In an exclusive conversation with News18, General Rawat said combat role would put women at risk and they can’t leave behind young children.

New Delhi: Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said women are not ready for combat roles and gave reasons like they have the responsibility of raising kids and a woman officer would feel uncomfortable at the frontline and accuse jawans of peeping as she changes clothes.

In an exclusive conversation with News18, General Rawat said that while he was ready to introduce women to combat roles, the Army may not be as most jawans come from villages and they may not accept a woman officer leading them.
He also highlighted the issue of maternity leave and said the Army would not be able to give her leave if she is the commanding officer as she can’t leave her unit for six months, but said objecting to the leave could create a “ruckus”.

Here are the edited excerpts of the conversation:

Q. Women make very good soldiers, but why isn’t the Army accepting them?
A: That’s a misnomer.

Q. Military Police doesn’t count. Are there any women in combat roles, tell me?
A: We have women officers as engineers, they are doing mining and demining work. In air defence, they are manning our weapon systems. But we have not put women in frontline combat because what we are engaged in right now is a proxy war, like in Kashmir.

If there is just one officer in a company and if that officer is a lady… suppose you have to go for an operation. Everybody is ready, company commander has to lead. Now in that operation you have to deal with terrorists, there will be a firefight in which the commanding officer dies, company commander dies, and so the lady officer can also die or become a casualty.

Q. Everyone knows that risk but women are volunteering to go now.
A: They are going, yes. I will give you an example. A lady who died was in service for 7-8 years. She has a kid of 2 years. He is in Delhi or Chandigarh and parents are taking care of the baby. So what I am saying is, now do you think we are ready for this?

Q. Women can fly fighter jets but not armoured tanks?
A: See, I am not saying a women who has children doesn’t die, she can also die in a road accident. But in combat, when body bags come back, our country is not ready to see that.

Secondly, what will happen is there is just one woman and rest around her are just jawans. She is very much a commander so she has to do everything. She will have to go for operations. But even today we don’t have that acceptance. Even today our jawans come from villages, so that acceptance will take time.

Let me tell you one thing, we have started copying western ways. I did a course in US. We had 4 ladies and 10 male officers. So what happens is after every 3-4 hours you get a break of 1 hour in which you are supposed to have your lunch or you can go to the gym. Now when we go to the gym, we all change in the gym clothes in classroom all of us.

Q. This is just logistics.
A: When I was new, I would look the other way because ladies were also there but that is the culture there. They do it this way. We need to get this system. Now what will happen will be if there will be a lady officer here. Our orders are that a lady officer will get a hut in the COB, then there are orders that we have to cocoon her separately. She will say somebody is peeping, so we will have to give a sheet around her.

Q. These are all just assumptions.
A: If you think this, then even in Delhi, ladies tell me that people peep. I am talking about isolation situation when she has 100 jawans around her but it happens here also in Delhi.

Q. Are you saying army isn’t ready to accept women combat officers?
A: See I am ready, it is not that army is not ready. You are getting into something now you answer. Will she command?

Q. Why not?
A: Ok, so now I make her a commanding officer. She is commanding a battalion. Can that lady officer be away from her duties for 6 months?

Q. No.
A: Then what happens? Do I put a restriction on her to say that in that command tenure you will not be given maternity leave? If I say that, there will be ruckus created.

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh , December 6

Residents of the City Beautiful will have an opportunity to see the MIG-21 fighter aircraft grounded by the Indian Air Force (IAF) as the Air Force authorities have agreed to provide one for permanent display at Sector 31. Besides that, the Air Force will also provide one MI 17 helicopter for display.

Chandigarh Mayor Devesh Moudgil said he had requested the Air Force authorities to allot a fighter plane to the city a year ago. With his constant efforts the IAF agreed to give a MIG-21 fighter aircraft and one helicopter for installation in the city.

“The place for displaying the MIG 21 has been finalised. The grounded aircraft will be installed at the Japanese Garden in Sector 31. The place for helicopter will be decided later,” he added.

“While the necessarily expenditure for the installation of the plane will be borne by the Municipal Corporation, the Air Force will maintain it in future,” he said.

“A team of IAF technicians will come for the installation. Displaying of an aircraft will make people of the city proud of the IAF,” he added.

“Chandigarh has long association with the Air Force. The city has a training school, 12 Wing and 3 BRD Station,” he added. “The display will encourage more and more youth to join Air Force and other defence services,” the Mayor said.

The tricity already has a tank displayed at Leisure Valley in Sector 10 and twin tanks at the entrance of the Chandimandir Cantonment in Panchkula. One decommissioned Air Force helicopter has also been displayed on the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) campus in Sector 12.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) CEO R Madhavan in an interview answered questions over the Rafale deal negotiations with Dassault Aviation, saying that the deal breaker was because of disagreement over technology transfer and that HAL man hour rates are lower than global rates. The CEO also asserted that the focus must be on the final cost.

The clarifications came from the CEO after BJP minister Babul Supriyo on 27 September had indicated that HAL lost on the Rafale deal because it quoted 2.57 times more man-hours to build fighter jets. In an interview with CNN-News18, Madhavan also said that HAL is not actively looking for any offset business offers and said that “we work in offset business if it is in our domain.”

Madhavan had further stated that HAL is primarily engaged in manufacturing aircraft and it has technology transfer agreement with foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) but as far as offset is concerned, “we are not going to actively pursue offset deal.”

While talking about the deal with Dassault, he said that first quote by the French aviation firm was 170 percent higher.

HAL was to produce 108 fighter jets locally in a joint venture with French firm Dassault Aviation in the deal for 126 Rafale jets that the previous UPA regime had negotiated. The state-owned firm, however, was left out in the deal as the present government signed to buy 36 fighter jets in ‘fly-away’ condition from France, reported PTI.

In an interview with news agency ANI, Dassault CEO Eric Trappier was questioned about the initial agreement with HAL and the subsequent breakdown of talks with the Indian PSU for production of Rafale jets. Trappier had said that if the initial deal of 126 jets went through they would not have hesitated to work with HAL and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance.

“It’s because the 126 didn’t go smooth that the Government of India had to reconfigure to urgently acquire 36 from France. And then I took the decision to continue with Reliance, and HAL even said in the last few days that they were not interested to be part of the offset. So, it has been done by my decision and the decision of Reliance to invest in a new private company,” added Trappier.

The Indian army is capable of using drones to attack hostile targets inside Jammu and Kashmir and across the Line of Control, and sees “no problem” in using them provided the nation is willing to accept “mistakes” and “collateral damage”, army chief Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday.

He was responding to a question about India following the example of the United States in using strike drones. India has not used air power in domestic counter-insurgency operations since the 1960s, largely out of concern over civilian casualties.

“There is just no problem in using these kind of weapons” on either the Indian side of the Line of Control or in Pakistan-occupied territory, said General Rawat – so long as there was no backlash in public opinion or from the international community.

The army chief delivered the ninth Y.B. Chavan Memorial Lecture at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in the capital. His subject was ‘hybrid conflict’ – a term that describes a range of hostile strategies that a belligerent can use in place of conventional warfare, especially against an enemy with a strong conventional military advantage.

The lecture focused on the threat of hybrid warfare aimed at India, mainly by Pakistan. He underscored the use of social media for one hybrid threat – the radicalisation of young people in Kashmir – and sketched out the need for “proactive defence”.

‘If the nation will spare us’ ::

After his prepared lecture, General Rawat took questions from the audience. His full remarks in reply to the question on drones were as follows:

“When you talk of strike drones, how does the Israeli strike the Hezbollah – how do they do it? You see, they have sources on the ground, who pinpoint a vehicle – who say that, this is a vehicle in which a leader has just come out of a house, and somebody has just given the information. They electronically mark that vehicle.

“That vehicle gets marked. And now a drone takes off in the air, and hits that vehicle. God help you if you’re in the following vehicle – you’re also gone.

“Now, this kind of thing is possible in that area – in that country. In our country, you’ve seen the kind of repercussions… the kind of flak that you face when you take such action even against a stone-thrower, who’s carrying out offensive action against you.

“In our country, the way things are moving, it’s very nice to say we need these drones. But will you accept mistakes being committed by such weapons systems? You have to accept it. If the nation will spare us, for the kind of mistakes that may get committed using such kind of weapons, then I think we can take a call.”

At this point, the officer asking the question clarified that his question was about deploying drones across the Line of Control: “I’m talking across – to kill their leaders, basically.”

General Rawat answered:

“You see, across also there can be mistakes. Either way, whether in your territory or the territory across, there will be mistakes. So if we are willing to accept these mistakes, and we feel that there will be no repercussions, there will be no backlash, there is a way forward.

“It’s not to say that we can’t use it. That is the reason why we are trying to procure these weapons. But these weapons are being procured more for… not for the hybrid warfare systems, we’re looking at it from the conventional war… but yes, anything that we procure has got dual use.

“But the first issue is of collateral damage. We get so concerned. In your own nation, your people get concerned about collateral damage so much – when you are fighting this kind of warfare, I think you have to accept that collateral damage will happen. It is war. If that is something which we can accept, then there is just no problem in using these kind of weapons.

“But can we accept it. Will the international community get after us? Or will they spare us in case mistakes happen? That is a call we have to take. Otherwise there is just no problem in using it.”

Hybrid threats, from Russia to Assam ::

Hybrid warfare implies a wide and shifting set of hostile acts, from irregular strategies used through history – instigating guerrilla uprisings or terrorist acts ­– to 21st-century subterfuge, like cyberattacks and psy-ops via fake news and digital propaganda.

In the present day, Russia is widely thought to be at the cutting edge of hybrid warfare, within its neighbourhood and as far away as the United States. Russian officials, on their part, believe Russia is a victim of hybrid warfare originating in the West.

The essential difficulty of confronting most hybrid threats is that they do not play out on the battlefield, but amidst the population ­of the target country – they are designed to infiltrate and disrupt the fabric of civic and social life. Hostile agents are meant to be indistinguishable from civilians. They can be armed infiltrators wearing cargo pants, sneakers and backpacks, as in the Mumbai attacks ten years ago, or malicious instigators on Facebook pages.

No stranger to controversy ::

In the past year, the army chief has made other controversial remarks, pushing the boundary between military and civilian-government prerogatives in response to perceived hybrid threats.

In January of 2018, he accused government schools in Kashmir of breeding separatist sentiments (“If you go to any Kashmir school you will find two maps — one of India and the other of J&K. Why should there be a separate map of J&K!”) and recommended that education in the state be reformed.

Just a few weeks later, he declared that illegal migration from Bangladesh was part of a “proxy game… very well played by our western neighbour [Pakistan], supported by our northern border [China] to keep the area disturbed.” He also referred directly to a political party, the AIUDF, as a beneficiary of this “proxy dimension of warfare.”

Last year, Gen Rawat was criticised for awarding a medal of commendation to Major Leetul Gogoi – the army officer who courted international controversy by tying a Kashmiri civilian to the bonnet of his jeep – even as the army’s own court of inquiry into his action was underway.

The Navy chief will hold wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Admiral Vladimir Korolev. File photo

New Delhi, November 25

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin a four-day visit to Russia on Monday with an aim to explore new avenues for the already close defence ties between the two countries, officials said on Sunday.

The Navy chief will hold wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Admiral Vladimir Korolev and meet a number of top military officials including General VV Gerasimov, Chief of General Staff and First Deputy Defence Minister of Russia, they said.

“The visit aims to consolidate bilateral defence relations with Russia, as also to explore new avenues for defence cooperation,” Navy Spokesperson Capt. D K Sharma said.

Adm. Lanba’s visit to Russia comes around a week after the two countries signed a USD 500 million deal for construction of two missile frigates in Goa for the Indian Navy.

Under the deal, Russia will provide design, technology know how and key materials to Goa Shipyard Ltd. for the construction of the ships in India.

Adm. Lanba is also scheduled to visit the Nakhimov Naval School and Admiralty Shipyard.

He will also visit the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and deliver a talk on “Indian Navy’s Perspective on Maritime Security”, Capt. Sharma said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India last month during which both sides had decided to further ramp up bilateral defence and security cooperation.

India is going ahead with mega defence deals with Russia disregarding warnings by the US of sanctions. The Trump administration has put several Russian firms under sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

The US said countries engaged with Russia’s defence firms may also face actions under CAATSA. India has been hoping to get a waiver from the US on the deals with Russia.

Russia has been India’s largest defence supplier. The bilateral defence and security cooperation has been on an upswing over the last few years. The Indian and Russian navies cooperate on many fronts, including operational interactions and training.

The Indian Navy and the Russian Navy have been conducting the bilateral Maritime Exercise ‘INDRA NAVY’, since 2003 and INDRA Tri-Services Exercise since 2017. PTI

NDTV has been sued for 10,000 crores by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group in a court in Ahmedabad for its reportage on the Rafale fighter jet deal. The hearing has been listed for October 26th and NDTV will argue that the charges of defamation are nothing more than a heavy-handed attempt by Anil Ambani’s group to suppress the facts and prevent the media from doing its job – asking questions about a defence deal and seeking answers that are very much in public interest.

The lawsuit is filed against NDTV’s weekly show, Truth vs Hype, which aired on September 29. Top executives of Reliance ignored repeated, multiple and written requests to appear on the show or comment on what is being widely discussed not just in India but in France as well – whether Anil Ambani’s Reliance was transparently chosen as the partner for Dassault in a deal that saw India buying 36 fighter jets.

Remember that just days before this show aired, the role of Reliance appeared to have been questioned by none other than Francois Hollande, who was the president of France when the deal was struck. The NDTV show reported all sides of the story including Dassault’s denial that it had been under any pressure to select Reliance. The panellists, in a balanced discussion, examined whether issues like Reliance’s vast debt and record in defence manufacturing made it a suitable choice for Dassault in India.

As the Rafale deal has become a larger news story in India, the Reliance group has been on a notice-serving spree; to sue a news company for 10,000 crores in a court in Gujarat on false and frivolous charges, ignoring facts that are widely reported everywhere and not just by NDTV, can only be interpreted as an unsophisticated warning to the media to stop doing its job.

NDTV outright rejects any charges of defamation and will present material in court to support its case. As a news organisation, we are committed to independent and fair journalism that uncovers the truth.

The eve of the start of year-long celebrations to mark Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary started on a fortuitous note for Indo-Pak ties. In India, the Union Cabinet decided to do up the road that leads to the international border (IB) on the way to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib where Guru Nanak spent 18 years. Pakistan, a day earlier, announced that PM Imran Khan will perform the ground-breaking ceremony for the corridor on the Pakistan side. Since it is a short hop to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from the IB, it is a commentary on the state of Indo-Pak ties that the proposal for easy passage for Indian Sikh pilgrims has been hanging fire since Benazir Bhutto first proposed a visa-free corridor in 1996.

Yet the clouds have not lifted. The taste of the pudding is in operationalising the corridor. The tough words being spoken instead of cultivated graciousness that such occasions demand indicate a period of hard bargaining ahead. India has taken a maximalist approach by seeking no restriction on pilgrims and demanding the corridor be kept open not just on special occasions but 365 days. The tandem announcement by both countries on beautifying the corridor shows that though overt diplomatic contact is minimal, back channels are active. They need to ensure that the details that are to be negotiated for a spiritual journey do not become a victim to hawkish stance on matters of state.

In inter-state relations, reciprocity defines the success of most initiatives. India is yet to give such indications. It refuted suggestions that the corridor is being planned as a response to a Pakistani proposal though it is obvious that Islamabad’s preferences will dictate the fate of the corridor. This requires India to reciprocate with a matching gesture that promotes people-to-people contacts, say in medical tourism. Indian political leaders of every strain were quick to take political ownership of the initiative. They must similarly sink political differences to take the corridor to fruition by taking provocations such as Referendum 2020 in their stride.

61 run over on Amritsar rail tracks

Tragedy at Dasehra festivities as onlookers mowed down by train

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Amritsar, October 19

As many as 58 persons (61 according to PTI) were killed and over 40 injured on Friday evening after a crowd of Dasehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching burning of the Ravana effigy was run over by the 74643 Jalandhar-Amritsar Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) near Joda Phatak area.

At least 300 persons were watching ‘Ravana dahan’ at a ground near the tracks and as the effigy was lit and the fireworks went off, a section of the crowd started retreating towards the tracks where a large number of people were already standing to watch the event, officials said.

Eyewitnesses said two trains arrived from the opposite direction at the same time (the Howrah Mail from Amritsar on the other track), giving little opportunity to people to escape.

Several people were mowed down by one of the trains, they said.

Wails and cries of people filled the air as friends and relatives frantically looked for their near and dear ones. Severed bodies, including of many children, were still lying on the accident site hours after the incident with angry people not allowing authorities to remove them.

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It was a heart-rending sight as the dismembered body parts laid strewn on the blood-soaked ground. Many bodies could not be identified.

There was shock and disbelief as panic-stricken people recounted the horror. “I have lost my minor child. I want him back,” an inconsolable mother could be heard.

“Several times we have been requesting the authorities and leaders to take up the issue with railway authorities to slow down the trains near this phatak during Dasehra, but no one has listened,” a local said. Another said people could not hear the sound of the train. — TNS

Rail services suspended

New Delhi: All services on the Jalandhar-Amritsar route remained suspended three hours after the tragedy. A railway official said while some trains are being diverted, many are stationed near Jalandhar. Railway officials termed the dead as “trespassers” and said they were unlikely to get any compensation from the national transporter as they were not passengers. PTI

State mourning today

• All offices, educational institutions in Punjab to remain closed on Saturday
• Railways helpline numbers — 0183-2223171, 0183-2564485
• PM announces Rs 2 lakh for family of dead, Rs 50,000 for the injured
• MoS, Railways, Manoj Sinha, reached the spot late at night. The train driver, whose identity is withheld, is being questioned

Permission ‘not sought’

Was permission sought and granted to burn Dasehra effigies near the railway tracks? Soon after the tragedy, the MC Commissioner said it wasn’t. The CM said the administration will look into why the effigy was erected next to rail tracks, but MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu said Dasehra celebrations took place at the spot every year. Railways should have ensured trains slow down, she added. TNS

https://twitter.com/capt_amarinder

DONATION ACCOUNT 

SANJHA MORCHA DECIDED TO DONATE Rs 20000/- AS FINANCIAL AID FOR THOSE KILLED IN UNFORTUNATE RAIL ACCIDENT .  CONSOLIDATED AMOUNT IF RECIEVED WILL BE HANDED OVER TO CM PUNJAB WITH LIST OF THOSE DONATED AND CAME TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO THE FAMILIES IN DISTRESS ESPECIALLY LABOUR CLAS.

DETAILS OF ACCOUNT OF SANJHA MORCHA AS UNDER

Bank Details:
Name Of Account:
Ex-Servicemen Joint Action Front(Sanjha Morcha)
 
Account No: 7386000100000193

Name of Bank: PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

RTGS/IFSC Code(for e transfer): PUNB 0738600
Postal Address of Bank: SCO145,SECTOR 40C CHANDIGARH(U.T)160036

Helpline numbers 

The administration has issued a helpline number, 0183-2421050, to enquire about mishap victims. Those who want to donate blood have been called at the Civil Hospital and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. The helpline numbers for donating blood are 0183-2223171 and 2564485.

Free medical aid

The SGPC swung into action and sent its team to assist in the rescue operation at Jaura Phatak near Golden Avenue. SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal announced that the injured would get free medical aid at Sri Guru Ram Dass Charitable Hospital in Vallah.