the campaign, which it initially expected to wrap up within weeks when Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russia suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in the fall when the Ukrainian military launched successful counteroffensives to reclaim broad swaths of territory in the east and the south.

On Sunday, Prigozhin said that Wagner fighters have taken over the Krasna Hora settlement north of Bakhmut, a strategic city at the epicenter of the fighting in recent months. AP

ANI

Washington, February 12

China is giving the US silent treatment ever since the US sent an F-22 Raptor to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that navigated into North American airspace last week. This can be seen in US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s call to Beijing going unanswered, New York Post reported.

According to New York Post, the snub by China was the latest sign of frayed US communications with its great adversary, leading to fears that a relatively minor incident could spiral into something bigger.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had planned to reopen lines of communication with China during his trip to Beijing. The trip, however, got postponed after China’s spy balloon intrusion became public.

Therefore, when the Pentagon asked to hold a secure call between Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, the answer was a “no”.

The Chinese Ministry of Defence still refuses to admit that the balloon was conducting surveillance. The ministry said that Austin’s call was declined because the US “seriously violated international practices and set a very bad precedent” by downing the device they claim was a “civilian unmanned airship” meant for scientific research that drifted off-course due to “force majeure”.

“In view of the US side’s irresponsible and seriously wrong practice, which had failed to create a proper atmosphere for dialogue and exchange between the two militaries, China didn’t accept the US proposal for a phone call between the two defence chiefs,” ministry spokesman Senior Col. Tan Kefei said on Thursday, according to New York Post.

The US intelligence community has linked the Chinese spy balloon to a vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army, and US officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted, The Washington Post reported.

According to The Washington Post, the surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to several US officials.

According to officials, the surveillance airships, operated partly by the PLA air force, have been spotted over five continents.

An official said: “What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology, and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities to try to glean intelligence on other nations’ militaries. It’s a massive effort.” The New York Times recently reported that, as part of its response to a Chinese spy balloon that traversed US airspace last week, the Joe Biden administration on Friday (local time) clamped down on sales of some of its technology to several Chinese aviation and technology companies.

Reuters

Washington/Ottawa, February 12

A US F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canada on Saturday, the second such instance in as many days, as North America appeared on edge following a week-long Chinese spying balloon saga that drew the global spotlight.

Separately, the US military also scrambled fighter jets in Montana to investigate a radar anomaly that triggered a brief federal closure of airspace.

“Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate the radar hits,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced Saturday’s shootdown over the northern Yukon territory, saying Canadian forces would recover and analyse the wreckage.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand declined to speculate about the origin of the object, which she said was cylindrical in shape.

She stopped short of calling it a balloon but said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina’s coast a week ago, though similar in appearance.

Aloft at 40,000 feet (12,200 m), it posed a risk to civilian air traffic and was shot down at 3:41 EST (2041 GMT), she added.

“There is no reason to believe that the impact of the object in Canadian territory is of any public concern,” Anand told a news conference.

The Pentagon said NORAD detected the object over Alaska late on Friday.

US fighter jets from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, monitored the object as it crossed over into Canadian airspace, where Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joined the formation.

“A US F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory, using an AIM 9X missile following close co-ordination between US and Canadian authorities,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen.

Patrick Ryder said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden authorized the US military to work with Canada to take down the high-altitude craft after a call between Biden and Trudeau, the Pentagon said.

The White House said Biden and Trudeau agreed to continue close coordination to “defend our airspace.” “The leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object in order to determine more details on its purpose or origin,” it said in a statement.

A day earlier, Biden ordered another shootdown of an unidentified flying object near Deadhorse, Alaska.

On Saturday, the US military remained tight-lipped about what, if anything, it had learned as recovery efforts were underway on the Alaskan sea ice.

On Friday, the Pentagon offered only a few details, such as that the object was the size of a small car, was flying at about 40,000 feet (12,200 m), could not maneuver and appeared to be unmanned.

US officials have been trying to learn about the object since it was first spotted on Thursday.

“We have no further details at this time about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin,” Northern Command said on Saturday.

It mentioned difficult Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight that can hinder search and recovery.

“Personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” it added.

On February 4, a US F-22 fighter jet brought down what the US government called a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina following its week-long journey across the United States and portions of Canada.

China has said it was a civilian research vessel.

Some US lawmakers criticized Biden for not shooting down the Chinese balloon sooner. The US military had recommended waiting until it was over the ocean, for fear of injuries from falling debris.

US personnel have been scouring the ocean to recover debris and the undercarriage of electronic gadgetry since the shootdown of the 200-foot (60-meter) -tall Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon.

The Pentagon has said a significant amount of the balloon had already been recovered or located, suggesting American officials may soon have more information about any Chinese espionage capabilities aboard.

Sea conditions on Feb. 10 “permitted dive and underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) activities and the retrieval of additional debris from the sea floor,” Northern Command said.

“The public may see US Navy vessels moving to and from the site as they conduct offload and resupply activities.”

Damascus: The seventh Operation Dost flight reached earthquake-hit Syria on Sunday with over 23 tons of relief material which was received by Deputy Minister of Local Administration & Environment Moutaz Douaji at Damascus airport.
“7th #OperationDost flight reached Syria with over 23 tons of relief material, including gensets, solar lamps, emergency & critical care medicines, & disaster relief consumables. Received at Damascus airport by Deputy Minister of Local Administration and Environment Moutaz Douaji,” tweeted Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
The seventh Operation Dost flight on Saturday departed for earthquake-hit Syria and Turkey. The Indian Air Force C17 carrying relief material, medical aid, emergency and critical care medicines, medical equipment and consumables took off from Hindon Airbase in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
The IAF aircraft with relief materials, medical aid, and emergency and critical care medicines will first land in Syria and unload materials and then head to Turkey. EAM S Jaishankar also took to his Twitter handle to talk about the flight departing from Ghaziabad.
He tweeted, “The 7th #OperationDost flight departs for Syria and Turkiye. Flight is carrying relief material, medical aid, emergency & critical care medicines, medical equipment & consumables.”
The Indian Army also tweeted, “An #IAF C-17 aircraft got airborne last night for #Syria and #Turkiye, bearing relief material and emergency equipment.”
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the earthquake relief material and equipment were sent to Syria and Turkey. The flight is headed to Damascus and after offloading relief material there, it will head to Adana.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the flight is carrying more than 35 tons of relief material, of which over 23 tons is headed for relief efforts in Syria, and around 12 tons to Turkey.
The assistance being sent for Syria comprises relief materials, sleeping mats, gensets, solar lamps, tarpaulins, blankets, emergency and critical care medicines, and disaster relief consumables, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
The material being sent to Turkey consists of team supplies for the Army field hospital and NDRF, medical equipment such as ECG, patient monitor, anaesthesia machine, syringe pumps, glucometer, blankets and other relief materials.
Earlier in the day, the relief material, medical equipment, medical aid, and critical care medicines were being loaded into the IAF aircraft.
On February 06, 2023, a devastating earthquake happened in Turkey and Syria.
The death toll across Turkey and Syria following Monday’s earthquake reached 28,192 on Saturday (local time), reported CNN.
India launched Operation Dost to extend assistance to Turkey as well as Syria after devastating quakes and aftershocks in the region.
Under ‘Operation Dost’, India is sending a massive amount of humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria.

With the theme of ‘The Runway to a Billion Opportunities’, Aero India 2023 will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13 at Air Force Station, Yelahanka in Bangalore. The 14th edition of Aero India will witness the participation of over 80 countries.
Stressing on the ‘Make in India’ vision, the five-day event will focus on indigenous technologies and equipment and emphasise building partnerships with foreign companies. Focusing on ‘Atmanirbharta’ achieved in the Defence Sector, the biennial event will display the progress India has made in design leadership, UAVs, and other futuristic technologies.
This edition of Aero India is likely to witness the participation of Ministers from about 30 countries and 5 CEOs of global and Indian OEMs. Promoting the export of indigenous air platforms such TEJAS, HTT-40, Dornier LUH, LCH and DHRUV Helicopter, the event will also help in integrating domestic MSMEs and start-ups in the global supply chain.
Aero India 2023 Highlights
According to Government reports, more than 800 Defence companies including around 100 foreign and 700 Indian companies, will participate in the Aero India 2023 exhibition. The major exhibitors expected to participate in Aero India 2023 include Airbus, Boeing, Dassault Aviation, Lockheed Martin, Israel Aerospace Industry, BrahMos Aerospace, Army Aviation, HC Robotics, SAAB, Safran, Rolls Royce, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Forge Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and BEML Limited.
The 14th edition of Aero India will be an opportunity for Indian companies to display the advancement in niche technologies, aerospace, and defence capabilities of the country.
During Aero India 2023, Indian Navy is also expected to participate in various activities along with the participation of DHRUV MK-III and MR aircraft P8I in the flypast. In addition to the Indian Navy’s static displays, a project of analysing ‘Health Usage & Monitoring System (HUMS) of MiG-29K aircraft, using Artificial Intelligence’, has been included as part of ‘Launch of New Technology’ by DRDO.
Aero India 2023 will provide a platform for the industries to put on show their latest equipment, helicopters and aircraft. The event will also be an opportunity for defence personnel to interact with OEM representatives and gain experience on the products which will be inducted into the Armed Forces in the future.

Bangalore: On the eve of Aero India 2023, Head of US delegation Charge d’Affaires Ambassador A Elizabeth Jones on Sunday said the size of the US delegation “shows that the US-India strategic partnership is one of our most consequential relationships”.
“India and the United States are working together in so many ways to ensure a free and open, prosperous, connected, and resilient Indo-Pacific region, where our democracies can thrive,” said Ambassador Jones while speaking at a press conference in Bangalore on the eve of Aero India 2023, according to a release by US consulate General, Chennai.
“As partners, we’re working together to address climate change; improve global health and prepare for new pandemics; cooperate on cyber challenges; build quality infrastructure; and ensure sustainable supply chains. We’re strengthening our cooperation on critical technologies, from space components to semiconductors,” Jones said.
Ambassador Jones will on February 13, open the USA Partnership Pavilion at Aero India 2023.
Jedidiah P Royal, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, who leads the U.S. delegation of senior U.S. government officials from the Department of Defence, said, “These close partnerships have generated tens of thousands of jobs in India and enabled critical transfers of technology and manufacturing expertise to India. U.S. companies have established engineering centres and manufacturing hubs and have also invested in building R&D centres that harness India’s incredibly talented scientists and engineers to advance cutting-edge R&D projects.”
Major General Julian C Cheater, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs, said, “As democracies bookending the Indo-Pacific, the United States and India share a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. That shared vision is strengthened by world-class events like Aero India where we are able to engage in person to increase trust and understanding.”
Rear Admiral Michael Baker, Senior Defence Official and Defence Attaché at the US Embassy in New Delhi said, “As we mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, we are excited to be in Bangalore for Aero India. The US-India Defence relationship is an important element of that strategy – and our Defence Partnership is stronger than ever. This week you will have the chance to see American Air power operating alongside the Indian Air Force: we plan to have a variety of aircraft here, one of our largest delegations ever, and the US Air Force Pacific Band who will perform at venues around Bangalore.”
Among the major highlights throughout Aero India 2023, an F-16 Fighting Falcon duo, one of the United States Air Force’s (USAF) leading fighter jets, will conduct daily aerial demonstrations. The F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet, the US Navy’s most advanced frontline carrier-based, multi-role strike fighter available today, will be on static display, according to the US Consulate General release.
Leading US defence companies participating in Aero India 2023 with exhibits in the USA Partnership Pavilion include Aero Metals Alliance, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), Astronautics Corporation of America, Boeing, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, GE Aerospace, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc, Hi-Tech Import Export Corporation, Jonal Laboratories, Inc., Kallman Worldwide, Inc., Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, TW Metals, LLC, and United Performance Metals. Link to information about U.S. exhibitors at the USA Partnership Pavilion organized by Kallman Worldwide and located in Hall A at Yelahanka Air Force base: https://kallman.com/shows/aero-india-2023
The United States Air Force Band of the Pacific’s seven-member music ensemble Final Approach, based out of Yokota Air Base in Japan, will perform for the public at Aero India on February 16. The rock band will also perform for the general public from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on February 15 at the St. Joseph’s University auditorium, Langford Road in Bangalore, according to the release.

During the session, 6 UK companies made investment proposals in the state
Lucknow: The British Minister of State for Defence Procurement on Sunday said that the United Kingdom will invest in defence, aerospace and medical sectors in Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking at the United Kingdom Partner Country/Defence session held at Dadhichi Hall during the ongoing Global Investor Summit-2023, Alex Chalk, said, “It is a matter of pride for me to participate in GIS-23. Standing on this great land of Uttar Pradesh and inviting the whole world to invest is a big achievement. At the same time, it is also a big achievement that we are witnessing this programme in a state known as the ‘Rice Basket’.” Speaking at the session, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the UK, as a partner country, has contributed to GIS not only in the field of defence and aerospace but also in the field of food processing and that the investors will get full cooperation from the state government in carrying their projects forward.
Assuring the UK delegation, Adityanath said that every investment made in the state will not only be safe, but the state government will also provide full help under its policy to make it fruitful for the investor.
During the session, 6 UK companies made investment proposals in the state.
Chalk expressed commitment to maintaining a partnership with the state, especially in the defence sector.
“Uttar Pradesh is playing its role on a large scale under the ‘Make in India’ campaign towards meeting India’s defence needs and our contribution in this role will be in many areas including investment as well as manufacturing of strategic and tactical weaponry. With this, Uttar Pradesh will be able to meet the defence needs of India,” Chalk said.
“Besides, Uttar Pradesh will establish itself globally in terms of exports. An able Uttar Pradesh is important not only for India, and the Asia-Pacific region, but for the whole world, and for this reason, the world is looking forward to witnessing the realisation of the vision of Uttar Pradesh’s golden future with hope and expectation,” he said.
Expressing gratitude to the UK Government, Adityanath said that the UK’s participation and contribution as a partner country in taking GIS-23 to a new height of success are exemplary.
“Defence and aerospace is our top priority among the 25 sectors identified to give a flight to development to the state. We are taking this forward with the Government of India on the path of rapid development. The state government has also issued its policy regarding defence and aerospace and is working to advance the possibilities so that it can emerge as a hub in this sector,” he said.
“I have no hesitation in saying that India and UK relations have a strong historical background and Prime Minister Modi has played a big role in taking these bilateral relations further. As a result of this, today not only all the investors associated with the UK are becoming partners in GIS-23, but the Defence Procurement Minister of the UK himself has come with his huge delegation to take forward those possibilities in the state,” Adityanath said.

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