Parks, roads named after Brit generals under review

jay Banerjee

New Delhi, September 28

After an internal agenda note of the Indian Army on removing colonial legacies raised hackles of serving and retired officers, the Army has decided against tinkering with the name of regiments, their practices, ethos and system of regimentation.

“Veterans can be assured that customs and traditions which contribute to our regimentation, morale and motivation will never ever be disturbed. Sensitivities are involved and any such apprehension is misplaced,” a top Indian Army official said.

The names of regiments are anyway of Indian origin. Infantry regiments are named Sikh, Jat, Punjab, Dogra, Rajput, Assam, Madras, Bihar etc. These names had been given during British times. Post independence, some older cavalry regiments like Hodson’s Horse got a new name ‘4 Horse’ and the Skinners Horse was named ‘1 Horse’.

Last week, an internal note from the office of the Adjutant General of the Indian Army spoke about a review of legacy customs, old practices, regulations and policies (first reported in The Tribune edition dated Sept 21).

The top official said people could be assured no decision would be taken in haste. Discussion would take place among senior military officers, and the views of veterans would also be taken into account.

The move is about legacy names of buildings, roads and parks after the names of British commanders like Sir Claude Auchinleck and Herbert Kitchener. The names of some Cantonments for example Dalhousie, based on Lord James Dalhousie, are not part of this review as the Cantts are with the Ministry of Defence and not under the Army.

Several units of cadets in the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun are named after World War II (1939-45) campaigns. Some of these could be reviewed and Indian Army’s post-independence campaigns could be used for the names.

Chandigarh, September 29

Two terrorists were killed in a gunfight with the security forces in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday. Moments before the encounter, the terrorists were asked to surrender, but they refused.

“On receipt of specific human information from JKP (Kulgam) regarding presence of terrorists in Avhotu village of Kulgam District, a joint cordon and search operation was launched in the area by Indian Army along with JKP and CRPF at about 3.20 p.m. on 27 Sep 22,” read the Army statement.

Meanwhile, a video call between an Army officer and the terrorist has gone viral.

In the video, the JeM terrorist is heard saying, “I swear, the way the army supports Kashmir, Kashmir also supports army.

When he was asked to surrender, the terrorist asked him if he was from the army, to which the Indian army officer says: “Friend, I am from army only. I am asking you to surrender,” terrorist replies, “Sir, I am already near death. You’ll shoot me thrice. You’ll probably empty one magazine.”

To this, the officer says, “No, friend, we won’t”. The conversation ended and moments later, the two terrorists.

The two terrorists were identified as Md Shafi Ganie, resident of Welsbatapura, Kulgam and Mohammad Asif Wani alias Yawar resident of Takiya, Kulgam. Both the terrorists were members of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group.

The Army had established a quick initial cordon around the suspected cluster of houses in the village which was subsequently strengthened by additional troops.

During the search of the target house, terrorists resorted to indiscriminate firing in an attempt to break the cordon.

On search of the encounter site, two AK series rifles, grenades and other warlike stores were recovered.

Lahore, September 29

A non-profit foundation in Pakistan has urged India and Pakistan to honour freedom fighter Bhagat Singh with the highest civil award in recognition of his bravery and sacrifice for the people of the sub-continent, as it observed the 115th birth anniversary of the pre-partition era revolutionary leader.

The Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation observed Singh’s birth anniversary on Wednesday on the premises of Lahore High Court (LHC).

The lawyers’ community cut a cake amid slogans in favour of Singh and his fellow comrades Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Speaking on the occasion, the foundation’s chairman Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi paid rich tributes to Singh.

He urged the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers (Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif) to give Singh the highest civil award in recognition of his bravery and sacrifice for the people of the sub-continent.

He also asked them to restore social and economic ties and introduce an easily accessible visa policy for promoting peace between the two countries.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Peer Kaleem Ahmad reiterated the foundation’s demand to rename the Shadman Chowk in Lahore after the name of Singh who was hanged along with Rajguru and Sukhdev by the British rulers on March 23, 1913.

The foundation demanded the new British King Charles III should apologise to Pakistan and India and the families of the three revolutionaries and pay them a huge compensation.

It also demanded that the Pakistani government issue commemorative stamps and coins to honour Singh.

Besides, it said a major road in the country should also be named after him and include lessons about his courage and bravery in the curriculum.

In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Chauhan had held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in J-K and North-East

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) has been appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff and he will also function as Secretary Department of Military Affairs.

The post of CDS and Secretary DMA had been vacant for almost 10 months since Gen Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash in December last year.

The Government order to appoint Lt Gen Chauhan came on Wednesday evening but it did not mention his tenure. Rather, it said he will be CDS and Secretary DMA “until further orders”.

In June this year the government amended laws to allow any serving or retired three-star officer under the age of 62 to be eligible for the post of CDS. General Chauhan, the new CDS, is under 62 years. He retired at the age of 60 as the Eastern Army Commander in May 2021. The Chiefs of the three forces anyway retire at 62 years of age.h

The amended laws meant that the CDS need not be serving Chief of the Army, IAF or the Navy. The government had then issued a separate notification saying the tenure of the CDS can be, as per requirements, subjected to a maximum age of 65 years. 

Born on May 18, 1961, Lt Gen Chauhan was commissioned into the 6th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles Regiment in 1981.

Originally his family hails from Uttarakhand.

General Chauhan has commanded the Eastern Command, Kolkatta, he has been the Director General of Military operations (DGMO) and commanded the 3 Corps based at Dimapur and tasked to far eastern Arunachal Pradesh.

General Chauhan has had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir. As a Maj General, he commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramula sector in the Northern Command.

General Chauhan has also served as a United Nations mission to Angola.

Role of CDS and DMA

The CDS is responsible for joint planning for procurement, training and staffing for the services. He is tasked with facilitation of restructuring of military commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about joint efforts in operations through establishment of theatre commands. He will be promoting use of indigenous equipment by the services.

The Department of Military Affairs will be looking after the work of the Armed Forces of the Union, namely Army, Navy and Air Force. The Territorial Army and the works related to the Army, Navy and Air Force will also fall under the department. Except capital acquisitions, the DMA will also handle procurement exclusive to the services.

New Delhi, September 28

Ahead of Diwali festival, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved 4 per cent additional instalment of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to Central Government employees and pensioners with effect from July 1, 2022.

The Central Government employees and pensioners will become entitled to higher amount of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), respectively, with effect from July 1, 2022, said I&B Minister Anurag Thakur at a press briefing here.

The additional financial implications on account of the increase of DA to employees are estimated at Rs 6,591.36 crore per annum, and Rs 4,394.24 crore in the financial year 2022-23 (8 months from July, 2022 to February, 2023).

The additional financial implications in case of pensioners are estimated at Rs 6,261.20 crore per annum, and Rs 4,174.12 crore in the financial year 2022-23.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be of the order of Rs 12,852.56 crore per annum and Rs 8,568.36 crore in the current financial year, the minister informed.

Chandigarh, September 28

Upholding the trial and conviction by court martial of two Army officers, including a woman, for maintaining an illicit relationship, Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has held that an officer is expected to maintain a certain level of character and behaviour at all times and any act detrimental to this behavior may not only tarnish the reputation of the force, but may put the security in jeopardy.

The two officers of the rank of Major were tried by separate Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) in the Northern Command in 2019. While the male officer was cashiered from service and awarded three months rigorous imprisonment, the woman officer was dismissed from service.

Three charges were levelled against them under Sections 45 of the Army Act for conduct unbecoming of an officer, where they indulged in an illicit relationship and got themselves videographed in explicit acts and under Section 69 of the Army Act for threatening another woman officer to harm her reputation.

During the trial, they had averred that false complaints had been made against them by the wife of the male officer due to a marital discord, major infirmities in proceedings and non-adherence to certain statutory provisions.

In separate orders today, the Tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Rajendra Menon and Lt Gen PM Hariz said that the findings recorded by the SGCM were on due appreciation of the evidence and discussed in detail. “We see no error in the findings recorded by the SGCM. The analysis of evidence has been done properly and a reasonable finding has been recorded which does not suffer from any infirmity or illegality, in any manner, whatsoever,” the bench ruled.

Though the officers had contended that their relationship was a personal matter and cannot form an act of misconduct under Section 45, the Bench did not accept this argument.

“We are dealing with officers in uniform, that also commissioned officers in the rank of Major in a disciplined force like Army where every act of an officer even in private or public places is subject to restrictions, looking to the nature of duty, national security and various other important facets and requirement of the Force. That is why, the section has been couched in a manner to bring within its ambit every behavior of a person which is unbecoming of the officer’s position and character,” the bench said.

The woman officer had also contended that in view of the private nature of evidence, at least 50 percent of the SGCM members should have been women in accordance with the Vishakha guidelines and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The SGCM, in this case, comprised one women officer.

The bench observed that the Vishakha guidelines were for protection of women against harassment at workplace and in this case, the officer was neither a victim of any harassment nor was she the complainant and therefore the guidelines were not applicable in her case.

On the issue that adultery is not a crime and hence no trial can be conducted, the bench observed that the trial was not with regard to adultery but a case where the act of the officers was classified as an act prejudicial to the good behavior and military discipline and conduct unbecoming of a military officer.

Nagrota: GOC White Knight Corps Lieutenant General Manjinder Singh on Wednesday asserted that violence in Jammu is significantly low.
“There is a lot of support from locals against terrorism. So far, the violence in Jammu is significantly low and if someone came from the valley side, he has been neutralised,” Lt Gen Manjinder Singh said addressing a press conference in Jammu’s Nagrota.
“Pakistan is trying infiltration, terrorists, ammunition and narcotics, but we have a strong anti-infiltration grid and secondly we are concentrating on securing hinterland for which we have a strong anti-terror grid,” he added.
Further, on the concern for drone threat, Singh announced the launch of an anti-drone mechanism while mentioning that the drone threat is more in Punjab and in the plains.
“There is less sighting for drones in our (White Knight Corps) areas and we suspect the ones seen here are a reconnaissance by the enemy, hence we are soon getting an anti-drone mechanism,” he said.
“In the last two years, there has been no successful infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) in the areas under White Knight Corps of the Indian Army,” he added.
Addressing further, he said that the Army is taking a number of initiatives that focus on youth development, including education, sports, and other cultural activities.
He, later sought the constant efforts of society, along with the Army, to counter the Youth Radicalization by the “enemy”, terming it a national effort.
“Radicalization is being done by the enemy. Army, alone, cannot counter this, but society also should put in efforts as it is a whole national effort. We are taking the administration and religious leaders along with us,” he said.
He said that the White Knight Corps is also working to counter narcotics and infiltration in the Jammu region and mentioned that “terror recruitments are more valley-centric”.
Recently, Vigilance Defence Guards (VDG) have been raised under which terrorist Talib Hussain was captured by the local people.
Earlier, this scheme was known as Village Defence Committees (VDC), where volunteers from villages were trained by the Indian Army and Police. Under this scheme, rifles were provided to VDCs and they protected their villages from terrorist attacks and terror-related activities especially the vulnerable villages in mountainous areas of the Jammu region. VDC members had helped Indian Army, and Jammu and Kashmir Police fight against terrorism.

Speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network in Guwahati on Tuesday, AoC-in-C of Eastern Air Command Air Marshall DK Patnaik shared his thoughts.
With the advancement of technology, inclement weather is no longer a challenge for the Indian Air Force in the Northeast region. Speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network in Guwahati on Tuesday, AoC-in-C of Eastern Air Command Air Marshall DK Patnaik shared his thoughts.
“In peacetime, we are not applying it, but in case of any situation we are capable and weather conditions don’t matter. We keep practising for it,” Air Marshall Patnaik said.
Speaking about guarding the Eastern theatre, he said that the challenges are more internal. We are a growing Force in the region with enemies close by.
He stressed on the need to increase armament stores in the region. He said the IAF has already made a request to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma in this regard and the necessary steps are being taken by the State government.
Recently with photographs of Chinese construction along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh clicked by Indian Army porters and reported exclusively by Republic TV, the topic of India’s move for rapid infrastructure development in the region topped the charts of discussion in the country. Cutting short travel time from the plains of Assam to the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh is seen as the most urgent need for military mobilization. However, with India’s rapid expansion in the region in terms of infrastructure development, it’s now a reality not very far away.
“We are expanding. Arunachal Pradesh is bordering most of the Chinese locations and China has developed their locations close to the Line of Actual Control and we were lacking behind, but now things are changing. We are advancing now. We have 9 ALGs close to the LAC and we are trying to cut short travel time to hours like China did. We are catching up with our counterparts,” said Air Marshall DK Patnaik.
The Eastern Air Command is often dubbed as the most challenging Command of Indian Air Force because of the difficult terrains and the inclement weather conditions in the Himalayas.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the country’s easternmost Army formation at Dinjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district on Wednesday and reviewed its operational readiness, a Defence communique said. Singh, who is on a two day visit to Arunachal Pradesh, was accompanied by Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Commander of Eastern Command Lieutenant General R P Kalita along with other senior officers, it said. The defence minister was briefed on infrastructure development along the Line of Actual Control, capability development and operational preparedness by Lieutenant General R C Tiwari, general officer commanding of 3 Corps and other senior officers. Singh’s visit takes place at a time when China is upgrading its infrastructure along the border. China refuses to accept Indi’a sovereignty in Arunachal Pradesh and calls it South Tibet. PTI