Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News service

Dehradun, January 25

As the nation rejoices being a Republic, those who worked for securing its hard-earned independence are struggling to make both ends meet. A prisoner of war (PoW) and Short Service Commission (SSC) officer during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 Capt Vijendra Gurung is one of them.

 A Doonite Capt Gurung, who resides in Johri village on the outskirts of Dehradun, works as a labourer to eke out his living and awaits help from the Army. Being an SSC officer, he does not get any pension benefits. Despite being engrossed in his daily struggle of life, Capt Gurung still remembers the torture he faced at the hands of Pakistan after being taken prisoner during the 1971 war, where he was injured in the operation. “In 1971, I was an SSC officer of the 3rd battalion of the Assam Regiment and was posted at the Chhamb Jaurian sector in Jammu and Kashmir, when the Indo Pak war broke out. During the war, my platoon of 32 jawans was outnumbered by Pakistani troops. Though I managed to take my troops to safety, I was grievously injured and was taken as prisoner,” recalls Gurung.  He was released after 13 months as PoW by Pakistan and rejoined his regiment but was discharged being an SSC officer. Since then, he has been living a poverty-stricken life. He got no financial support either from the state government or the Army or any welfare organisations and was forced to work as a labourer. The only solace came from his school-day friends, who frequently contributes to meeting out his day-to-day needs. For the past four years, the friends, who are all from Military School, Chail, have made arrangements for his ration from a nearby shop in Johri village.One of his classmates, Capt Suresh Pandey, who also resides in Dehradun, was the first of Capt Gurung’s friends to come forward.  “I remember Gurung of being one of the brightest students in the school. He was an excellent sportsman and would participate in all co-curricular activities,” he said, expressing concern over his pitiable condition. Another friend Bhupendra Singh has also pledged to work for his close friend.An organisation of ex-servicemen has now come to his support. Brig TS Rawat, president of the Uttarakhand chapter of ‘T Sewa’, assured him of a monthly help of Rs 10,000. National festivals like Republic Day still have significance for Capt Gurung, who stands in attention whenever he hears the National Anthem. 

Captured in ‘71 war

In the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Capt Vijendra Gurung was captured by Pak forces. He was freed after 13 months of torture. He rejoined the Army but was discharged soon. Since he got no help from the state government or Army, he has been    working as a labourer to eke out his living.

MORE INPUTS FROM VETERANS

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 23

India has asked Pakistan to allow jailed Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother Avantika to accompany his wife for a meeting proposed by Islamabad.A former Indian Navy officer, Jadhav has been lodged in a Pakistan jail on charges of espionage and sentenced to death without having been granted any consular access despite official requests since March last year. MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar today elaborated on the conditions put forth by India in its response to the Pakistani note verbale offering a meeting.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Talking about India’s “positive response”, Kumar said: “We have also sought sovereign guarantee from the Government of Pakistan to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of the wife and the mother of Jadhav and that they shall not be questioned, harassed or interrogated during their stay. We have asked that a diplomat of the Indian High Commission be allowed to accompany them at all times.”Meanwhile, hoping that Islamabad would facilitate the meeting, New Delhi also reiterated the intent to “pursue all measures with full vigour so as to secure the final release of an innocent Indian”.“Such a meeting offer does not absolve Pakistan of the violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Human Rights and not following the due process in treating Jadhav, who faces the death sentence through a farcical process and on concocted charges,” underlined the MEA spokesperson.

The government is burdened by a Rs 110-crore liability per month on account of pension arrears.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered immediate release of pending old-age pensions, with strict instructions to regularise payment to the beneficiaries.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The Chief Minister issued the directives during a meeting to review various schemes of the Department of Social Security and Women & Child Development here on Tuesday.Expressing concern over the non-payment of old-age pension in many places since April 2017, Captain Amarinder expressed the hope that the process of payment would be regularised by March, with directions to make December payment by January 31. Pointing out that the government was burdened by a Rs 110-crore liability per month on account of pension arrears, the Chief Minister directed the department to start releasing the arrears in a staggered manner.The Chief Minister also directed the department to sort out the cases of absentee beneficiaries at the earliest, so that all eligible persons are included in the list, which now stands at 16,24,269, against the earlier 19,87,196. The meeting was informed that 93,521 cases (4.71%) had been found to be ineligible, while another 1,96,478 were absentee cases.The ineligible cases related to those who did not fulfil the eligibility criteria, an official spokesperson said after the meeting.The meeting also discussed a proposal to implement the electronic benefit transfer scheme to ensure timely and smooth direct payment of pension to the beneficiaries, he added.In another decision, Captain Amarinder ordered to get latest specifications, including colour, for the free bicycles being distributed to girls, with no photograph of the Chief Minister, in contrast to the existing practice of having the CM’s picture on these specially coloured blue and saffron bicycles.The issue of vacant Group A, B, C and D posts for the disabled in all government departments was also discussed, and the Chief Minister was apprised that 287 of the 899 vacancies had so far been filled by the Department. Captain Amarinder has ordered the remaining vacancies to be filled by April 30.Social Security Minister Razia Sultana and Deputy Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha Ajaib Singh Bhatti were among those who attended the meeting.

Smita Sharma

tribune news service

New Delhi, November 10

Pakistan today offered a meeting of Indian death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav with his wife. A former naval officer sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, Jadhav has been languishing in jail since March 3, 2016, on charges of espionage and conspiring to destabilise Balochistan.Despite repeated requests, consular access has not been granted to Jadhav, with the matter being heard in the International Court of Justice in Hague as well.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The Pakistan Foreign Office said, “The Government of Pakistan has decided to arrange a meeting of Commander Jadhav with his wife, in Pakistan, purely on humanitarian grounds.”The move comes weeks ahead of the December 13 deadline for Pakistan to reply to the ICJ. India had got a temporary stay on Jadhav’s execution in May.Reports suggest Jadhav has an estranged wife in Maharashtra. It is also not known if an Indian diplomat will be allowed to accompany her.Sources said new Pakistan envoy to India Suhail Mahmood was back in Islamabad less than a fortnight ago, holding discussions on the issue. 

Srinagar, November 3

Tributes were paid on behalf of the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR), Ministry of Defence, to Major P Purushottam, who along with five soldiers was killed in a fidayeen attack on this day in 1999, in Srinagar today.In a solemn ceremony at Badami Bagh Cantonment, public relations officers in Srinagar paid tributes to late Major Purushottam.“Major P Purushottam, who was posted as public relations officer (Defence), along with five of his comrades bravely fought with the terrorists, who had launched a fidayeen attack on his office on the evening of November 3 in 1999. Having been engaged in a hand to hand fight with the terrorists, they sacrificed their lives trying to save mediapersons,” a defence spokesman said. — TNS

India is changing, so must its rules. Single-parent friendly passport is a progressive step in consonance with the fast-evolving social ethos where single parent families are not unusual. The Foreign Office’s decision to exclude the parents’ name from the passport will no longer worry children of divorcee/separated parents, orphans and even those born out of wedlock. The online passport application form too would require the name of only one parent. The new rules are not born out of a vacuum but stem from a tangible societal need. Rather it is a logical corollary to the earlier Supreme Court ruling which did away with mentioning the father’s name on the birth certificate. As it is, single parents face numerous challenges while bringing up their children. Government regulations must lessen, rather than add to that burden. The recommendation came from a three-member committee which comprised not just Foreign Office mandarins, but also Women and Child Development Ministry officials who are best placed to understand the current day requirements of women and children. Being a single parent, especially a single mother, is not easy. Even though the Delhi High Court had ruled in 2016 that mother’s name is sufficient for issuing a passport, individual examples of harassment in procurement of passport have invariably come to the fore. To insist upon the name of the parent who has forsaken responsibility is certainly irrational, if not bizarre.There is no data currently available about the percentage of children belonging to single-parent households. Irrespective of the number of such children, social expectations demand new thinking and new rules. The merits of MEA’s other proposals such as orange passport for those requiring ECR (emigration check required) and passport no longer valid as address proof can be debated. However, there is no disputing the upside of liberalising rules that makes documentation less cumbersome and deals with social conundrums in a manner befitting a liberal and modern society. Rules are not just jottings on application forms but a precursor to the much-needed social churning and can pave the way forward.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 30

To give a push to the “Make in India” scheme, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today issued a notification liberalising and easing the rules for attracting greater investment in the domestic manufacturing of arms, ammunition and other weaponry.The MHA said the move would boost employment. As per the new rules, the licences granted for manufacturing would now be valid for lifetime and the system of renewal has been done away with.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Similarly, the practice of prior approval from the Central and state governments that the manufactured small arms and light weapons would be sold to them only has been done away with.The liberalised rules will apply to licences granted by the MHA for small arms and ammunition, and those granted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under powers delegated to it, for tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, defence aircraft, spacecrafts, warships of all kinds, arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment other than small arms.Under the new rules, which came into effect on October 27, enhancement of capacity up to 15 per cent of the quantity approved under the licence will not require any further approval. The licence fee has also been reduced significantly. Earlier, it was Rs 500 per firearm. The licence fee will now range from Rs 5,000 to the maximum of Rs 50,000.

College students throw stones at security personnel in Srinagar. Tribune file Photo

Delhi, January 12

Social media and government schools in Jammu and Kashmir are spreading “disinformation” resulting in radicalisation of youth, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat claimed today while calling for “some control” over mosques and madrasas in the state.He said a “major revamp” of the education system was needed in the state to deal with the problem.General Rawat said the issue of exercising some control over mosques and madrasas to check the flow of disinformation was being looked into.Addressing a press conference on the eve of Army Day, General Rawat said each classroom in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir had a separate map of the state besides that of India. This sowed the seeds of thought of some kind of “separate identity” among the children, he said.“The damage is also being done to us through the social media. A disinformation campaign is being carried out in Jammu and Kashmir which is radicalising the youth through the social media and through the schools,” he said.“The other issue is the madrasas and mosques — what is being taught to the students or incorrectly told to them is through these institutions only. I think some control has to be exercised there,” General Rawat said.He, however, did not elaborate on what kind of control he was suggesting over such institutions.General Rawat also suggested that some stone throwers in Kashmir were youth from government schools.He said students from the schools, like Delhi Public School, were not found involved in activities such as stone-throwing. The Army Chief added that was the reason for the Army-run ‘Goodwill Schools’ being accorded higher status. He said opening more public schools was the way forward. — PTI‘Separate maps in classrooms’General Bipin Rawat said each classroom in the government schools in Jammu and Kashmir had a separate map of the state besides that of India. This sowed the seeds of thought of some kind of “separate identity” among the children, he said.

Nikki Haley, US envoy to UN

Washington, October 18

India can help the US keep an eye on Pakistan as President Donald Trump has “taken a tougher approach to Islamabad harbouring terrorists”, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said.Noting that Trump recently announced a new strategy for combating terrorism in Afghanistan and South Asia, Haley said one of the pillars of that strategy is the development of America’s strategic partnership with India.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“America’s overriding interest in Afghanistan and throughout South Asia is to eliminate terrorist safe havens that threaten us. And to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, we will use all the elements of our national power — economic, diplomatic and military — to pursue these goals,” she said.“Critically, we will look to our economic and security partnerships with India,” she added. In her address to an event organised by the US India Friendship Council, Haley said Trump has taken a “tougher approach to Pakistan harbouring terrorists”.“Pakistan has been a partner to the US at times. We value and respect that. But, we cannot tolerate this government or any other government giving safe haven to terrorists who target Americans. This new approach will require understanding and restraint from both Pakistan and India,” she said. The US, she said, is looking at India to help US more in Afghanistan, particularly in economic and development assistance. “We are really going to need India’s help in Afghanistan. They are the good neighbours and partner that we have in the region,” she said.“So, having them help not only with infrastructure and the aid that they can give towards rebuilding Afghanistan, (they can) also help us to keep an eye on Pakistan,” Haley said. — PTI