One of the major challenges faced by the TA Directorate was the management of increasing LMC personnel in TA units

Photo for representation only. Source: iStock.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 6

With over 16 per cent of Territorial Army (TA) officers at present being in the low medical category (LMC), the Armed forces Tribunal has observed that having unfit officers would deprive the country of benefits of having a physically and mentally fit and robust officer leadership for units employed in the security of the nation, with direct consequences for the entire country.

“The organisation has authorised a total of 503 TA officers of which 396 are posted. Of these, 65 officers are LMC,” the tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Rajendra Menon and Lt Gen PM Hariz observed while vacating the stay imposed earlier on the disembodiment of several officers because of poor physical fitness.

In addition to TA officers, the organisation is also authorised 172 officers from the regular army.

One of the major challenges faced by the TA Directorate was the management of increasing LMC personnel in TA units.

Keeping in view the overall security environment prevailing since May 2020, the TA Directorate at Army Headquarters commenced improving the operational fitness of its units and sub-units, according to the Tribunals orders issued on April 5.

Accordingly, in the cases of junior commissioned officers and other ranks, that personnel unsuitable due to their medical condition were disembodied and discharged from service.

In the case of officers, the TA Directorate issued instructions to units to initiate cases for LMC officers to be placed on Special Unattached List (SUL).

Instructions were also issued to the officers concerned to get themselves medically upgraded where possible during the period in which they are on SUL, failing which case for their termination of service from TA would be initiated.

Officers could seek embodiment once they were declared medically fit by the competent authority.

Some of the officers aggrieved by this move moved the Tribunal, challenging their placement on the SUL.

They averred that they did not meet the criteria for being placed on the SUL, there were no adverse comments by superior officers on their demonstrated performance and no show cause notice was served to them.

The Army contended that the concept of TA encompassed the employment of physically and medically fit gainfully employed civilians to support, supplement and augment the resources of the regular army in times of need.

Unlike the regular army, TA does not provide a full-time career and apart from mandatory training, additional embodiment was subject to organisational requirements or specific tasks. Further, the policy for the management of LMC cases in the TA was different from that of the regular army.

Pointing out that of late there has been an increase in LMC officers in the TA the army claimed that it was seen that many were not keen to get upgraded to take benefit of disability pension on retirement.

This attitude defeated the very concept of TA and such officers not only failed to maintain their fitness but owing to such disabilities posed a threat to the mission of their unit and the men under their command.

The Tribunal’s bench observed that considering the overall security and operational environment in the country and the continued employment of TA in active operational areas, it was vital for the organisation to institute such measures to ensure the operational effectiveness and capabilities of its units and subunits.

Stressing that it was implicit and axiomatic that the TA took necessary measures to ensure fitness standards in the leadership provided by TA officers, the bench remarked that having LMC officers with various medical disabilities and employment restrictions not only affected the successful execution of the mission of TA units but also directly impacted the life and sustenance of the men these officers lead.

At present, about 85 per cent of TA infantry units and sub-units are embodied and deployed in an operational role.

Several other issues relating to the concept of TA and present rules and regulations governing the TA raised by the petitioners would be heard by the Tribunal in due course.

The court also sentenced assistant garrison engineer rank official to five-year jail term in the case

Photo for representation.

Dehradun, April 6

A special CBI court here has sentenced a Lt Colonel to 10-year rigorous imprisonment in a five-year-old bribery case.

The court also sentenced assistant garrison engineer rank official Manish Singh to five-year jail term in the case.

While delivering judgment in the matter on Monday, CBI judge Sujata Singh imposed a fine of Rs 55,000 on Lt Col Bharat Joshi while Manish Singh was fined Rs 15,000.

Lt Colonel Joshi, who was at that time working as a garrison engineer in the Military Engineering Services, demanded a bribe of Rs 38,000 from a contractor for clearing his bills.

His deputy Manish Singh, who was working as an assistant garrison engineer at the time was convicted of mounting pressure on the contractor to pay the amount to Lt Col Joshi in one go.        

The contractor who wanted a completion certificate from the army officer for a two-storey building in the Instrument Research and Development Establishment campus paid him Rs 10,000 as the first instalment of the bribe.         

At the same time, the contractor also lodged a case with the CBI against Lt Col Joshi and his deputy.

The investigation agency laid a trap for the duo and arrested them when they were taking the second instalment of the bribe from the complainant, according to prosecution lawyer Satish Garg. PTI

On Haryana’s disease graph, Vardhan said the infection spreading to smaller towns is a matter of concern

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. File photo

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 6

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said the COVID-19 spread in Punjab was mainly event-driven with marriages, local body elections and farmers’ agitation playing their part.

In a virtual interaction with the health ministers of 11 high burden states, including Punjab’s Balbir Singh Sidhu, this evening, Vardhan said about Punjab, “In Punjab, the UK variant of the virus has been found in over 80 per cent cases. Cases are surging and genome sequencing has also established the presence of the variant. This case surge is mainly event driven with marriages, local body elections, and farmers’ agitation playing a part.”

On Haryana’s disease graph, Vardhan said the infection spreading to smaller towns is a matter of concern.

“What is happening calls for introspection and action. Laxity is evident in this constant surge. Even right now everything is in our control and if we stick to strategies that helped us contain the infection until February we can bring down the cases,” said Vardhan.

He said 50 central teams in Punjab, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh will send daily feedback on containment progress to the Health Ministry for corrective action.

The minister also said the recent spate of elections, Kumbh, reopening of offices, outdoor events by people and complete disregard for masks had led to the current surge.

“The fight against COVID is no rocket science. We just need to do more of the same—masks, hand hygiene, social distancing,” Vardhan said, urging states to stringently remind people of the lost lessons.

Seventy-five new forest fires were reported from across the state in which 105.85 hectares of green cover was gutted, they said

Photo for representational purpose only

Dehradun, April 6Advertisement

IAF helicopters doused forest fires at three places in Uttarakhand on Tuesday, even as more broke out at 75 new spots, destroying 105.85 hectares of green cover in the state, officials said.

The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) MI-17 helicopters moved to the Kirti Nagar forest division of Tehri district to control the fires by spraying water collected from Shri Kot dam in buckets with a capacity of 5,000 litres, they said.

Forest fires were doused in Bariargadh and Sarkyana in Kirti Nagar range and Khirsu in Pauri district on Tuesday, Chief Conservator of Forest Garhwal S K Patnaik, under whose supervision the exercise was carried out, said.

The firefighting operation lasted three-and-a-half hours, he said.

However, in the Kumaon region, IAF helicopters could not be utilised as bad weather prevented them from taking off, the officials said.

Seventy-five new forest fires were reported from across the state in which 105.85 hectares of green cover was gutted, they said.

As many as 414 forest fires have been reported from Uttarakhand in April so far and 645.3 hectares of forests destroyed, they said.

Nainital, Almora, Tehri and Pauri districts are the worst hit by forest fires. -PTISHARE ARTICLE

No plans for Russia-China military alliance; such ties are counterproductive: Lavrov

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before a meeting in New Delhi, on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. PTI

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

Far from being dissuaded from the US threat to impose sanctions, New Delhi and Moscow discussed the additional production of Russian military equipment under PM Modi’s make-in-India initiative, said visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after meeting his counterpart S Jaishankar here on Tuesday.

Noting that Russia is the only partner that transfers cutting-edge military technology to India, Lavrov said talks touched on manufacturing of state-of-the-art weapon systems.

“In this strategically important area, Russia is a major foreign contractor for New Delhi. I am sure deepening of Russian Indian military cooperation serves the national interest of both countries,” said Lavrov.

Denying that he had said US exercises pressure on India, Lavrov said there were no discussions on statements from the US against arms trade with Russia.

In a departure from top US officials advising India to cut down on arms purchases from Russia, Lavrov said Moscow respected the right of India to diversify ties in these areas. Both sides also touched on cooperation in energy, including nuclear, peaceful exploration of space and manned programs, rocket engine building, satellite navigation, the Russian Far East and the Arctic.

Fresh from a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month, Lavrov said though Russia-China relations at the summit-level are at their highest levels in history; there are no discussions on a military alliance. Whether it was a Russia-China military alliance or talks of a Middle East NATO or an Asian NATO, “we believe it is counterproductive. Our Indian friends have the same position,” he observed.

Lavrov hinted that in addition to an in-person summit of BRICS leaders in India next month, Moscow was also encouraging the idea of a Russia-India-China summit.  

In a pre-visit interview, he said Russia was closely watching the process of normalisation at the LAC and welcomed the agreements reached after the Jaishankar-Wang Yi telephone conversation on February 25 aimed at resolution of the situation.

Afghanistan was a major area of discussions between the two Foreign Ministers as were other “thorny issues” in the neighbourhood such as Yemen, Syria and Iran. Lavrov described India as a “key player” for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan and “definitely should be engaged in international efforts supporting Afghan national reconciliation process”.

Jaishankar, back from Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process conference in Dushanbe last week, said he stated that a durable peace would require harmonising interests of all, both within and around that country.

Jaishankar said the agenda of discussions also included UNSC issues, Myanmar, ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific. Larger backdrop of global political changes provided the context, he added.

The Army always remembers and never forgets its own. Colonel GT Thampi of the 2/4 Gorkha Rifles turned 100 and the regiment sent representatives all the way from Ranchi to Thiruananthapuram to make him feel special. Colonel Thampi was friends with Sam Bahadur.

Indian Army (representational image) | PTIText Size: A- A+

New Delhi: The Indian Army is discussing a proposal to directly enrol Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) in all arms of the service to address the shortage of nearly 14,000 officers.

JCOs — a link between the officers and other ranks in the Indian Army — are currently enrolled as jawans and few of them get promoted to officers over a period of time based on their performance and on their ability to clear promotion examinations.

Currently, a few JCOs are directly enrolled as religious teachers and in certain technical arms such as the Corps of Engineers.

However, fighting arms of the Indian Army do not have any provision for direct enrollment of JCOs. The Army has been promoting JCOs to officers from among their own ranks.

What the proposal states

According to the proposal, the Indian Army will directly induct JCOs who have cleared the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview. The UPSC will conduct an entrance examination, which would be followed by an SSB interview and a medical examination.

Selected candidates would then be trained for one and a half year before joining the units as JCOs. Subsequently, they would be promoted to officers up to the rank of Colonels based on their length of service and qualifications.

The proposal states that four direct entry JCOs will be authorised to a unit having 14 officers, five to those with upto 19, and six to units with 20 or more officers.

The proposal is likely to be presented during the Army Commanders Conference which is likely to be held later this month.

Also read: Army to equip all infantry battalions, not just frontline troops, with US Sig Sauer rifles

‘Will not impact current promotion prospects’

A senior Army officer told ThePrint that the JCOs enrolled directly will be offset against officer vacancies in units and not impact the existing promotion prospects of other ranks.

Though select JCOs and other ranks have an opportunity to get promoted as officers, the numbers are inadequate, primarily due to lack of necessary qualifications, because of which many get rejected at the SSB interview conducted for aspirants.https://2641c9617fda347ac476fb8ddebca1cb.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The new proposal looks at directly enrolling JCOs who will subsequently be promoted to officers in a shorter time frame, thereby addressing the problem of shortage of officers to a large extent.

A second senior Army officer said that, at present, jawans usually are promoted to JCOs upto the rank of Subedar, with a select few being promoted to the rank of Subedar Major.

“The new proposal will not not impact these vacancies or the promotion prospects for jawans,” the officer said.

“The proposed direct entry JCOs would be inducted against entry level vacancies of the officer cadre,” the officer added.

The vacancies of promotion of jawans were also increased during the last Cadre review, when the number of authorised JCOs in all arms were enhanced, the officer said.

Also read: Probe in Army recruitment scam finds candidates in defence academy who paid ‘bribes’ to get in

Prior to this appointment, he was posted as Director General Staff Duties at Army Headquarters

Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Katiyar (left) takes over as GOC 1 Corps.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Katiyar has been appointed as the General Officer Commanding of 1 Corps, a strike formation responsible for undertaking offensive operations against both Pakistan and China.

Prior to this appointment, he was posted as Director General Staff Duties at Army Headquarters. He took over from Lt Gen CP Cariappa today. 

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Lt Gen Katiyar was commissioned in 23rd Battalion of the Rajput Regiment in June 1986, which he later commanded along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in Arunachal Pradesh. He also commanded an infantry brigade along the western borders and a mountain division.

Besides attending the National Defence College, New Delhi, he is also a distinguished graduate of the National War College, USA. He served as an instructor in the Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan and at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Surjewala cites the news report that alleged payment of 1.1 million euro bribes to Indian firm Defsys Solutions

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 5

The Congress on Monday demanded an independent probe into the Rs 60,000 crore Rafale jet deal after a section of the French media citing the national anti-graft agency claimed 1 million Euro commissions in the same.

Addressing reporters here, Congress media head Randeep Surjewala also asked the government whether or not it was in order that a ban be placed on Rafale makers Dassault for paying bribes and also a case registered.

“India’s biggest defence deal of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France’s Dassault Aviation is a sordid saga of loss to public exchequer, squandering of national interests and violation of Defence Procurement Procedure. The devastating sensational revelations in the last evening report of French News portal Mediapart.fr have now revealed the existence of middleman, payment of commission and red flags raised by the French Anti-Corruption Agency – AFA.”

Surjewala cited the news report that alleged payment of 1.1 million euro bribes to Indian firm Defsys Solutions and said the French anti-corruption bureau had asked Dassault tough questions on the payments.

“Dassault balance sheet said the money was a gift to the client. But when confronted, Dassault told the French anti-corruption agency that it paid an Indian firm that was engaged to prepare 59 models of Rafale. No answers were forthcoming when the French officials asked Dassault why would it engage an Indian firm to make models when it was manufacturing the jet itself?”

Noting that ​Defsys Solutions, India, is actually a company undertaking assembly of flight simulators and optical and electronic systems, Surjewala asked the PM whether he would invoke integrity clause of the DPP to black list Rafale as provided by the rules.

“Defence Procurement Procedure as also the stated Indian government policy envisages that there will be an ‘Integrity Clause’ in every defence purchase contract. There can be no middleman or payment of commission or bribe. Any evidence of middleman or commission or bribery has serious penal consequences of banning of the supplier defence company, cancellation of contract, registration of FIR and imposition of heavy financial penalties on the defence supplier company. Will this happen now?” asked Congress.

What is this about

10th April, 2015 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft off the shelf during his visit to France. 

23rd September, 2016 – Modi government signs a formal agreement with France to buy 36 Rafale aircraft for US$ 8.7 billion or €7.8 billion, i.e., Rs 60,000 crore. 

An investigation conducted by French anti-corruption agency – AFA has now revealed that after signing of the deal in 2016, Dassault, the manufacturer of Rafale has paid 1.1 million euro to a middleman Defsys Solutions, India

​Amount shown as expenditure by Dassault as “gifts to clients”.

30th March, 2017: Dassault tells French anti-corruption agency that this was payment for manufacture of 50 models of Rafale.

AFA asked Dassault – (a) Why it asked an Indian company to make models of its own aircrafts and that also at €20,000 per piece?

(b) Why was this expenditure then entered as “Gifts to Clients”?

(c) Were these models ever made? If yes, where and when were they displayed?

Reportedly, no reply came.

Chandigarh, April 4

Former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday targeted Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal on the issue of Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) to farmers for procurement at his hometown Patiala. About the same time, Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh issued a statement also targeting the Centre while seeking restoration of Rural Development Fund (RDF) at 3 per cent of the MSP.

“It is not the first time that Sidhu has held a press conference on important issues. Today, his tone was conciliatory. But the timing is intriguing. It seems more like a fight for political space,” observed a senior PPCC leader. Sources say Sidhu is keen on the post of PPCC chief but his associates maintain he has never sought any position. — TNS

Read also:

• Give RDF at 3% of MSP, Centre urged
• Goyal lying, e-payment will hit small farmers most: Sidhu