New Delhi, November 13

The sensitive pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets, submitted by the Centre in a sealed cover, is scheduled to be examined by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph will hold a crucial hearing in the case during which the petitioners, who have sought a court-monitored investigation into the deal, will also make submissions.

The Centre had on Monday handed over a 14-page document titled “Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order” to the petitioners in the case.

The government had also filed in the court in a sealed cover the pricing details of the Rafale jets.

The petitioners are likely to respond to the contents of the documents in which it has been stated by the government that the deal for 36 Rafale jets were negotiated on “better terms” and the Defence Procurement Procedure laid out in 2013 were “completely followed”.

The Centre has also said the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval was secured before the deal was inked with France.

The details of the decision-making process and pricing were placed in the court in compliance with its October 31 order.

India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

The petitions seeking the probe in the Rafale deal were first filed by advocates Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda.

Later, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also filed a petition.

Former union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan had also filed a joint petition in the apex court. – PTI

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, November 6

Two militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, one of them an Army deserter, were killed in a pre-dawn encounter on Tuesday in Shopian district of south Kashmir, some 60 km from Srinagar.

The slain militants have been identified as Muhammad Idrees Sultan, a resident of Safnagri village in Shopian district, and Amir Hussain Rather, a resident of Awneera village in the district.

Idrees deserted his Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI) unit in Bihar in April this year to join the proscribed outfit, while Amir joined the outfit in May.

The cordon and search operation (CASO) in Safnagri village of Shopian district was launched by a joint team of the Army, CRPF and the police around 3 am on Tuesday morning.

“There were specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area,” a senior police officer from the district said.

He said the militants dashed out of a residential house they were holed up in as the cordon was being tightened and tried to flee the spot using indiscriminate fire as cover.

“The fire was retaliated and in the brief shootout both of them were gunned down, right outside the house. By 4 am, both were killed,” the police officer said.

The operation was declared over by 6 am. There were no clashes around the site of the encounter. Internet services were snapped across Shopian district when the CASO was being laid but was restored later in the morning.

The bodies of the militants were handed over to the families following which funerals were held at their respective villages. Thousands attended the funeral prayers.

Meanwhile, a complete shutdown was observed across Shopian district following the killing of the militants.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 28

Facing flak over officers getting improper Army owned guestrooms in lieu of hotel rooms, the Army Chief’s office has sent out instructions on how guestrooms will be allotted and simplified the procedure for booking.

Six months ago, the Army had asked officers to stay in Army guesthouses instead of hotels. However, complaints have been pouring in against the procedure to book a room in these guesthouses and lack of basic amenities.

Officers also complained against the requirement of procuring a “non-availability certificate” (NAC), indicating that no guestrooms were available. In such cases hotel stay is allowed.

Officers have been posting pictures on social media of the guest rooms that lacked even basic comfortable bedding. There have been several cases where the Defence Accounts rejected claims of officers who, while on temporary attachment, stayed in hotels in absence of guest rooms. The officers claimed to have paid out of their pocket for doing official work.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat was informed about these rumblings. As per instructions issued on October 23, a ‘NAC’ can now be issued over phone to the officer needing a guestroom for official work.

Also by December-end, all guestrooms will be registered on the Army local ‘Armaan’ App and rooms will be available for allotment and booking from anywhere in India. Since the number of officers coming to Delhi for temporary duty is high, the Delhi station will collect data of all guestrooms. A system of online generation of NAC is also being worked out.

Also, the Army Chief office has directed that all guestrooms will be brought up to reasonable standards of living equipped with facilities like easy access power points for mobile and laptop charging and basic yet comfortable bedding.

Process simplified for booking

• As per instructions issued on October 23, a ‘non-availability certificate’, indicating that no guestrooms are available and the officer can stay in a hotel, can now be issued over phone
• Also by December-end, all guestrooms will be registered on the Army local ‘Armaan’ App and rooms will be available for allotment and booking from anywhere in India
• All guestrooms will be brought up to reasonable standards of living equipped with facilities like easy access power points for mobile and laptop charging and comfortable bedding

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 27

The Army on Saturday celebrated 72nd Infantry Day in Srinagar.

The celebrations began with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, in which Lt Gen AK Bhatt, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Chinar Corps, and all ranks paid tributes to the martyrs at the Badami Bagh Cantonment, an Army statement said.

Paying homage to the sacrifices of valiant soldiers, the GOC said the real tribute to the martyrs would be to remain committed to the cause for which they had laid down their lives.

He also urged the troops to continue to work with dedication and steadfast approach.

“We are celebrating Infantry Day at a place which has a historic significance. It is here that the Indian Army began its campaign to evict Pakistani invaders and succeeded in doing so with glory. We are all grateful to our valiant martyrs, heroes and soldiers,” he said.

• 
• The pilot and co-pilot of a two-seater IAF microlight aircraft and farmers in a sugarcane field of Baghpat district had a miraculous escape when no one was hurt as the aircraft crashed into the fields on Friday
• The ML-130 aircraft had taken off from the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad as part of a drill for Air Force Day on Oct 8 when it crashed in Rajhaud village of Baghpat around 10am
• The pilot and co-pilot had ejected with the help of parachutes moments before the aircraft hit a peepal tree before nose-diving into the ground
• Baghpat district magistrate Rishirendra Kumar said barring the nose of the aircraft there were no other major damages TNS

Ashok Raina

Kangra, September 30

He is in the twilight of his life. Yet, 85-year-old Subedar Rumel Singh, proud father of a martyr’s son, has still has not given up hope of getting the local government school in his village named in the memory of his valiant son in his lifetime.

Government apathy has resulted in the octogenarian running from pillar to post for the past 17 years to see the Government High School, Bhanala, named in the memory of his son. Being a retired “fauji” himself, Rumel Singh says his only last wish in life is to see the memory of his son, Pawan Kumar, who died fighting the militants in Anantnag on August 29, 2001, being kept alive by naming the school after him.

It was 17 years ago that 25-year-old Pawan Kumar in Rashtriya Rifles sacrificed his life at the altar of the nation while fighting terrorists in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Narrating his woes, Rumail said out of the Rs 3 lakh given by the government on the demise of his son, he donated Rs 2 lakh for Vivekanand Hospital, Palampur and Rs 1 lakh for construction of three rooms of the Government High School, Bhanala.

“The state government issued a notification on March 25, 2014 regarding naming of high school, Bhanala, in the name of martyr Pawan Kumar Singh with certain conditions which included a no objection certificate (NOC) from the tehsildar concerned,” he said.

He further said that Tehsildar Shahpur in a letter under No 296 dated 24-4-2014 addressed to Headmaster of the school said that the land on which the said school was constructed is owned by Forest Department and has not been transferred to the Education Department. “It has been four years but the NoC has still not been given despite my making more than hundred rounds of the Forest and Education offices,” he laments.

“It was a sad but proud moment for me to see my son’s body wrapped in the tricolor but today my patience seems to be running out. Is the sacrifice worth it when government officials seem so unconcerned towards supreme sacrifice made by valiant sons,” he quips, while losing hope.

“It is probably easier to fight the enemy across the border than red tape back home,” is how villagers from the village express their helplessness and frustration.

New York, September 29

The Trump administration has reiterated its support for India’s bid for a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council, a senior US official said, emphasizing that the two “global partners” shared a commitment to work together on global challenges like denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asia Region Alice Wells said US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale met Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale at the beginning of the week of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly to build on the momentum of the first 2+2 meeting between the US and India in New Delhi as well as to reaffirm the strategic convergence that Washington saw in the bilateral ties.

“We really are global partners and the meeting (between Hale and Gokhale) reaffirmed our shared commitment to working together on international challenges–from a denuclearised Korean Peninsula to a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” Wells told reporters on Friday during a briefing on US priorities in the South and Central Asia Region.The American diplomat said the US reiterated its support for India’s role in a reformed UN Security Council.

The New York meeting was a continuation of the discussion at the 2+2 meeting.

“It’s a conversation that really covers the map in terms of how we can work together in Afghanistan, what we are doing to promote free and open Indo-Pacific and also in particular, how we are both very supportive of the democratic developments that we see transpiring in the Maldives,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called Maldives President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and congratulated him.

The US, too, congratulated the people of the Maldives, saying they had peacefully raised their voices to determine the future of their country.

During Modi’s visit to Washington in June last year, Trump had supported India’s bid for a permanent seat in a reformed UNSC and in other multilateral institutions such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

“As global non-proliferation partners, the United States expressed strong support for India’s early membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group,” a joint statement issued after the meeting between Modi and Trump had said. PTI

In response to a question on whether there is a need for one more surgical strike, General Bipin Rawat responded saying yes.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said he fully backs another surgical strike across the LoC