NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, according to media reports, has sought a report over the short supply of medals that has forced soldiers to buy duplicate ones from the market.

The medals are for various achievements including bravery, distinguished service among others. According to sources, while those medals awarded at investiture ceremonies were available, lakhs of others awarded over the years are not.

This includes those given for completing a certain number of years in service, serving in difficult areas or taking part in various operations. The situation has been such that only a handful of medals have been officially issued over the last 7-8 years while over 10 lakh medals are pending. Media quoting a defence source said, “The Defence Minister has sought a report on the situation and why it (the medals) has not been issued for so many years. The Medals Department of MoD is responsible for issue of medals to the Armed Forces.”

Defence Minister Parrikar should also ask for figures of how many medals were dispatched by post to soldiers say in the last 10 years long ‘after’ after they had retired from service. The numbers would likely shock him.

Of course, the Medal Section is quite capable of obfuscating the real figures. According to an unnamed source in the Ministry of Defence, non-availability was due to some “financial constraints”. This is nothing but a weak bureaucratic cover up especially considering the crores of rupees from the defence budget that gets surrendered each financial year.

Soldiers perforce have to buy duplicates of their hard-earned medals. One favourite place for purchasing duplicate medals is Gopinath Bazar in Delhi Cantonment. The difference between the original and the duplicate is that the name of the soldier and his service number is engraved on the rim of the original medal.

Why does a soldier buy a duplicate medal? Not understood by many, it is what medals he wears on his chest that adds to his ‘izzat’. He does not favour his chest bare without the medals due to him and – consequently less medals compared to his contemporaries. And why should he not receive his medals promptly rather tham several years later when he has earned them through sweat and blood. MoD’s Medal Section will of course excuse the inexcusable to the Defence Minister, blaming shortage of funds and the like.

The problem of giving the medals to soldiers’ years after these were awarded is endemic and the actual issue is institutionalized corruption.

Fancy what a MoD official had revealed some years ago. When the Government of India decided to award the 50-year Independence Medal to all security forces (Armed Forces, Para Military Forces, Central Armed Police Forces and Police personnel included), the overall contract worked out to some Rs 100 crores. This was with the cost of every individual medal worked out at Rs 100, even though the duplicate was available in Gopinath Bazar for less than half that price.

Awarding the contract itself took considerable time because vendors were being hunted who could pass on Rs 20 crores under the table before the agreement was inked. Thus not only is awarding the contract delayed, timely delivery of medals becomes a casualty with no pressure on the vendor with the money jingling in the pockets.

It is also very likely that the same vendor or vendors, who produce the actual medals, also makes the duplicates. This can be easily verified from the shops selling duplicate medals.

Obviously, delayed delivery of actual medals boosts the sales of duplicate medals. After all, the vendor has to somewhat make up, if not completely, the bribe paid while securing the contract for delivering the actual medals.

What the defence minister may wish to examine is that why even today, is the cost of the duplicate medal less than the real one and how much should it actually cost to engrave the service number and the name of the awardees on the rim of the medal? Incidentally, the engraving of the name and service number is generally quite crude.

In this age of advanced metallurgy, it certainly should not make such a vast difference between the cost of the real medal and the duplicate one. Inordinately delayed issue of medals has been a perpetual problem perhaps from the time since Independence because of deep rooted institutionalized corruption, and this needs to be probed and eradicated.

It remains to be seen what explanations / excuses the Medal Section will put forward and what decision the Defence Minister will take. It is quite possible that there may be no further news on the issue in the media.

(Lt General P.C.Katoch (retired) is a veteran officer of the Special Forces)

Wang Qi (77)

Bhopal, February 10

Five decades since he crossed over to India post the 1962 war and raised a family in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, a Chinese soldier is all set to fly back to his native country.Wang Qi, now 77, was caught when he entered the Indian territory shortly after the Sino-India War of 1962. He was later released from jail.”Wang with his wife Sushila, and their son Vishnu and two other family members will be flying to China,” Balaghat Collector Bharat Yadav said.He said Wang and his four family members got visa today and they might fly to China tomorrow, adding this became possible due to the help they received from the Ministry of Home and External Affairs. Official sources in Beijing said Wang and his family members were expected to arrive there tomorrow.After their arrival, they would travel to his native place in Shaanxi Province to meet Wang’s relatives, they said. Yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that it was following up the case and helping Wang and his family members to visit China to meet his extended family. The development has come within a week after a delegation from the Chinese Embassy met Wang who had been wanting to visit his country. Wang, who lives with his wife and three children in Tirodi area of Balaghat, has not been able to visit China for want to permission from Indian government, according to the family. — PTI

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 6

The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) has convicted Col BS Goraya (retd) in a case of selling his attached agricultural property in Punjab. Judge Akshdeep Mahajan has scheduled the quantum of sentence for February 8.In 2011, the court of special CBI judge had ordered initiation of criminal action against the former Army officer and had filed a complaint against him in the court of the then CJM. Proceedings against him under Section 340 of the CrPC were started in the court of the CJM. The property of the Sector 9 resident was attached during the investigation of a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The court had directed that he was not entitled to sell his land. However, he sold off one of the attached properties.A case was registered by the premier investigating agency under Sections 13(2) and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was stated that between January 1987 and August 1990, the accused and some others had acquired properties worth Rs 82.58 lakh. The properties were disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CBI court, during the trail, had also attached the Sector 9 house of the former Army officer.  He had several properties in his as well as his family members’ name in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, which led to the registration of the case against him. Colonel Goraya, however, had submitted an application on March 26, 2014, seeking verification regarding the sale of the Sector 2 plot.

Shanta Kumar

Our Correspondent

Palampur, February 6

Member of Parliament and senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar today said a war memorial would be set up at Palampur soon.“A 10-acre plot at Saurabh Van Vihar near the town had been earmarked for the project. The Palampur war memorial will be bigger than that in Dharamsala as there is no shortage of land at Palampur,” Shanta Kumar said.He told The Tribune that a society would be formed to run and maintain the project. He said he had already discussed the matter with the Nek Chand Rock Garden Society, Chandigarh, which would provide the technical knowhow to establish the memorial.He said he would also urge other institutions like the Ministries of Defence and Home to extend the technical support to him so that one of the best war memorials could be set up at Palampur.Shanta said statues of all martyrs like Vikram Batra, Saurabh Kalia and Sudheer Walia who had sacrificed their lives in wars fought before and after Independence, militancy operations and the Kargil war would be installed in the war memorial.He also sought suggestions from other experts and asked them to come forward and give their suggestions to make his project a success. He said he had already released Rs 40 lakh for the project from his MP LAD fund and more funds would be procured from other sources.Shanta said Himachal’s contribution of personnel to the defence forces was the highest in the country. Besides the Kargil war, the state had lost hundreds of youths in militancy-related incidents and proxy war being fought with Pakistan in the past 15 years in J&K and other parts of the country. Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi districts of the state were the worst affected as hundreds of jawans were killed in Jammu-Kashmir and North Eastern states while fighting militancy and Maoists in the past 10 years.He said unfortunately most of the projects named after the soldiers killed in the Kargil war in the year 1999 had been left mid-way for want of funds and other official bottlenecks by successive governments that ruled the state. Despite repeated requests to the government by the families of martyrs, no headway was made to complete the projects launched in memory of martyrs.

Army Chief pays tribute to Major Amit Sagar who lost life in J&K avalanche

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday attended the wreath laying ceremony of Major Amit Sagar who lost his life in avalanche that struck Jammu and Kashmir’s Gurez sector.

“We are working with snow and avalanche study to map avalanches so that we are better prepared and can move troops in case of danger. I want to assure families of jawans affected by avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir that we are with them,” the Army Chief told the media.

At least 15 Indian soldiers lost their lives in two separate avalanches in Gurez and Sonmarg on January 25.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day paid homage to the soldiers, who lost their lives in the avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Army on Tuesday gave a befitting farewell to its 19 brave hearts, who had died in separate avalanches in the Gurez and Machhal sectors.

Chinar Corps Commander Lt. Gen. J.S. Sandhu and all ranks paid rich tribute to the gallant soldiers who lost their lives while serving in the formidable heights along the Line of Control in two separate snow related incidents in North Kashmir.

Fourteen soldiers were swept away in a devastating avalanche in Gurez on January 26 while five soldiers in Machhal, who had been rescued after they got trapped under snow when the track caved in on January 28, succumbed to their injuries yesterday.

The Indian Army had earlier said that bad weather was preventing the pilot from bringing back the remains of the soldiers killed in the avalanche.

The valley had been experiencing bad weather over a week due to some western disturbances, resulting in rescue operations being hampered.

In a show of solidarity, officials from other security agencies, including the JKP, CRPF, BSF and SSB also joined in paying their last respects to the martyrs.

The mortal remains of the soldiers are being taken to their native places where their last rites will be performed by family members.

(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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• Indian Tejas fighter aircraft fly past during the 68th Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 26. AFP” style=”border: none; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; display: block; max-height: 100%; width: 70px; height: 70px;”>

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NSG commandoes contingent march during the 68th Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 26. AFP

New Delhi, January 26

‘Black cat’ commandos of elite counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG) and Tejas, India’s indigenously-built light combat aircraft, made their debut in this year’s Republic Day parade in New Delhi.Tejas led the fleet of fighter aircraft in the fly past over Rajpath.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)It was after a gap of about two decades that an indigenously developed aircraft took to the skies on Republic Day. Marut was the last indigenous fighter aircraft to be part of the R-Day fly past in the 1980s and the 90s.Led by Group Captain Madhav Rangachari, three Tejas jets flew in ‘Vic’ formation at a height of 300 meters and 780 kmph.The lightweight, supersonic, multi-role single seat fighter was inducted in Indian Air Force’s 45 squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ in July last year.Whereas a contingent of about 140 personnel in black overalls, balaclava headgear and carrying special assault rifle MP-5 added dashing sheen to the parade.The commandos were given a rapturous round of applause by the spectators as they marched down Rajpath singing the NSG song “Hum haina haina hindustan” penned by renowned poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar.The march past by the NSG also displayed ‘Sherpa’—a specially designed hijack intervention vehicle—and two gypsies used for anti-hijack operations.The NSG, which selects the best of the officers and men from the Indian Army as well as from various central armed police forces, was raised in 1984.Unmatched dedication and ruthless training is the bedrock of the force which ensures that they take on counter terrorist operations across the country at short notice. Children who won the National Bravery awards also drew cheers from the audience at the parade as they passed through the Rajpath in open jeeps.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday presented the National Bravery Awards to 25 children, four of them posthumously, from different parts of the country.Among the posthumously awarded children was Payal Devi of Jammu and Kashmir, who lost her life when she jumped into 17-20 ft deep water in Ramban during the flash floods in the Valley to save three students, but all of them were washed away.The awardees included Tarh Peeju who has been conferred the coveted Bharat Award posthumously while Tejasweeta Pradhan (18) and Shivani Gond (17) from West Bengal have been selected for the prestigious Geeta Chopra Award.Tejasweeta and Shivani, both volunteers with a rights NGO, first befriended on Facebook a minor girl who had gone missing from Nepal, and who ultimately turned out to be a conduit in the trafficking ring.Peeju, who died while rescuing two other children when they were swept away by the current in the Pachin River in Arunachal Pradesh, is among the four awardees to have been conferred the honour posthumously.The Sanjay Chopra Award has been conferred on 18-year-old Sumit Mamgain of Uttarakhand for displaying outstanding bravery in fighting a leopard to save his cousin’s life.The National Bravery Award Scheme was initiated by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in 1957 to give recognition to children who distinguish themselves by performing outstanding deeds of bravery and meritorious service.In 1978, the ICCW instituted two bravery awards for children under the age of 16, the Sanjay Chopra Award and the Geeta Chopra Award, given each year along with the National Bravery Award.The Awards were introduced in memory of the two Chopra children, who laid their lives, while confronting their kidnappers. — PTI

68th Republic Day: NSG commandos debut in parade at Rajpath

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Some of the 930,000 declassified documents, running into over 12 million pages, give a rare glimpse into what the agency thought of India

At 9.29 am on November 24, 1971, Henry Kissinger, the US National Security Advisor, convened a tense and confidential meeting of the Washington Special Action Group in the White House Situation Room.

GETTY IMAGESIndian tanks advance during the India­Pakistan War of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh.

The WSAG, consisting of the US top brass, had come together to discuss the escalating conflict in the Indian subcontinent after India crossed into the erstwhile East Pakistan to join the New Delhi-backed Mukti Bahini rebel group.

“Why do we have no independent intelligence?” Kissinger had to ask the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as lack of intelligence was stonewalling his diplomatic options.

Contrary to the popular perception of the famed capabilities of the US spy agency, the CIA, or “Langley” as the agency is referred in the diplomatic and spy world after the location of its headquarters, had little intelligence or an accurate assessment of a crisis the American leadership was deeply interested in.

A study of declassified CIA documents by HT reveals that the 1971 war remains the single most important episode of interest for Langley. They are among 930,000 documents that were made accessible on CREST, the CIA’s records archive, on January 17. They were declassified after the mandatory 25-year period, but this is the first time the CIA has put the more than 12 million pages, containing dispatches, memoranda and records of briefings documenting the agency’s spycraft dating as far back as the 1940s, on its website.

The intelligence briefings, memoranda, minutes of meetings and transcripts of conversations are a treasure trove of information on how keenly the US wanted to avoid a crisis in the subcontinent, which it thought would increase the influence of the erstwhile USSR in the region.

he documents reveal that the US was even willing to work with the USSR and its new-found friend China. However, months of preparation by a high level team led by Kissinger, who intensely disliked then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, could not take preemptive diplomatic action in the absence of credible intelligence.

On November 24, inside the Situation Room at the White House, Kissinger was evidently frustrated with the CIA. “Why can’t we find out more?” he asked. The previous day, the situation in the subcontinent rapidly deteriorated after Indian troops crossed the eastern border and Pakistan declaring a state of emergency in preparation for war. India neither confirmed nor denied crossing the border at that point in time.

This was despite the US keeping a close eye on the eastern border from 69,000 feet above with its famed U-2R ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft since May 4, 1971, the documents reveal.

An option before the WSAG was to approach the United Nations, but the US did not have enough information. “The question is what hard data we have to support whatever action we want to take. We have no doubt that India is involved and that they are probably across the border. But we need something to nail down the exact nature of their activities and we need it in a day or two,” Kissinger said.

“So our situation is that we don’t know enough now to do anything, and by the time they are in Dhaka, it will be too late to do anything. In these circumstances, we should move early rather than later, since if we are late, any move we make will be ineffectual. This is our dilemma,” he added.

Kalyani Shanker, senior journalist and the author of Nixon, Indira and India – Politics and Beyond, said, “The myth that the CIA knew everything is not true. They knew something and something they did not know. For sure they did not know about the timing of the 1971 war. Both (President Richard) Nixon and Kissinger was taken aback when the war broke out in December.”

Records of another WSAG meeting provide an insight into the CIA’s thinking and how it was far from the reality. On August 17, 1971, Kissinger asked then CIA chief Richard Helms, “Do you think Indians will attack?” He replied in the negative. “My personal feeling is that they will not do so.”

By this time, India had nearly completed its preparations for war, which started on March 26, 1971.

The 1971 war was an important event even in the politics in Washington. A piece by syndicated columnist Jack Anderson detailing Nixon’s covert “tilt” towards Pakistan in the 1971 war started a probe into internal espionage, which would later come to be known as the Moorer-Radford affair.

From the CIA vault

Here are some snippets from reports by Central Intelligence Agency’s South Asia spies about India, its neighbours and prominent personalities

1971 war

The US keenly wanted to avoid a crisis in the subcontinent. It was even willing to work with the USSR and its new-found friend China However, despite months of preparation by a high-level team led by Henry Kissinger, who intensely disliked then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it could not take preemptive diplomatic action because it did not have enough credible intelligence

Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions

Then US President Ronald Reagan had warned Pakistani dictator Zia-ul-Haq that India could take “military action to pre-empt your nuclear programme” Despite US concerns over Indo-Pak nuclear programmes, the CIA had “grave doubts” that even a formal agreement would make Pakistan end its quest for an atomic weapon

Sathya Sai Baba

CIA said his movement, with its wealth, free healthcare and political influence, would expand even after his death But it believed there is a possibility it would “collapse if Sai Baba is convincingly demonstrated to be a fraud”

The Gandhis

The CIA reported during the Emergency that Indira Gandhi was becoming more reclusive and kept most of her cabinet at arm’s length Sanjay Gandhi was described as “a political novice” with “a penchant for browbeating”

Subhas Chandra Bose

As far back as 1948, the CIA thought Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had perished in an airplane crash at Taipei in August 1945 There are hints that the CIA and its war-time predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, did not think much of Bose’s capabilities, and said he was “vain, always sought the spotlight on the political scene, and was characterised as an opportunist and oppositionist