Monthly Archives: August 2018

The Ministry of Defence has revised its rules for casualty pension and disability compensation awarded to armed forces personnel. A new Guide to Medical Officers 2023, which details the norms for conducting the various types of medical boards that decide the percentage of disability and its attributability to military service, has also been issued.  This policy is based on the recommendations of a study group that comprised members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, and MoD. The mandate is to update the rules by incorporating all relevant policy changes since the issuance of the Entitlement Rules 2008.

On the face of it, the aim of the new policy is to streamline the process, improve it, and curb abuse and misuse of the provision, particularly with respect to ‘lifestyle’ diseases. As per the Integrated Defence Staff, “No changes have been made either in the nature or the extent of death and disability compensation that is awarded to entitled personnel. This will have a prospective effect and takes care of the genuine interest of all our soldiers, veterans and widows.”

However, the reality seems to be different, with financial considerations and incompetence in preventing misuse negatively impacting soldiers’ welfare.

A backdoor attempt

Death and disability pension for soldiers is a sensitive subject and requires broader parliamentary, media, and public debate. Unfortunately, politicians, the media and serving/retired soldiers—except those directly affected by the development—often have only a superficial understanding of the subject.

Since the new policy has come into effect prospectively even veterans have not been very outspoken about it. Ironically, in the past, our high courts, the Supreme Court, and the Armed Forces Tribunal have rationally interpreted death and disability compensation and modified the interpretation of existing rules. The new policy is a backdoor attempt to negate the progressive actions taken by the courts and at times the government itself, over the years.

The All India Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association wrote a scathing letter criticising the policy, “Disability Benefits in the Defense Services have taken the current form over a period of almost 85 years through various regulations, government orders, pay commission recommendations approved by the Union Cabinet and decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and various Hon’ble High Courts…However, it seems that the members of the Defense Services are children of a lesser God. Contravening al rules, regulations, letters, including decisions made right up to the Union Cabinet and judgments of Hon’ble Courts, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare of the MOD on the insistence of the finance department of MOD, has issued new Disability & Death Rules (Entitlement Rules) … which have not only restricted disability and death benefits, but have turned the clock back to 85 years rather than liberalising the benefits with the changing times and improving sensitivity and perception towards disability.” The detailed statement of the association was circulated on the social media.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5

In a suspected case of fratricide, an Army Major posted in a Rashtriya Rifles unit near the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K injured three officers of his own unit today.

Sources said the Major, who was later apprehended, fired a bullet that hit an officer, injuring him. The Major also triggered a blast using a grenade, which resulted in injuries to the Commanding Officer of the unit and one more officer.

The Army has ruled out a terror angle. So far, there are only sketchy details as the Army is looking for the Major. Also, the extent of injuries, if any, to others is not known.

MEDIA VISIT TO EQUIPMENT DISPLAY AT PATIALA MILITARY STATION

Patiala: 05 Oct, 2023

A Visit of Media Representatives of prominent Media Houses was organised at Military Station Patiala on today to give a glimpse of the glorious history and operational readiness of Indian Army. The Media Representatives visited the ‘Cenotaph’ War Memorial and Kharga Corps Battle School for equipment display and were also briefed on proactive and timely ‘Flood Relief & Rescue Operations’ carried out by the Indian Army on request as a part of ‘Aid to Civil Authority’ in the recent floods in Patiala District in July 2023; providing immediate assistance to people under distress.

During the relief operations the displaced people were shifted to safe places and relief materials were distributed.

The Media team was also familiarised on the role and organization of Indian Army especially of the Airawat Division through a power point presentation. The team was also briefed on the role of the Bravehearts of Airawat Division in Indo-Pak battle of 1965 and the battle of 1971 through a film.

The Media team witnessed the functioning and in training of the army formation for operational preparedness at the training site. Live demonstration of various war equipment like tanks, emergency bridges, mobile workshop, BMP (Boat tank) & TMT (Loaded tank), T90 Tank (under water) was given on the occasion.3

Owing to the visit, mutual trust and coordination between Army & media has been enhanced.

IANS

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, October 5

No contact was established between the two to three terrorists believed to be hiding in the forest area of Broh in Kalakote of Rajouri district and security forces on the fourth day of the encounter, suggesting the militants might have slipped out of the cordon.

Heavy security was deployed in the area early on Monday when reports of terrorists moving in the jungles was received by the local police. The police, CRPF and Para commandos of the Army were part of the operation. The encounter started on Monday.

While gunfight between terrorists and security forces was reported on Monday and Tuesday, there has been no report on militants since Wednesday.

After the Kokernag encounter in Kashmir recently in which senior Army and police officers were killed, the Army in Kalakote was using drones and helicopters to trace the terrorists in forest areas. “Either the terrorists were able to give a slip to the security forces or they are hiding in the dense forest. The area has natural caves as well,” said a police official.

In September, during an encounter in the Tuli area, a terrorist was able to escape the cordon after his associate was killed in an encounter. The Army and the police had intensified the search that time. In the Kashmir region, terrorists have escaped the cordon multiple times.

It is believed that terrorists in Kalakote were highly trained and possessed AK series rifles and grenades. The security forces have not been able to recover any weapons or other items being carried by the terrorists. However, the search operation has been intensified in the region.

‘Working to destroy last remnants of terrorism’

Srinagar: J&K DGP Dilbag Singh said on Thursday that the police were working with other security forces with great commitment and resolve to destroy the last remnants of terrorism in the UT. He was on a visit to the High Ground area of Anantnag district.

BEIRUT, October 5

At least 60 people were killed on Thursday in an attack on a military academy in Syria, a war monitor and a security source said, with weaponised drones bombing the site minutes after Syria’s defence minister left a graduation ceremony there.

Civilians and military personnel were killed in the attack on the military academy in the central province of Homs, Syria’s defence ministry said in a statement, adding “terrorist” groups had used drones to carry it out.

The statement did not specify an organisation and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Syria’s defence minister attended the graduation ceremony but left minutes before the attack, according to a Syrian security source and a security source in the regional alliance backing the Damascus government against opposition groups.

Syria’s conflict began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 but spiralled into an all-out war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.

The Syrian army has been gutted by the fighting, and relied heavily on military support from Russia and Iran as well as Tehran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq and other countries.— Reuters

KYIV, October 5

A Russian attack killed 50 persons, including a six-year-old boy, in a village in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said.

Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synehubov said a cafe and a shop had been attacked in the afternoon in the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district of Kharkiv and that many civilians were there at the time.

“Rescue is underway at the site,” Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Officials posted footage of rescue workers clambering through smoldering rubble. Bodies lay alongside slabs of concrete and twisted metal.

It was not immediately clear whether Russian forces, who invaded Ukraine 19 months ago, had shelled the village or had fired a missile.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was attending a summit with European leaders in Spain, said “the Russian terror should be stopped”.

“Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defence, about strengthening our soldiers, about giving our country protection from terror,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. — Reuters

Need to push Russia out of our territories

The presence of Russia, its military or proxies in the territory of any other country is a threat to all of us. We must work together to push Russia out of the territory of other countries. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President

Move gross violation of sovereignty: Georgia

MOSCOW, October 5

Russia has signed a deal for a permanent naval base on the Black Sea coast of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, a newspaper reported, prompting criticism from Georgia, which said the move was a “gross violation” of its sovereignty.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been repeatedly targeted by Kyiv’s forces since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. — Reuters

Armymen clear silt from vehicles that were swept away in flashfloods on Wednesday in north Sikkim. The toll in the tragedy, triggered mainly by Lhonak lake breaching its banks, rose to 18 on Thursday with 98 persons, including 22 Army personnel, still missing. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5

Eighteen persons have died while 98, including 22 Army personnel, are still missing after yesterday’s flashfloods in the Teesta river basin in Sikkim, officials said today.

In a statement, the government of neighbouring West Bengal said four of the 18 bodies were identified as that of ‘jawans’. The flooding was caused by a sequence of three events. A cloudburst caused heavy rain, the Lhonak glacial lake gave way and the resultant flow of water breached the Chungthang dam, which caters to the largest hydropower project in the state.

Army extends help to civilians

• The Army has extended medical aid and telephone connectivity to civilians and tourists stranded in North Sikkim
• On Thursday morning, the Army started digging out vehicles from under the sludge at Burdang near Singtam in Gangtok

The National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO has conducted a satellite-based study on the breach in the Lhonak lake in Sikkim at an altitude of 17,000 ft. The ISRO put out a statement detailing the glacial “lake burst”. “About 105 hectares of the lake was drained out, which may have caused flashfloods downstream”.

The National Disaster Management Authority has assessed the possible cause of the flashfloods in Sikkim as a combination of excess rain and glacial lake burst, resulting in high flow of water.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts are on to trace the 22 missing soldiers in Sikkim. Their family members had been informed about the situation, the Ministry of Defence said.

It said except the missing jawans, all other soldiers in Sikkim and North Bengal were safe. Mobile services have snapped in the flood-hit area due to which Army personnel posted in Sikkim and North Bengal have not been able to contact their family members. Sikkim and North Bengal are under the 33 Corps of the Army. Some 50,000 troops are stationed under various units of the corps.

The Army has extended medical aid and telephone connectivity to civilians and tourists stranded in Chungthang, Lachung and Lachen in North Sikkim. So far, 2,011 people had been rescued across the state while the number of calamity affected people was 22,034, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority said in its bulletin.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5

In his firm message to Indian security agencies, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today advised them on adopting a ‘ruthless approach’ in tackling terrorism while suggesting a common anti-terrorism structure like training and standard operating procedures.

“A common anti-terror structure should be established under the purview of National Investigation Agency (NIA). The hierarchy, structure, and SoPs of investigation of all anti-terrorism agencies in all states should be made uniform for better coordination between Central and state agencies,” said Shah.

Sharp dip in incidents

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the number of terror incidents in 2001 was 6,000, which the Central government has reduced to 900 in 2022. Praising the NIA for achieving more than 94% conviction rate, he said more work was needed in this direction.

Inaugurating a two-day anti-terror conference organised by the NIA in New Delhi, he said: “We need to work towards creating a common training module so that uniformity can be brought in the methodology of combating terrorism. We need to not only combat terrorism but also dismantle its entire ecosystem. All anti-terrorism agencies must adopt such a ruthless approach so that a new terrorist organisation cannot be formed”.

In the past five years, the government has prepared huge databases, all Central and state agencies should make multidimensional use of these in order to succeed in the fight against terrorism. The database should be used to investigate, prosecute, prevent and take action, Shah said, calling for the security agencies to make AI-based use of databases.