Suggest budget constraints should not be only guiding principle

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 21

Retired Generals of the Army have advised that forthcoming restructuring of the forces should not lose focus of the two-front simultaneous war scenario and also budget constraints should not be the only guiding principle to re-cast the Army.

These opinions emerged after Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat met former chiefs and senior officers to discuss the nuances of restructuring the force over a two-hour session in Delhi on Sunday.

Details emerging now indicate that the veterans — former chiefs and Lieut Generals — were informed about the forthcoming changes. Among the invitees were those retired officers who are regular on TV shows and write columns in newspapers.

Despite being retired the Generals keep in touch with their regiments for life, hence are important in conveying the “right message”.

The veterans were informed about four major in-house studies being carried out. The most important is “Reorganisation and Rightsizing of the Indian Army”, which reviews operational structures to make them efficient and future-ready by taking into account the operational situation on Western and Northern Borders. This will include creation of integrated battle groups (IBGs) fully equipped with elements of warfare.

In an interview to the Tribune on November 5, General Rawat had said how these IBGs were planned to be pre-positioned facing the western (Pakistan) and northern (China) borders.

The second study is on “Reorganisation of the Army Headquarters”, aimed at integrating various wings. The third study is on “Cadre Review of Officers”, which focuses on incorporating the proposed reorganisation and restructuring and plans to have a balanced cadre to meet the aspirations of officers. This will include longer tenures as Brigadier, Maj General and Lt General and faster promotion from Colonel to Brigadier.

The fourth study is on “Review of Terms of Engagement of Rank and File”, aimed at having a younger profile of officers. The retired Generals have been told that the IBGs are being “Test-beded” — a term in military parlance for trying out a new concept in the field under real conditions.

Army plans two types of integrated battle groups (IBGs) — smaller for mountains (China border) and bigger for plains (Pakistan border). Each border may have around 8-10 IBGs.

Each IBG may have 8,000-10,000 troops and comprise 4-6 infantry and armoured battalions, 2-3 artillery regiments, an engineers’ unit, integrated signals unit and dedicated integral logistics.

Brigadiers may command smaller IBGs and Major Generals the bigger ones. Both will be under the Corps Commander of the area.

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 10

One hundred and twenty girls participated in the annual cadet training camp with RDC launch concluded at Gharinda, near Indo-Pak border on Sunday. Most of them aim for joining armed forces, besides learning art of self-defense.

The girls across Majha were trained in life skills and self-defense. The camp was conducted by the First Punjab Battalion, NCC. The girls came from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Pathankot.

“I left a private school and joined a government school as it offered NCC. I wish to join the Army and NCC is my first step,” said Palakdeep Kaur, a young cadet.

Diksha, a college student, highlighting life lessons learnt in such events, said, “My primary aim is to make into defense service. In any case, I am unable to achieve it. The life learning skills I have nurtured here are going to stay with me. I know how to protect myself. My inter-personal skills have improved.”

Around 350 cadets are being trained under the experts from military on their physical and mental fitness. Many of them see here an opportunity to make new friends and meet new people.

“This is my second camp. I have met a number of cadets from different places,” said a student. The young vibrant girls feel that such camps have helped them improve their confidence level and have made them better individuals.

“I feel much more confident than before. Debates, physical activities and shooting lessons have improved our confidence level,” said Nandini, a cadet.

“Major Kavita along with other instructors trains these young female cadets. Most of them are learning self-defense mechanism, taking part in physical activities and understanding Army and NCC,” said Sukhpal Singh, associate NCC officer. The camp on Sunday concluded with prize distribution function followed by a cultural programme.

New Delhi, October 28

India’s elite counter-terror force NSG has been functioning without a regular military operations commander for the past six months, posing serious questions on the effectiveness of its combat readiness and planning in case of an impending contingency.

The special force has recently asked the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which it functions, to intervene and get an officer from the Army on board soon.

The post of Inspector General (Operations) is held by a Major General-rank officer on deputation from the Army, which, sources said, has been vacant since April after incumbent Maj Gen Shashank Mishra moved to his cadre on promotion.

In the NSG hierarchy, the counter-terror and counter-hijack commando units are placed under the overall command of IG (Operations), a post based in the NSG headquarters in Delhi.

The NSG Director General (DG), an officer from the Indian Police Service, is the top commander of the force.

Sources said as no new Maj Gen rank-officer has been posted to the NSG till now, another IG of the force (IPS officer) is holding the post in an additional capacity.

They said the non-availability of suitable officers from the Army has been the primary reason that the post is vacant.

While some officers prefer getting promoted in their cadre, in some cases they were not found suitable for the working of the NSG, that remains in combat readiness round-the-clock, they said.

The IG Operations is brought from the military as both the fighting units of the NSG-51 Special Action Group and 52 SAG are manned by officers and jawans from the Special Forces and infantry of the Indian Army and it requires a special bonding and coordination between the two to ensure seamless, precise and successful operational results.

NSG DG Sudeep Lakhtakia said while it is important to have a full-time IG (Operations), he had “complete faith” in the capabilities of his Deputy IG (Operations) and Force Commander (a Brigadier-rank officer) in keeping 24×7 readiness of the commandos.

In 2012, a similar situation occurred for about six months when there was no regular operations head in the ‘black cat’ commandos force. — PTI

SRINAGAR: There is a huge improvement in the ground situatio ..

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 14

The kin of the martyrs, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the motherland, have threatened to sell the gallantry awards and medals to register their protest against the apathetic attitude of the central and state governments towards their long-pending demands.

“We have been waiting for the government’s response to our genuine demands for years without any success. Now, we will go on a relay fast and sell the gallantry awards and medals to register our protest against the apathetic attitude of the governments,” Vijay Kumar, president of the Shahidon ki Awaz Kalyan Sangh, an organisation spearheading the agitation of the martyrs’ kin, said.

Since the majority of martyrs belong to Rewari, Mahendragarh, Charkhi Dadri and Jhajjar districts, the relay fast would be started from one of the these places, said sangh general secretary Raghubir Sharan.

Demanding a compensation of Rs1 crore each from the Centre and the state governments, Vijay Kumar demanded a quota for the kin of the martyrs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

More quota for the families of martyrs in educational institutions and jobs, jobs for the current generations of those who made the sacrifice in 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and implementation of ‘one rank, one pension’ scheme.

Kumar set a deadline of November 1 for the authorities to accept their demands failing which they would be forced to launch an agitation.

Rafale deal has kicked up a political controversy lately. (Representational)

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 5

Subheg Singh (75), an ex-serviceman, was on Friday released from the Amritsar Central Jail two months before the full period of his sentence. He was sentenced to 12-year imprisonment in six different cases related to cheque bounce in May 2013. He was released from the jail to mark the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.

Subheg Singh, a resident of Patti, said someone had filed cases of cheque bounce against him in a local court and he could not prove himself innocent. Therefore, he was sentenced to imprisonment. Singh said he lost his son during this period and now his daughter-in-law along with his two grandsons came to jail to meet him. He was finding it difficult to come to the terms as he was getting older.

Expressing happiness, he thanked the jail authorities for making efforts for his early release. He also paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi before his release from the jail on Friday.