Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice to the Central Government after the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) rejected the bail plea of a soldier who was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment by a court martial for his alleged role in the office-jawan clash at Nyoma in 2012.The notice has focused attention on provisions of the AFT Act and some recent judgments on it thereof, which have restricted the remedial measures available to armed forces personnel to appeal against orders passed by the AFT. A larger Bench of the Supreme Court is adjudicating on the issue and the matter is pending for settlement.Though the petitioner’s appeal was pending before the Armed Forces Tribunal, he was denied bail despite being in detention for more than three-and-a-half years. He has contended that the AFT Act specifically bars an appeal against interlocutory or interim orders passed by the Tribunal, even to the Supreme Court and bail being an interlocutory order, there is no option but to approach the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution.Though the High Courts were granting relief till March 2015 to soldiers and ex-servicemen aggrieved by the AFT’s orders, this stopped after an SC order, which stated that since an appeal was provided to the Supreme Court under the AFT Act, final orders of the Tribunal should only be challenged before the apex court only.The situation caused a problem as it rendered litigants remediless because there was a statutory bar under Section 31 of the AFT Act in approaching the Supreme Court except in matters involving a ‘point of law of general public importance’.While civilians had a 3-tier appeal mechanism comprising the lower courts, high courts and the SC, the Armed Forces Tribunal became the first and last court for the defence community.It has been averred in the bail petition that since the Armed Forces Tribunal Act provides no scope of appeal for interim and interlocutory orders passed by the AFT and that even the Union of India has been approaching the High Courts against such orders.

SC ruling leaves litigants with no option

• The AFT Act bars an appeal against interlocutory or interim orders passed by the Tribunal, even to the SC and bail being an interlocutory order, there is no option but to approach the HC
• Though the HCs granted relief till March 2015 to soldiers and ex-servicemen aggrieved by the AFT’s orders, this stopped after an SC order, which stated that since an appeal was provided to the SC under the AFT Act, final orders of the Tribunal should only be challenged before the SC
• This rendered litigants remediless as there was a statutory bar under Section 31 of the AFT Act in approaching the SC except in matters involving a ‘point of law of general public importance’

AFT’s denial of bail to soldier: HC notice to Centre

Both Modi and Sharif have accepted Obama’s invitation to attend the nuclear summit in Washington. File photo

Islamabad/New Delhi, Feb 19

India today said it was “disappointed” at the omission of JeM chief Masood Azhar from an FIR lodged by Pakistan authorities in connection with the Pathankot airbase attack. India has accused the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief of masterminding the attack.The FIR was registered at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) centre in Gujranwala, Punjab province, on Thursday against “unknown persons” after weeks of investigations into the assault that had led to the postponement of India-Pak Foreign Secretary talks.“It is a small step in the right direction. But it is disappointing that neither the name of Jaish nor Masood Azhar was incorporated in the FIR,” a senior government official said.“We fail to understand why Jaish and its chief’s names were not included in the FIR despite India giving adequate evidence about their involvement,” the official said.A CTD official said the FIR was required to start police and judicial proceedings on the basis of evidence collected in connection with the attack for which India has blamed Pakistan-based terror group JeM.India had identified Azhar as the mastermind of the attack, and blamed his brother Rauf besides five others for carrying out the attack.The FIR was lodged under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act. The FIR mentioned the telephone numbers contacted by the militants during the attack.The FIR was reportedly registered on the recommendations of a six-member special investigation team (SIT) probing the attack. The team had recommended to the federal government to lodge an FIR on the basis of information provided to National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua by his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.According to a document, the team held three meetings in which the information provided by the Indian side was evaluated and it partially confirmed the Indian version of the incident.Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif had formed the six-member team headed by Additional Inspector General of Punjab’s CTD Rai Tahir to probe India’s assertion that JeM was behind the attack.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Punjab province Law Minister Rana Sanaullah today said India would be asked for more information. Sanaullah said in Lahore that the FIR showed Pakistan’s “commitment” against militancy. “We will seek more information from India,” he said.Sanaullah said anyone, including Azhar, found guilty of involvement in the attack would be prosecuted. “No one becomes guilty by naming him. I don’t want to name anyone at this stage. Let the probe be over and if Azhar is found involved, action will be taken,” Sanaullah said. — Agencies

Modi, Nawaz likely to meet in US next month

Islamabad, February 19Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi may meet next month in the US on the sidelines of a nuclear summit being hosted by President Barack Obama, a media report said today.The two have accepted Obama’s invitation to attend the nuclear summit in Washington from March 31 and April 1, Dawn newspaper said. “The chances are strong, very strong,” said a senior official who did not want to be identified.“But you know the history of India-Pakistan talks. You cannot be certain about an event until it has happened,” the official added.This is the first time that both leaders will attend the nuclear security summit, which Obama initiated in 2010.The summit, aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear arms, brings leaders from across the world to discuss various proposals for attaining this goal. The first summit was held in Washington on April 12-13, 2010. Since this is Obama’s final year in office, the administration is pushing hard for achieving some concrete results during the fourth summit. — PTI

Governments, businesses, and economists have all been caught off guard by the geopolitical shifts that happened with the crash of oil prices and the slowdown of China’s economy. Most believe that the price of oil will recover and that China will continue its rise. They are mistaken. Instead of worrying about the rise of China, we need to fear its fall; and while oil prices may oscillate over the next four or five years, the fossil-fuel industry is headed the way of the dinosaur. The global balance of power will shift as a result.
LED light bulbs, improved heating and cooling systems, and software systems in automobiles have gradually been increasing fuel efficiency over the past decades. But the big shock to the energy industry came with fracking, a new set of techniques and technologies for extracting more hydrocarbons from the ground. Though there are concerns about environmental damage, these increased the outputs of oil and gas, caused the usurpation of old-line coal-fired power plants, and dramatically reduced America’s dependence on foreign oil.
The next shock will come from clean energy. Solar and wind are now advancing on exponential curves. Every two years, for example, solar installation rates are doubling, and photovoltaic-module costs are falling by about 20 percent. Even without the subsidies that governments are phasing out, present costs of solar installations will, by 2022, halve, reducing returns on investments in homes, nationwide, to less than four years. By 2030, solar power will be able to provide 100 percent of today’s energy needs; by 2035, it will seem almost free — just as cell-phone calls are today.
This seems hard to believe, given that solar production provides less than one percent of the Earth’s energy needs today. But this is how exponential technologies advance. They double in performance every year or two and their prices fall. Given that California already generates more than 5 percent of its electricity from utility-scale solar, it is not hard to fathom what the impact of another few doublings would be: the imminent extinction of the fossil-fuel industry. Exponential technologies are deceptive because they move very slowly at first, but one percent becomes two percent, which becomes four, eight, and sixteen; you get the idea. As futurist Ray Kurzweil says, when an exponential technology is at one percent, you are halfway to 100 percent, and that is where solar and wind energies are now.
Anyone tracking the exponential growth of fracking and the gradual advances that were being made in conservation and fuel efficiency should have been able to predict, years ago, that by 2015, the price of oil would drop dramatically. It wasn’t surprising that relatively small changes in supply and demand caused massive disruptions to global oil prices; that is how markets work.They cause commodities futures and stock prices to fall dramatically when slowdowns occur. This is what is happening to China’s markets also. The growth of China’s largest industry, manufacturing, has stalled, causing ripple effects throughout China’s economy.
For decades, manufacturing was flooding into China from the U.S. and Europe and fueling its growth. And then a combination of rising labor and shipping costs and automation began to change the economics of China manufacturing. Now, robots are about to tip the balance further.
Foxconn had announced in August 2011 that it would replace one million workers with robots. This didn’t occur, because the robots then couldn’t work alongside human workers to do sophisticated circuit board assembly. But a newer generation of robots such as ABB’s Yumi and Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer can do that. They are dextrous enough to thread a needle and cost as much as a car does.
China is aware of the advances in robotics and plans to take the lead in replacing humans with robots. Guangdong province is constructing the world’s first “zero-labor factor,” with 1,000 robots which do the jobs of 2,000 humans. It sees this as a solution to increasing labor costs.
The problem for China is that its robots are no more productive than their counterparts in the West are. They all work 24×7 without complaining or joining labor unions. They cost the same and consume the same amount of energy. Given the long shipping times and high transportation costs it no longer makes sense to send raw materials across the oceans to China to have them assembled into finished goods and shipped to the West. Manufacturing can once again become a local industry.
It will take many years for Western companies to learn the intricacies of robotic manufacturing, build automated factories, train workers, and deal with the logistical challenges of supply chains being in China. But these are surmountable problems. What is now a trickle of manufacturing returning to the West will, within five to seven years, become a flood.
After this, another technology revolution will begin: digital manufacturing.
In conventional manufacturing, parts are produced by humans using power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses, to physically remove material to obtain the shape desired. In digital manufacturing, parts are produced by melting successive layers of materials based on 3D models — adding materials rather than subtracting them. The “3D printers” that produce these use powered metal, droplets of plastic, and other materials — much like the toner cartridges that go into laser printers. 3D printers can already create physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. But these are slow, messy, and cumbersome — much like the first generations of inkjet printers were. This will change.
In the early 2020s we will have elegant low-priced printers for our homes that can print toys and household goods. Businesses will use 3D printers to do small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. Late in the next decade, we will be 3D-printing buildings and electronics. These will eventually be as fast as today’s laser printers are. And don’t be surprised if by 2030, the industrial robots go on strike, waving placards saying “stop the 3D printers: they are taking our jobs away.”
The geopolitical implications of these changes are exciting and worrisome. America will reinvent itself just as does every 30-40 years; it is, after all, leading the technology boom. And as we are already witnessing, Russia and China will stir up regional unrest to distract their restive populations; oil producers such as Venezuela will go bankrupt; the Middle East will become a cauldron of instability. Countries that have invested in educating their populations, built strong consumer economies, and have democratic institutions that can deal with social change will benefit — because their people will have had their basic needs met and can figure out how to take advantage of the advances in technology.

Andhra Pradesh: A tearful final farewell was given on Tuesday to four soldiers from Tamil Nadu, two from Karnataka and one from Andhra Pradesh who were buried alive in an avalanche on the hostile Siachen glacier on February 3.

All of them belonged to the Madras Regiment and their last rites were performed with full military honours. The bodies of Havildar M. Elumalai, Sepoy G. Ganesan, Sepoy N. Ramamurthy and Lance Havildar S. Kumar were brought to Chennai on Monday night and later taken to their native places.

Elumalai was laid to rest with full military honours in Adukumparai village in Vellore district. Ganesan was cremated in his native village Chokkathevanpatti in Madurai district, while Kumar was laid to rest in his home village in Theni district, while the last rites of Ramamurthy were performed in Krishnagiri district.

The Tamil Nadu government announced a solatium of Rs.10 lakh each to their families. In Andhra Pradesh, Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed waslaid to rest with full military honours in his native village in Kurnool district. A pall of gloom descended on Parnapalle village in Bandi Atmakur mandal of Kurnool as people bid tearful adieu to the soldier.

Military, police and civil officials and politicians paid their last respects to Mushtaq, who was buried at a village graveyard. Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishna Murthy and YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy were among those who attended the last rites.

The deputy chief minister later presented a cheque of Rs.25 lakh to the family of deceased soldier. The body of Mustaq reached the village late Monday night from Hyderabad, where it was brought from New Delhi on Monday by a special aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF). Mustaq, 30, is survived by his wife and aged parents, according to a defence statement.

He had enrolled in the 19th Battalion the Madras Regiment in 2004 and served as part of his battalion in counter insurgency operations in the North East and in Jammu and Kashmir. He had also served in the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) force in Jammu and Kashmir. A keen sportsman, Mustaq volunteered to be part of one of the most crucial posts in the icy Siachen Glacier.

In Karnataka, hundreds of people paid homage to two more victims from the state as they were laid to rest with state honours in Mysuru and Hassan districts on Tuesday. Sepoy P.N. Mahesha of H.D. Kote in Mysuru district and Subedar T.T. Nagesha of Tejuru in Hassan district were given a 21-gun salute to the sound of bugles before their bodies were buried at their native places.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who hails from Mysuru district, laid a wreath on the flower-decked casket of Mahesha and consoled his bereaved family. “The chief minister has assured Mahesha’s family of compensation, free farm land and a government job to one of its members soon,” an official told IANS.

Home Minister G. Parameshwara was present at Nagesha’s last rites amid heart-rending scenes as his family was inconsolable. A junior commissioned officer (JCO) and nine other ranks (ORs) were buried under nearly 30 feet of ice and snow when the avalanche hit the Sonam Post on the Siachen glacier at an altitude of around 20,000 feet.

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad was the only one found alive even though he was trapped under the snow for about six days. He succumbed to multi-organ failure at the Army Hospital Research and Referral in New Delhi last Thursday. Koppad was cremated in his home town in Karnataka on Friday.

The bodies of the remaining nine soldiers were retrieved a week after the tragedy, and flown into New Delhi from the frontier Ladakh region on Monday. The mortal remains were later flown in IAF planes to Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram, for sending them to the native villages of the deceased soldiers.

The other soldiers were Lance Naik Sudheesh B. of village Monroethuruth in Kerala’s Kollam district and Sepoy (nursing assistant) Suryawanshi S.V. of village Maskarwadi in Maharashtra’s Satara district.

– See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/tearful-farewell-to-soldiers-who-died-in-siachen/16961235#sthash.7xNmExri.dpuf

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 18The child bravery award winners are keen to serve the nation and want to achieve their aim through a career in defence and police services.Dishant Mehndiratta wants to join the Navy. Fascinated by the sea, he thoroughly enjoyed a recent visit with his family to Mumbai and Goa. His quick thinking and lightening fast action helped overcome a sticky situation when a robber threatened his mother at their Panchkula home. He was already bleeding from the cut on his face, but the urge to save his mother drove young Dishant to fall at the robber’s feet, pull his leg and snatch his knife. He then overpowered the assailant with his mother’s help and raised an alarm. Neighbours came to their aid and the robber was arrested.“The man had put a knife at my mother’s throat and wanted to rob us. All I was thinking was how to snatch his knife and save my mother,” said Dishant as he explained how he pretended to seek mercy at the assailant’s feet in order to grab the weapon from him.Twelve-year-old Dishant was at home with his mother and younger brother when a man came to their Panchkula home on April 4, 2015, and said he wanted to meet his father. It was only when the assailant took out a knife that the three realised that they had let an armed robber into the house.As 10-year-old Joena Chakraborty chased the man who had snatched her father’s mobile phone in Delhi, she was only thinking that something wrong had been done. She started chasing the man across a busy Delhi street after her father shouted that his cellphone was missing.“I knew he would head for a narrow alley, so I reached there before him and caught his legs even though people were shouting that he had a knife,” Joena said during a function organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare for Bravery Award winners.Joena also has suggestions ready for Prime Minister Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. “There should be a Swachh Bharat army of people empowered to collect fines from litterbugs. People who litter must be fined. Repeat offenders should be fined double. Photos of offenders should be publicised to shame them,” said Joena who wants to join the police when she grows up.Sixteen-year-old Arjun Singh will receive the Sanjay Chopra Award this year for saving his mother from a tiger which entered their home in Malgaon village of Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. Arjun’s mother was feeding cattle when the tiger approached their home on July 16, 2014. She screamed and then fell unconscious. Arjun rushed out of his house and picked up a sickle. However, realising that using the sickle would take him too close to the large feline, he quickly picked up a stick and waved it at the tiger. By this time, neighbours came to the house and the tiger fled. Arjun is keen on a career in the Army.

(a) Death if due to accident or unnatural causes should always be
reported to the Police Station in whose jurisdiction the area falls.
It avoids lot of troubles later on. In such cases get the autopsy done
to establish proper cause of death.

(b) Do obtain two ink signed copies of Medical certificate
specifying cause of death from the Hospital or the authorized Medical Practitioner. One of these is required by the authorities at the cremation/ burial ground. The other is required by the authorities (Registrar of Deaths & Births) who issues Death Certificates. Obtain cremation / burial certificate from the cremation/burial ground.

(c) A close relative should apply for issue of Death certificate
within 15 days of the death of the pensioner/ deceased. Obtain at
least 20 ink signed & equal number of Photostat copies duly attested by a class one officer.

(d) Write to the Pension paying Bank Intimating them of demise
of the pensioner, asking them to discontinue the pension of the
pensioner and payment of the family pension of the spouse l N O K
(give name). Enclose ink signed death certificate & copy of the
original P P O having joint photograph of the pensioner & spouse/ NOK. Also state PPO and pension S /B A/C numbers..

Sample Application form as at Annexure.

(e) If the Pension A/c is a joint account or the spouse is a
nominee in it Then it is simpler to operate the same A/C for family
pension, otherwise a fresh S/ B A/C is to be opened in the same bank.
It requires proof of Identity and proof of Residence. Photo copy of
voter I Card! PAN card will suffice- with three copies of attested
photographs.

(f) Write separately to Pension sanctioning Authority, PCDA ( P)
to start family pension, on demise of the pensioner and enclose ink
signed copy of death certificate:-Sample Application is at Annexure

(g) In the case of Retired Army Pensioner Write to the A Gs branch
(MP-5, CW 4) to update their records. & to Pay Platinum Grant if
Applicable As per Annexure.

(h) If the age was less than 70 years write to Army Group Insurance
Fund (AGIF) to Make payment of life insurance amount. Application Performa at Annexure.

(i) Return Retired Officers I Card to Area HQ (lnt Br.) for
further Disposal.

(j) If there are other Insurance Policies write to them to pay Insurance amount.

(k) Write to all banks wherein the pensioner has his accounts to
transfer closing balances to the spouse / N O K giving bankers
address, a/c number.

(I) Write to Regional Transport Officer to transfer the Automobile
to the NOK.

(m) Write to Arms Licensing Authority to transfer the weapon (if
any) to the NOK meanwhile deposit the weapon(s) in concerned Police Station Arms Dealer for safe custody. The NOK should apply forArms License at the earliest.

(n) Write to Electricity Providing Agency to transfer the meter in
the name of spouse/NOK and start further billing against that name.

(o) Write to the Telephone providing Agency to Change the name of the subscriber, transfer the connection to the name of the Spouse/NOK for further billing (p) Apply to AWHO to transfer the dwelling unit to the spouse/NOK. Performa for Application should be obtained from the AWHO / Welfare Society . The Society has to render No Objection Certificate (NOC).stating that there is No encroachment of common land, No major modification to theApproved design and all Dues to the Society has been cleared. If not already done you may have to do it before they issue NOC.

(q) Write to all the clubs & societies to transfer the membership
to the spouse/NOK (r) Write to all Debtors to clear all dues and make payment to the Spouse/NOK.

(s) Clear the outstanding dues if any of the Creditors and credit
cards and loans taken if any. Return the credit cards to the Bank
concerned.

(t) Some of the banks may have issued Insurance certificate for the
amount of FD/Bank Balance then claim it.

(u) Write to Income Tax authorities to intimate death of the
Pensioner to close his Income Tax file and open Income Tax file in the name of the Spouse/NOK Quoting PAN number of both.

(v) Write to the Municipal Authorities to Close Property case file of
the deceased person and open it in the name of the spouse/NOK.

(w) Approach the district Courts for Probate of the WILL, if it is
in possession, otherwise obtain a Succession Certificate. From the
District Judge. (x)

These Instructions are repeated at the end to be used as a check list.
******************** *************** ************ ********************

—————————————————————————-
Annexure — DRAFT LETTER FOR FAMILY PENSION

From Name.
Address Tele No.
Date To,
The Manager Name of Bank Address
Sir,
Subject:- GRANT OF FAMILY PENSION ON DEMISE OF PENSIONER.

1. Reference- Our Joint Pension SB A/C No. held in your Bank.

2. I regret to inform you that my husband,

IC No,…………….. Rank ………….. Name…………………………….
has expired on at due to Certificate of his death is enclosed for
ready reference. He was drawing his pension through your bank. Kindly, stop his payment of his pension with effect from and Start payment of family pension at the rate prescribed vide Annexure three to 6th Pay Commission Report i.e. Rs; 15630/= + DA @ 51 % or as applicable to me through the same Pension SB A/C No. Held in your Bank. We have no dependent children.

3. You are requested to forward the attached copy of this letter along with Copy of his Death certificate duly endorsed for its correctness.

Yours faithfully ,

Signature &n bsp;

;
(Name)
Copy to :

PCDA (P), Dropadi Ghat, Allahabad 211014: for
similar action.

***************** ******************************* ****

Annexure ::
DRAFT LETTER FOR ARMY GROUP INSURANCE EXTENDED POLICY

From: Name
Tele No : Mob ………………..

Address…………………..………………….. &n bsp;
Date

To,
The Chairman,
Army Group Insurance Fund,
AGIF House, Rao Tularam Marg, NEW DELHI – 110010

Sir,

Sub:- ENCASHMENT OF EXTENDED ARMY GROUP INSURANCE POLICY Ref.

Extended Army Group Insurance Certificate No. issued to IC No.Rank
Name of Corps of signals. (Encl in original)

1. I regret to inform you that my spouse, I C. No. Rank Name
has expired on……. at………. His/Her Death Certificate
issued by …………… is enclosed for ready Reference.

2. I am enclosing the Extended Army Group Insurance Certificate for
encashment duly completed in all respect. His date of birth
is………………………... Kindly send the cheque of the sum
assured to me on my address as given above. My Bank details are as
under:-

SSB A/C No. Name and address of my Bank.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Yours Faithfully,

Signature

(Name)
************ ************ *********************************

Annexure-
DRAFT LETTER FOR ARMY OFFICERS BENOVELENT FUND – RS 50,000/-

From; Name House No./Sector Locality TeleNo. City& PIN File No. Date

The AOBF (Accts Sec), AG’s Branch, IHQ of MOD (ARMY) Room No 279a,
South Block DHQ PO, New DeIhi110011
Sir,

Subject:- Payment of Platinum Grant (AOBF) On Demise of IC No ………………. Rank………………………….Col Name (Late) of Corps of Signals.)

Reference PPO No. ……………….. (Photocopy enclosed)

1. I regret to inform you that my husband, IC No. Rank Name has
expired on ( date) at (Name of Hosp) , Address(Place) , Due to (Cause
of Death) The Certificate of his death Issued by (Civil Authority) is
enclosed for ready reference.

2. You are, kindly requested, to send me his Platinum Grant on his
demise. Hisdate of birth is Photo Copy of his Retired Officers’
Identity Card is enclosed for ready reference. The cheque may please
be issued to me on the Address given on top of this letter. My Bank
details are as under: Name of Bank Address SBA/C No

3. We have XXX / do not have dependent Children.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours Faithfully,

Signatures ( Name- Mrs xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xx) W/O Late xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Copy to:- MOD IHD, Army/HQ AG ( MP 5/ CW 4) For Similar Action

***************** ***************** *************** ******************

CHECK LIST — ACTION TO BE TAKEN ON DEMISE OF PENSIONER.

1. In case of death due to accident lodge an FIR with the nearest
Police Station, and get theirwritten permission before last rites are
performed.

2. Arrange last rites even in cases of natural demise only after
getting Medical Certificate of cause of Death from a doctor
(Authorized Medical Practice nor). Intimate time of Funeral and
CHAUTHA/UTHALA/ Prayer meeting to all concerned preferably through an insertion of obituary in News Papers(s).

3. Apply for and obtain Death Cetificate-20 or more copies from the Office of Registrar of Births and Deaths/ Municipal Authority. These are required to be submitted with all claims.

4. Forward the information with certified photocopy of Death Certificate To the following:

(a) PCDA (Pension), AG’s Branch MP 5 (b) and PS4.
(b) Army Officer’s Benevolent Fund for Payment of Platinum Grant.
(c) AGIF For settlement of life Insurance cover as applicable
(d) Station HO To surrender Identity Card of the deceased Officer and Issue of CSD Canteen Card.

(e) Bankers for family Pension, FD’s Loans (if any), PPF and Locker:
(f) Clubs For transfer of membership or refund of security deposit as applicable.
(g) Municipal Authority/AWHO/DDA/NDA/GNDA/HUDAILOCAL Development
Authority For transfer of House /Apartment to a single name of the surviving spouse as per WILL of the deceased.
(h) MTNUBSNUTELECUM COMPANEY For transfer of tale connection and future billing.
(i) BSES/NDPULOCAL ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT For transferring of electric connection and future billing in the name of the house owner.
(j) ITO For closing of file of the deceased and linking up with the
files of the beneficiaries and for wealth Tax assessment.
(k) Licensing Authority for motor vehicles, Personal Arms and Tractors etc For Transfer of Ownership.
(I) LIC/GIC/Insurance Companies/Banks for insurance policies covering Life, Medical, Vehicles and property etc. (m) Secretary Zila Saink Board For issue of Ex-Servicemen widow’s Identity card.

5. Obtain Probate of WILL (if held) otherwise succession certificate
is required from the District Judge under Indian

A generation of officers has grown and won awards, laurels and promotions doing counter-insurgency operations. With all present generals having donned the uniform after the last full-scale war of 1971, war-preparedness has become an elusive concept

Speaking recently at the Counter-Terrorism Conference in Jaipur, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, alluding to Pakistan, said, “Some countries have used non-state actors (terrorists) for 15 years to achieve political and strategic objectives, with counter-productive results.” The truth is, far from being counter-productive, the Pakistan army has achieved substantive results against India through this strategy.On the one hand, it has increased India’s policing commitments on the land and coastal borders. The 1999 Kargil conflict forced the Indian Army to deploy a division (12,000 troops) round the year at 15,000 to 18,000 feet to ensure no reccurrence of mischief. After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Indian Navy, made responsible for coastal security, has been flogging its expensive warships, at the cost of war preparedness. On the other hand, Pakistan’s strategy has, to its own amazement, rendered the Indian Army unfit for conventional war. After Operation Parakram (the 10-month military stand-off from December 2001 to October 2002), where India failed to militarily coerce Pakistan, the Indian Army was expected to learn the right lessons. Since no insurgency which enjoys an inviolate sanctuary has ever been defeated, it was, since 1990, argued that the Indian Army should build capability to hit terrorists’ bases in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir rather than fight the elusive terrorists on its soil. Instead, it did the opposite. Once the November 26, 2003, ceasefire, at Pakistan’s initiative, was accepted, the artillery guns on both sides fell silent. With long-range firepower to hit Pakistani bunkers no longer an option, raids by Special Forces to thwart the proxy war was the natural choice to keep the Pakistan army on tenterhooks. Calling it a war-avoidance measure, this option was closed by the Army Chief, Gen. NC Vij by fencing the Line of Control in July, 2004.The argument that the fence is cost-effective and prevents infiltration continues to be made by senior officers who are unwilling to concede its biggest drawback: It has instilled the Maginot mentality, (a line of defensive fortifications built before World War II to protect the eastern border of France but easily outflanked by German invaders.). Any worthwhile military commander the world over will attest that a fortification induces a false sense of security and stifles the offensive spirit and action. Today, the fence denotes the Indian Army’s physical, mental and psychological limit of war-fighting. It gives respite to the Pakistan army and encourages it to continue with the proxy war, without fearing Indian retaliation. The initiative has passed completely into the hands of the terrorists and their Pakistani handlers. The latter dictate the rates of engagement, infiltration, areas to be activated and to what purpose, including methods of initiation. This is the reason that even with the strength of over 12 lakh, the Indian Army fails to deter the six lakh Pakistani army from cross-border terrorism. The Pakistan army refuses to hand over Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Masood Azhar and others to us. Each time our political and military leaders warn Pakistan, it challenges us to a war.The Indian Army Chief, Gen. VK Singh wrote a letter (leaked to the media) to the Prime Minister in March, 2012, saying the Army was unfit for war. Media reports routinely decry the unpreparedness of the Army. What little the Army has as war reserves, for example, equipment, vehicles, spares and ammunition, is merrily being using to raise more units — two divisions (each with 12,000 troops) between 2009 and 2011, and a Mountain Corps (90,000 troops). Since 2012, the Army’s annual defence spending ratio of capital (for acquisitions) and revenue (pay and allowances) has been 40:60, instead of the other way round. This means more manpower costs and less war preparedness.Unfortunately, the present state suits both the political and the Army leadership; the former does not want to understand military power and is petrified by nuclear weapons, the latter is comfortable with counter-insurgency operations (CI ops). The Army has honed its skills in it for 25 years. About 40 per cent of the Army is in the Jammu and Kashmir theatre doing CI ops, while an equal number prepares itself to replace those. A generation of officers has grown and won awards, laurels, promotions and status doing CI ops. With all present generals having donned uniform after the last full-scale war of 1971, war-preparedness has become an elusive concept. The irony is that the people of India do not know what the Army is supposed to do. The nation regularly pays homage to soldiers who die fighting terrorists inside the Indian territory rather than fighting Pakistani soldiers on the border. Few bother to think that if the Army does CI ops (which should be the paramilitary’s job), who would do its job of fighting the war? Should the nation be spending huge amount of money building a military force when what the Army wishes to be is to become a glorified paramilitary force?The idea of a fence on the LoC came from the BSF, which had erected one on the India-Pakistan border from Gujarat to Rajasthan and another on the India-Bangladesh border. But the Army was never receptive to the idea of erecting a fence as it was found effective only against illegal immigrants and was considered a police tactic. The Army chief, General S. Padmanabhan (General Vij’s predecessor) told me: “When Vij asked my opinion on the fence, I told him that this idea had been there since 1993. The reason why it had not been implemented so far was that it was unsuited for the terrain along the LoC. Moreover, a fence would instil a defensive mindset in our troops.” What should the Army do? The Army Chief, Gen. Bikram Singh invited me to his office in January, 2013, and asked my opinion. I suggested four-pronged action: The fence on the LoC should be dismantled; troops should be reoriented to the conventional war role from the present anti-infiltration role; CI ops should be handed over to the paramilitary and the police in Jammu and Kashmir in a phased manner; and the Army should go back to its core competency — preparing to fight a war.These are the actions that the Army would take during war; taking them in peacetime would help deter Pakistan from continuous trouble across the LoC. Adopting an offensive-defence posture does not imply war; it means peace and stability on the LoC as it would spur the Army to equip and train itself for war. These actions will also help the Army to reduce its strength by nearly 2,00,000 troops in five years; a must for a professional Army desiring to prepare itself for present-day warfare. The Modi Government, which projects itself as more muscular than the previous regimes, has not helped matters. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on  July 22, 2014, the then Defence Minister, Arun Jaitley praised the Army for CI ops by concluding that, “innovative troops deployment, efficient use of surveillance and monitoring devices and fencing along the LoC have enhanced (the Army’s) ability to detect and intercept infiltration.” Encouraged, the Army decided to upgrade the fence. The northern Army Commander, Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda told the media in August, 2015 that, “The new fence will be twice as effective as the existing one. It will be hard to breach.” The Pakistan army will continue to allow the Indian side to repair the fence damaged by vagaries of nature each year, without resorting to small-arms firings. The writer is Editor, FORCE, a newsmagazine on security & defence.

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 13Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd) died in the National Capital on Wednesday. He was 93. Jacob was the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war with Pakistan.Lt Gen JS Aurora was heading the command at Kolkata when the Indian Army and Air Force liberated Bangladesh, which was then known as East Pakistan.Jacob was the Governor of Punjab and administrator of Chandigarh between November 1999 and November 2003. Jacob, a bachelor, was living in Delhi’s RK Puram.  He died after a brief illness at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital.

Lt Gen JFR Jacob & I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me. pic.twitter.com/h32apAvBrm

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 13, 2016

He authored the book ‘Surrender at Dacca’ in which he explianed the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops.Jacob as the Administrator of Chandigarh brought in people-oriented changes. He was famous for dropping in unannounced at public offices to check their functioning.

Very sad news: General(Retd)JFRJacob, Indian War Hero,Proud Jew,Friend of Israel,has passed https://t.co/gBZWze6SxS pic.twitter.com/kz994hIFoX

— Daniel Carmon (@danielocarmon) January 13, 2016

Israel Ambassador in India Daniel Carmon also paid homage to General Jacob as a proud “Indian and a proud Jew”.
He said he was a living bridge between the people of India and Israel, adding that he was sorry for the loss.