Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 6

The beginning of the phased withdrawal of Chinese troops from eastern Ladakh, theatre of a tense standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries, has put an end to the anxieties of people of the twin Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), at least for the time being.

J&K and Ladakh had been apprehending a big trouble on the borders when they watched troops moving up the mountainous roads to meet the challenge of checking the aggressive build-up by the Chinese side and the moves to alter the recognised status of the LAC. They were more worried as Pakistan, too, was seeking to aggravate the trouble on the Line of Control (LoC) with the ill-intention to open a two-front situation with the help of Chinese troops.

Monday morning, however, was abuzz with news that the troop withdrawal had started. This was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs that gave details of the telephonic conversation of NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and disclosed that the two sides “agreed to complete the ongoing disengagement process along the LAC expeditiously”.

The reverse movement of the troops from their face-off positions to their sides is seen as a breakthrough achieved by the talks. This has added to their hopes, and all along the Kashmiri leadership had been pleading that the talks alone could deliver a way out of the crisis situation.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and the PDP leaders had been advocating talks with China to defuse the situation on borders. He had told the Tribune that a “give-and-take approach should be adopted in dealing with China”.

Similar sentiments were echoed by other groups.

Two natural consequences of today’s forward movement in the maintenance of the bilateral relations between India and China are: one, it has lifted the fear of immediate mishap on the borders. These fears had gone up several notches after the June 15 violent clashes in Galwan Valley.

This conciliatory process between Delhi and Beijing has also reduced the potential of Pakistan to create a bigger trouble on the LoC as the psychological advantage that it had been looking for since the days of the standoff in eastern Ladakh is gone for the moment.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 7

Almost two decades after it was last updated, the Policy for Design Development and Production of Military Airsystems and Airborne Stores (DDPMAS) is being revised to keep pace with contemporary technical and commercial advancements in the aviation sector.

The policy, brought out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) sets out the procedure to be followed for design and development, production, modification, licence production and indigenisation of aircraft and aviation systems within the military airworthiness regulatory framework.

Rapid advancements in the Indian aviation sector over the past years with significant expansion in the design, development and production activities, increasing accent on self-reliance and indigenisation with ever increasing public and private sector participation necessitated the current policy.

First issued in 1975 and then revised in 2002, DDPMAS outlines policy level aspect towards ensuring airworthiness of military aviation systems, defines roles, responsibilities and empowerment of all the stakeholders, lays down procedural aspects towards ensuring military airworthiness certification and describes technical airworthiness requirements and associated acceptable means of compliance based on tailored standards.

New chapters on unmanned aerial systems, air launched missiles, research systems, civil certified military airsystems, continuing airworthiness, organisation approvals and exports, have now been added to the policy document.

To facilitate the private industry and boot the Make-in-India policy, organisation approvals for design, production and maintenance have been added. Airworthiness coverage to the private industry, even when no expression of interest or supply order from the government exists, has also been addressed.

Inputs from various stakeholders regarding the impediments and difficulties in following the DDPMAS have been addressed without compromising the philosophy of airworthiness.

While demarcating the requirements for airsystems and airborne stores, the new document also addresses engines, materials, software, identification of parts, test rigs, tools, testers and ground equipment separately.

The revised DDPMAS recognises that the future of military aviation will involve joint ventures and consortiums with design houses of foreign origin, which will entail mutual recognition of design and certification methodologies.

In order to facilitate international understanding, cooperation and success of the ventures leading to acquiring strategic technologies, the DDPMAS has introduced global parlance and internationally followed terminologies with one-to-one-mapping of equivalent regulatory articles wherever applicable to Indian processes and procedures.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11

Cracking the whip on overweight personnel, the Border Security Force (BSF) has directed that all personnel who do not meet the laid down physical and medical standards be posted out to “hard” areas.

Hard areas are field stations or outposts where the climate and terrain are harsh and the operational is tough such as border areas or in a counter-insurgency environment. Families are not generally permitted to reside in hard areas.

“As desired by Director General (DG), BSF, all personnel weighing more than 105 kgs be posted out to hard areas and relieved immediately,” orders issued by the DG’s secretariat to the Personnel Directorate at Force Headquarters in New Delhi, on July 10, stated.

A list of such “overweight” personnel along with remarks of the DG has also been sent to the Personnel Directorate. Being overweight or obese is a manifestation of diet and lifestyle, though in some cases it may be genetically induced.

Raised in 1965 with 25 battalions, the BSF has emerged as the largest border guarding force in the world with 186 battalions, including three disaster management battalions. It is responsible for the peacetime management of the 4096.70-km border with Bangladesh and 2289.66- km border with Pakistan. The BSF is also deployed along a 237.2-km stretch of the Line of Control from Akhnoor to Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir under the operational control of the Army.

The BSF’s responsibilities also include internal security duties, election duties, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, anti-Naxal operations and aid to civil authorities during natural calamities.

Like with all uniformed forces, physical standards and health issues are a major concern with the BSF. Given its operation role and nature of duties, high levels of fitness and training are required across the force’s hierarchy. In addition to physical fitness, stress among the rank and file is also an issue, for which various mitigating measures have been implemented.

Publicly available statistics by the Ministry of Home Affairs reveal that the leading cause of death among the personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), or paramilitary forces as they were known earlier, is not combat, but ill-health including cardiac disorders that are obesity-related.

The CAPFs include border guarding forces such as the BSF, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) and the Shashtra Seema Bal and the non-border guarding forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force.

Recently, the BSF introduced a three-week physical fitness course for officers of the rank of Commandant and Deputy Inspector General at the BSF Academy at Tekanpur. Earlier, some BSF officers were also sent to the ITBP Academy in Mussoorie for such training capsules.

About two years ago, the CAPFs had made it compulsory for all security personnel to undergo an annual mental health test to determine their well-being and where required, bring in corrective measures based on their assessment scores.

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave one more month to the Centre to implement its February 17, 2020 verdict for permanent commission to women officers in the Army.

A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud asked the government to ensure complete compliance with its order even as the Ministry of Defence said the decision making was at the final stage and only the formal order remained to be issued.

The top court’s orders will be complied with in letter and spirit, the government told the court, which agreed to give one additional month in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Centre had sought six more months to implement the top court’s order for grant of permanent Commission to women officers and make provision for command posts for eligible women officers in the Army.

Noting that “the right to equality is a right to rationality,” the Supreme Court had on February 17 paved the way for women in command positions in the Army as it ordered the Government to consider granting permanent commission to all women officers in three months.

“An absolute bar on women seeking criteria or command appointments would not comport with the guarantee of equality under Article 14. Implicit in the guarantee of equality is that where the action of the state does differentiate between two classes of persons, it does not differentiate them in an unreasonable or irrational manner. In this sense, even at its bare minimum, the right to equality is a right to rationality,” a Justice Chandrachud-led Bench had said.

The Bench, however, had said, “Whether a particular candidate should or should not be granted a criteria or command assignment is a matter for the competent authority to consider having regard to all the exigencies of service, performance and organisational requirements.”

Noting that courts were conscious of the limitations, which issues of national security and policy imposed on the judicial evolution of doctrine in matters relating to the Armed forces, the Bench had made it clear that deployment of women officers in combat roles was a matter of policy as held by the Delhi High Court.

The top court said permanent commission can be given to women officers in the Army irrespective of their tenure of service. It also directed the Centre to grant permanent commission within three months to all women officers in the Army who opt for it.

It had termed as “disturbing” the government’s argument of physiological limitations and social norms for denying command posts to women officers and called for a change of mindset on the part of the government to put an end to gender bias in the armed forces.

Highlighting the laurels achieved by women officers, the Bench had said, “Their track record of service to the nation is beyond reproach. To cast aspersion on their abilities on the ground of gender is an affront not only to their dignity as women but to the dignity of the members of the Indian Army – men and women – who serve as equal citizens in a common mission.”

It had expressed strong displeasure over the Centre not implementing the 2010 Delhi High Court’s order allowing grant of permanent commission to women officers despite there being no stay on it, saying the government showed scant regard in implementing the directions for a decade.

Describing the engagement of women officers in the Army as an “evolutionary process” it had said the Centre should have implemented the high court verdict as there was no stay on it.

The top court’s order was based on the Centre’s policy decision conveyed to it on February 25, 2019 to grant of Permanent Commission to Short Service Commission women officers in all the 10 streams where women had been granted SSC in the Army.

“The decision of the Union Government to extend the grant of PC to other corps in the support arms and services recognizes that the physiological features of a woman have no significance to her equal entitlements under the Constitution,” it had said.

“Seventy years after the birth of a post-colonial independent state, there is still a need for change in attitudes and mindsets to recognise the commitment to the values of the Constitution,” it had said.