Dear All Concerned
2. If You are migrated to SPARSH in Sep 2023 and as per your message, you received pension for the month of Sep 2023 today (29 Sep). I too got migrated on 12 Aug and have been receiving my pension from SPARSH. I have some experience with SPARSH. I will explain how you got to do things if you want to sleep soundly with SPARSH.
2. First and foremost is to open a note book and enter all SMSs you receive from SPARSH date wise. Any document you are able to down load from SPARSH also must be place in this note (stapled).
3. Do not depend upon your mobile or computer. You may lose mobile or your computer or Laptop might get viruses.
4. After some time (one or two months later), you will receive User Name and Password from SPARSH as SMS. Immediately enter these in your note book. You will be asked to change the password they sent you. Go to Google and type SPARSH. It will take you to SPARSH. Click on Log In. It will show two fields. You write down in your note book the new pass word of your choice between 8 and 12 characters which should have one special character @ or $ or # etc, one or more numbers and one capital letter and rest small letters. Then enter your user name and the password given by SPARSH.Enter the same password you wrote in the notebook. Then you get a message “Your Password is changed and now you can log in with your new password”. Get out from SPARSH.
5. Log in second time with your User Name ( 14 digits) and your chosen password. SPARSH will take you to your own page in their server. If your SPARSH PPO is ready, then you will see menu *Documents* on the right hand side. Click on Documents menu and you will be able to see SPARSH PPO and Pension Slip. Download both into your own folder titled My_Sparsh in the desk top computer or Laptop. Take 10 to 20 copies of SPARSH PPO as that is the PPO everyone will ask you for any official transaction. Take only one hard copy of Pension slip per month. Staple one copy of SPARSH PPO and one pension slip onto your note book. Get one copy of SPARSH PPO laminated or put it in plastic folder for its protection against spill over of tea or coffee or soft drink or water.
6. Get life certificate as per the Next Due Date of Submission of Life Certificate given in your Pension slip you got from SPARSH. Go to your own bank and get Life Certificate through Biometric device. But ensure for the field Pension Disbursing Authority (PDA) ask the bank employee to go to the drop down menu and select SPARSH /PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj and for the second field Agency again select SPARSH /PCDA(Pensions) Prayagraj. Then only Jeevan Pramaan will send your Life Certificate to SPARSH.
7. When you go to your bank to get Life Certificate generated in the first week of the month mentioned in your SPARSH pension slip ( generally it is Nov 2023), you carry one copy of the following documents (a) PPO or E-PPO or SPARSH PPO (b) Aadhar Card (c) Last year’s receipt for Life Certificate (d) Bank pass book duly updated.
8. There after enjoy your monthly pension till Nov 2024.
9. SPARSH is slowly improving. Not to worry. I am there to sort out if you have any problem. My next visit to PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj is on 28 & 29 Dec 2023.
10. First month SPARSH does not deduct any income tax. But second month they deduct TDS for two months as they need one month time to get data of pension received in your bank before you got migrated and how much TDS was deducted by CPPC of your bank. Then SPARSH will work out what is your annual income and how much your CPPC deducted income tax and balance SPARSH will deduct monthly till end of the financial year 2023 -24.
warm regards,
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
he manner in which Indian troops stood up to Chinese forces during the Galwan valley stand-off in June 2020 made the world take note of India’s political and military resolve, said Army Chief General Manoj Pande while addressing an industry body.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 29
The manner in which Indian troops stood up to Chinese forces during the Galwan valley stand-off in June 2020 made the world take note of India’s political and military resolve, said Army Chief General Manoj Pande (in pic) while addressing an industry body.
“The resolute and firm manner in which we stood up to our northern adversary during the events of April-May 2020 has made the world take notice of our political and military resolve of a rising India,” General Pande said.
Chandigarh, September 29
The Border Security Force (BSF) shot down a drone near the International Border in the Amritsar Sector on Friday and seized a plastic bottle filled with about half a kg of narcotics.
On September 29, 2023, during afternoon hours, forward deployed BSF troops intercepted the movement of a drone near Rajatal village, a BSF officer said.
During search operations carried out ahead of the border fence, troops recovered a drone, along with a soft drink bottle filled with suspected heroin attached to it, from the paddy fields adjacent to the village, he added.
The recovered drone is a Quadcopter DJI Mavic-3 Classic, made in China, and the gross weight of the recovered heroin is 545 grams.
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, September 29
The US has released a first-of-its-kind report that takes a comprehensive look at how China attempts to distort the global information space to advance its geopolitical objectives.
Manipulation tactics
Unchecked, the People’s Republic of China’s information manipulation could in many parts of the world diminish freedom to express views critical of Beijing. US report
“This is not simply a matter of public narrative but a national security subject. Unchecked, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) information manipulation could in many parts of the world diminish freedom to express views critical of Beijing,” noted the report.
The 58-page report gives several examples in this regard, including where Beijing tried to take over the entire Pakistani information space by building a censorship operation. Through this, they could monitor the whole information space in order to make adjustments and changes. With Pakistan, Beijing has sought to deepen cooperation in “combating disinformation”, including under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Media Forum. Both sides use the Media Forum to address what they view as propaganda and “malicious disinformation”, said the report with Jamie Rubin as the lead author.
“When you look at the pieces of the puzzle and put it together, you see a breathtaking ambition on the part of the PRC to seek information dominance in key regions of the world,” said Rubin, who is the US Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center, while speaking on the report in Washington. The report notes that the Chinese do not follow the Russians’ example of outright lies. On Ukraine, they are largely accurate. “But its news service reports a large number of things that happen badly in the US and only wonderful things happen in China. They provide that to third parties, newspapers in Africa or Asia, but insist that no other wire service gets used. “Every day, China, Russia and other state actors distort the international information environment to their advantage…nothing less than the future integrity of the global information space is at risk,” said Rubin.
The report shows how China has invested billions of dollars to construct a global information ecosystem to promote propaganda, censorship and disinformation. On issues the Chinese Government deems sensitive, it has employed online and offline intimidation. It’s also taken measures against corporations that challenge its desired narratives on subjects like Xinjiang and Taiwan. On WeChat, Beijing has censored and harassed individual content producers.
Rubin feared that as other countries emulate these tactics, they are increasingly receptive to Beijing’s propaganda, disinformation and censorship.
Over time, China could develop a “surgical capability” to shape the information particular groups and individuals consume, he warned.
Ajay Banerjee
New Delhi, September 29
China has stationed fighter jets and latest war-fighting long-range missiles on man-made islands in the South China Sea, a senior US Department of Defence official has told a legislative oversight committee in US.
Harassing nations
China has harassed legitimate economic activities of other claimants (to the South China Sea) and interfered with the ability of other states to exercise navigational rights. Lindsey W Ford, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Lindsey W Ford on September 28 informed the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee, US House of Representatives, about the development.
China has an increasing array of military capabilities, including advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, long-range surface-to-air missile systems, J-20 stealth fighter jets, laser and jamming equipment and military radar and signals intelligence capabilities — all on small islands created by dredging in the South China Sea, said Ford.
China has steadily equipped its Spratly Island outposts, including Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross, said the US official.
Over the past decade, China has added more than 3,200 acres of land to its seven occupied outposts in Spratly Islands, which now feature airfields, berthing areas and resupply facilities to support persistent Chinese military and paramilitary presence in the region. “These military posts are used to harass vessels and assets of Southeast Asian nations. We’ve witnessed a sharp uptick in coercive and risky operational behaviour by China,” she said.
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, September 29
Both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have made common cause with India on the issue of Canada providing safe haven to fugitives, including mass murderers and drug traffickers, from their countries.
Common cause
“The same thing they did for Sri Lanka, a terrible, total lie about saying that Sri Lanka had a genocide. Everybody knows there was no genocide in our country,” said Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry on India accusing Canada of providing safe havens to gangsters and separatists.
Canada’s Tamil diaspora had backed the LTTE in the 1983-2009 civil war and was allegedly instrumental in financial shiploads of weapons to fight the government forces. The Sri Lankan government also bristles at Canadian PM Justin Trudeau marking May 18 as the “first Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day”. “Some of the terrorists have found safe haven in Canada. The Canadian PM has this way of just coming out with some outrageous allegations without any supporting proof,” added Sabry in New York.
Bangladesh is also cut up with Canada for providing sanctuary to Noor Chowdhury, the self-confessed killer of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Dhaka has repeatedly sought his extradition and feels that Canada comes up with excuses each time to deny its request. As was the case with slain Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, his status in Canada is shrouded in mystery. He had been staying in Canada for a long time, but it was not clear whether he was a citizen of that country. Both countries have also pulled up Ottawa for honouring a Ukrainian military veteran who fought for the Nazis. In New Delhi, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda has supported India’s stand because “we have endured, and we have suffered. And as a country that has gone through that, (the) tolerance for terrorism is zero”.
Karachi/Peshawar, September 29
A powerful suicide blast ripped through a mosque in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Friday, killing at least 54 persons and injuring over 100 others, the police said.
Hours later, another blast at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu city killed at least four persons and injured 12 others.
In Balochistan, the explosion occurred near Madina Mosque on Al Falah Road in the Mastung district when people had gathered in large numbers to mark Eid Milad-Un-Nabi, said Mohammad Javed Lehri, City station house officer. “It was a suicide blast,” Lehri said.
Bordering Afghanistan and Iran, Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and has frequently been hit by terror groups, including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or the Pakistani Taliban, and the Islamic State group. Mastung’s DSP Nawaz Gishkori, who was on duty for the rally, was found dead among others. Lehri said the wounded were shifted to a medical facility even as an emergency had been imposed in the hospitals. The TTP has denied involvement in Friday’s blast, saying in a statement that such an attack was against its policies. Meanwhile, a few hours later, at least four persons were killed and 12 others injured in the suicide blast that ripped through a mosque close to the Doaba police station in Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the Friday prayers.
There were 30 to 40 worshippers in the mosque at the time of the blast. According to the police, five terrorists had entered the Doaba police station, but were immediately engaged by law enforcement forces in a firing. While one terrorist was killed in the firing, the other blew himself near the mosque building causing its roof to collapse.
Three terrorists fled from the spot, the police said.
Imphal, September 28
A mob on Thursday night tried to attack the ancestral house of Manipur CM N Biren Singh, but security forces foiled the attempt, the police said.
The CM does not live there; he stays in his official residence. “There was an attempt to attack the CM’s ancestral house at Heingang locality in Imphal. Security forces stopped the mob around 100 metres away from the house,” a police officer said.
Violent protests by students over the death of two youths in Manipur rocked the state capital on Tuesday and Wednesday. A mob also vandalised the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Imphal West district and torched two four-wheelers. “Two groups of people came from different directions and approached the CM’s ancestral residence but they were stopped,” said a police officer. Several rounds of teargas shells were fired by the RAF and state police personnel to disperse the mob
Chandigarh, September 27:
Adding yet another feather in the cap of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) SAS Nagar (Mohali), as many as 35 cadets of the Institute have cleared the National Defence Academy (NDA)-2 written examination conducted by the UPSC. Notably, 46 cadets of the 12th Course of the institute were appeared in the exam, of which, 35 (76.08%) passed the entrance examination for the NDA. This is the highest percentage achieved by the Institute since its inception.
Notably, 19 cadets out of 26 of the previous 11th Course of AFPI also cleared the examination. These cadets would now be trained for the Services Selection Board (SSB) Interview in the Institute.
Congratulating the cadets for their feat, Punjab Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Mr. Aman Arora said that the Indian Army enjoyed the reputation of being one of the finest forces in the world. A career in the Armed Forces held promise of bringing honour and glory to the nation. He wished them all the very best for the future. Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government is committed to fulfil the aspirations of the state youth who aspire to join the Defence Services to serve the Nation, he added.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh AFPI Director Major General Ajay H Chauhan (Retd.) said that a total of 217 cadets of this Institute have joined different Service Training Academies since its inception and 141 alumni of this Institute have been commissioned as officers in the Defence Services till date. In addition, 10 cadets of the Institute have cleared the SSB and are awaiting the merit list, while 08 cadets are due for their SSB. He also wished them the best for the SSB training so that they clear the next hurdle to NDA.
