Our Correspondent

Jammu, January 20

A national integration, educational and motivational tour has been organised by the Army in Jammu for the children of remote border areas.

The tour was organised by Tiger Division from January 20 to 30th in which 15 schoolchildren were selected. The children will visit New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur where they will get an exposure to historical monuments, educational institutes and war memorial.The tour was flagged off by Brig KK Singh, Commander Chenab Brigade in presence of Sub Division Magistrate, Anil Thakur and Principal Neetu Gandhotra.

These children belong to remote areas of Pargwal region of Jammu district and have been selected to give them an exposure of rich Indian heritage and culture. “This novel initiative will bring these underprivileged children living in remote border areas of Pargwal into the mainstream and encourage them to contribute positively towards nation building.”the Army spokesperson said.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 20

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has finally begun the process for recruitment to create two exclusive women constable battalions in Jammu and Kashmir.

In this context, the Police Recruitment Board conducted the tests of candidates from border districts of Poonch and Rajouri at Gulshan Ground Jammu, with females showing great enthusiasm to join the police force.

As per the detailed schedule for the conduct of the physical endurance test (PET) and physical standard test (PST) in respect of candidates belonging to the Jammu province, the candidates from Doda district will appear in tests tomorrow, while the applicants of Ramban and Kishtwar districts will undergo tests on January 22.

Similarly, the applicants of Samba district will be put to test on January 23. The candidates from Udhampur and Reasi districts will give tests on January 24 and 25.

“The test for the candidates of Jammu and Kathua districts will begin on January 27 and conclude on January 31,” an official spokesperson said.

Srinagar, January 21

An Army jawan, a special police officer (SPO) were killed and two militants were gunned down on Tuesday in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.

The encounter broke out in the district’s Khrew area when the security forces had launched a cordon and search operation, a police official said.

SPO Shahbaz Ahmad was killed on the spot while the jawan was injured during the gunfight and succumbed to the injuries later, he said.

According to reports, police had a specific input about the presence of militants at Zand village of Tral.

The area was cordoned off and a search operation launched. A contact was eventually established with the militants, who were hiding in a house that led to the firefight.

This is the second major encounter in Kashmir in the past two days.

On Monday, three militants were killed in Shopian, including top Hizbul Mujhahideen commander Wasim, Adil Bashir and Jehangir.

Wasim was involved in the killing of eight people, including four security men in the Valley. —Agencies

New Delhi, January 21

Amidst strong opposition by some non-BJP ruled states, the Centre on Tuesday made it clear that the disclosure of information in the National Population Register (NPR) exercise is not mandatory but voluntary.

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy also said the NPR was first initiated by the Congress-led UPA in 2010 and it was a constitutional obligation.

“Disclosure of information in NPR is voluntary only,” he told reporters here.

A few state governments have declared that they will not participate in the NPR exercise, saying it is prelude to a countrywide National Register of Citizens

Reddy said since NPR is a constitutional obligation, state governments should not oppose it.

The minister also said the central government will keep sensitising states about various aspects of the NPR exercise that will be carried out along with the house listing phase of the Census 2021 from April 1 to September 30, 2020.

A few state governments have declared that they will not participate in the NPR exercise, saying it is prelude to a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC).

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed to her counterparts in the northeast and non-BJP states to carefully study the NPR form, its questions and criteria before taking a decision on updating it.

Dubbing the exercise as “a dangerous game”, Banerjee said the form, which seeks birth details and residential proof of parents, was nothing but a precursor to NRC.

The Kerala government has announced that it will implement the census exercise but will not cooperate with the NPR.

At a recent special cabinet meeting of the Kerala government chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, it was decided to communicate to the Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner about the state’s opposition to the NPR.

“As the NPR is a process that leads to the NRC, there is a sense of fear among the people. If the NPR and NRC are implemented in Kerala, it will lead to widespread anarchy. That is the experience of the state where the NRC was implemented,” said a statement released by the Kerala Chief Minister’s Office.

At a meeting of about 20 opposition parties led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi about a fortnight ago, it was decided that the parties will urge all chief ministers who have decided not to implement the NRC in their states to also consider suspending the NPR enumeration “as this will be a prelude to the NRC”.

The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local village/sub-town, subdistrict, district, state and national levels under provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

For the purposes of the NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months.

The data for NPR was last collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of the Census 2011. The data was updated in 2015 by conducting door to door survey. The government had then asked details like Aadhaar and mobile number of residents.

This time, the information related to their driving licence and voter ID card may also be gathered. PAN card details will not be collected as part of this exercise.

The law compulsorily seeks to register every citizen of India and issue a national identity card.

Assam has been excluded from NPR because the NRC exercise has already been conducted in the state.

The demographic details of every individual are required for every usual resident: name, relationship to head of household, father’s name, mother’s name, marital status, spouse’s name (if married), sex, date and place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address of usual residence, duration of stay at present address, permanent residential address, occupation, educational qualification.

The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 3,941.35 crore for the NPR exercise. — PTI

Despite protests, CAA will not be withdrawn: Amit Shah

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Thanjavur (TN), January 20

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Monday said it was very difficult to predict if a scenario of a war with Pakistan would emerge or not but all the defence services were prepared to take on any challenge.

The top general, who inducted the Sukhoi-30 MKI squadron here, was responding to a question about any possibility of a war emerging between India and Pakistan.

“All the defence services are tasked to be prepared for any option that may emerge. It is very difficult to predict a scenario. But, we are always prepared for any task that may be assigned to us,” Gen Rawat said.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) said his new role was aimed at integrating defence systems and the three services (the Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force).

It was for this reason the post of CDS was created, he said.

“…we will keep moving towards better integration and jointness,” Rawat, who was appointed the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff on December 30 last year, added.

On strengthening the Air base here, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria said it will undertake the role of the southern peninsula’s air defence.

The Indian Air Force commissioned a squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI at the Air Force Station here, the first such base in south India for the high-profile fighter jets, seen as a game changer in guarding the strategically important Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The ‘Tigersharks’ squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI jets integrated with the BrahMos cruise missiles was inducted in the presence of the Air Chief and top officials.

The Su-30 MKI is a state-of-the-art all weather multi-role fighter aircraft capable of undertaking varied air defence, ground attack and maritime missions.

Rawat also downplayed the question of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and said every nation looked at its security from a strategic perspective.

Gen Rawat, answering a question on how Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean posed a threat to India, said every nation looked at its security from a stratgeic perspective.

While the squadron here is expected to give a thrust to India’s capabilities for dominance especially in the IOR, China’s presence in the same region is on the rise.

The Dragon nation already has a military base at the strategically located Djibouti at the horn of Africa, its first in a foreign nation, and it is also looking at expanding its presence.

“Every nation looks at its security from a strategic perspective. Oceans are meant for freedom of navigation. And therefore wherever you find any country which has interest in a particular area, it will attempt to come to that area to dominate the area more so for the freedom of navigation,” he told reporters.

Further, pointing to aspects like protection of trade in sea routes by any country, he said: “Therefore, I don’t think we should look at it particularly from that perspective (a pointer to perceived threat from China).” Also, he said the navies were operating in this area (indicating IOR) only because of freedom of navigation.

The top general also referred to facets like piracy that can disrupt movement of merchant ships. — PTI

New Delhi, January 20

An all-woman bikers contingent of the CRPF will make its debut and showcase daredevil stunts at the January 26 Republic Day parade at Rajpath, officials said on Monday.

The 65-member team will display its acrobatic skills on 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles towards the end of the over 90-minute-long parade.

“It will be the first time that our women bikers are going to be a part of the Republic Day parade.

“This squad was raised in 2014 as part of our commitment to involving women in all spheres of duties rendered by us,” CRPF spokesperson Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Moses Dhinakaran told PTI.

The contingent will be commanded by Inspector Seema Nag, who is posted with the Rapid Action Force (RAF).

The RAF is the special anti-riots combat unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is the world’s largest paramilitary force with about 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks.

The members of the squad have been specially chosen by CRPF trainers and are in the age group of 25 to 30.

They are drawn from various combat ranks of the force, another official said.

This women bikers team, the official said, had performed at the birth anniversary celebrations of country’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31 last year at Kevadia in Gujarat. The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In 1986, the CRPF had raised the first armed women’s battalion in the Asia region and at present it has six such units with over 1,000 personnel in each.

At this year’s Republic Day parade, the all-woman CRPF contingent is expected to present as many as nine acts of daring bike riding and conclude by forming a human pyramid on multiple motorcycles.

At the 2018 parade, a women bikers team of the Border Security Force (BSF) had made a similar debut.

In 2015, women marching contingents of Army, Navy and Air Force had debuted in the national parade.

According to tradition, the BSF and the Army’s bike-borne daredevils end the Republic Day parade every alternate year riding their roaring bikes.

This year, the opportunity has been given to the CRPF women personnel, the official said. — PTI