New Delhi: The Indian Navy has sought volunteers for its police branch, Provost, from among its women officers. The branch has so far been an exclusive preserve of male officers.

The Navy has sought applications from officers, men and women, by May, according to sources in the force.

The move has come within weeks of the Supreme Court’s ruling to grant permanent commission to women officers in the Navy. On 17 March, the court upheld a 2015 verdict of the Delhi High Court and outlawed gender discrimination towards women officers during the grant of permanent commission in the Indian Navy.

At present, women officers commissioned in the Navy are not given sea-going appointments. The Navy also does not have women in the ranks akin to the Army.

Last year, the Corps of Military Police in the Army had recruited 100 women.

More opportunities opening up

According to sources, the Navy’s latest move may be the first step to open up more branches to women officers.

“Moreover, Provost is a non-sea-going cadre and therefore compulsory sea service will not be a criterion for promotions as in the case of other executive branches,” a senior naval officer told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity.

Regulations restricting sea service, which is compulsory in certain branches for promotions to the rank of Captain (Colonel equivalent in the Army) and above, put women in the Navy at a disadvantage against male colleagues when it comes to career progression.

The officer said the move is seen as another step towards grant of permanent commission to women officers across branches, including consequent promotions, as Provost officers have the opportunity to perform well and attain promotion up to the rank of a Commodore.

Also read: Navy remains ‘combat-ready’ after 26 sailors test positive for Covid-19

Provost appointments

Unlike primary branches, the recruitment of Naval Provost officers is not advertised. Existing commissioned officers are selected on a volunteer basis for a specialised course at INS Mandovi, the Provost training school. After the completion of the course, the officers are appointed to the Provost at various bases of the Navy.

The women volunteers for the Provost, if any, will be Short Service Commission (SSC) officers.

SSC women officers can also serve in the musician cadre and sports cadre, a second Navy officer said.

At present, women officers in the Navy serve in many cadres, including three where they have the option for choosing permanent commission. Last year, a woman officer graduated the pilot’s course to be the first woman pilot of Dornier.

Women officers also serve in operational appointments as ‘Observers’ in the Navy’s maritime reconnaissance aircraft like P8i, IL-38 and Dornier.

There are over 639 women personnel in the Navy, including 148 medical officers and two dental officers.

Also read: Indian Navy veterans slam ‘childish’ US response to Roosevelt ship incident

New Delhi: As India braces to bear the economic burden of the Covid-19 pandemic, the armed forces have put all non-operational and non-training expenditure on hold.

In a video conference Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the forces’ operational preparedness as well as measures to fight Covid-19 with the top commanders of the three services.

The finance ministry had earlier put curbs on the expenses of many ministries for the first quarter of 2020-21, as the government looks ahead to the fallout of Covid-19 and the nationwide lockdown on revenues.

Singh asked the forces to ensure operational preparedness, because the adversary should not be allowed to exploit the current situation.

“He also directed the forces to initiate measures to spend the financial resources, avoiding wastage in view of the economic burden imposed by Covid-19,” a statement released by the ministry said.

Stressing on the requirement of “jointness” of the armed forces, Singh asked the commanders to identify and prioritise tasks that could be accomplished quickly and assist in the revival of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, according to the statement.

Also read: Navy remains ‘combat-ready’ after 26 sailors test positive for Covid-19

Domestic defence payments on priority

Sources told ThePrint that the focus of the defence minister’s directive was to cap non-operational and non-training expenditure, adding that acquisition processes will not be affected, but payments could be delayed or staggered.

The sources added that paying the domestic defence industry will be the first priority.

“In the wake of the coronavirus, there have been 15-20 per cent expenses curbs on many ministries, and defence is not excluded. Hence, expenses have to be prioritised,” a senior armed forces officer who did not wish to be identified told ThePrint.

The officer explained that the curbs will not affect the operational or training capabilities. “But yes, there are many other expenses, like ceremonial (that will be curtailed). Keeping in mind the expenditure cut in the first quarter, one will have to manipulate the funds accordingly, so that priority expenditure is taken care of,” he said.

Another officer told ThePrint that all committed liabilities will be taken care of, but payments could be staggered.

“If a payment has to be done in May, it could be done in September. However, the priority is payment to domestic defence players, because they need to be protected,” this officer said.

Sources also denied that the acquisition process would be hit long term, saying that such processes are not about one or two quarters.

Rajnath’s appreciation

During the video conference, the commanders also apprised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of various measures put in place to prevent the infection from spreading among the forces, and the assistance extended to the local civilian administration.

The minister appreciated the role of the armed forces in extending assistance to the civilian administration and boosting India’s preparedness to fight Covid-19.

Also read: Army’s summer strategy in place at LoC with temperatures expected to rise in Kashmir

New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said the armed forces’ personnel understand that they will have to remain uninfected by the virus to be able to support people and government as the country battles coronavirus outbreak.

“As far as defence services are concerned, we do understand our responsibility that at this time when the nation is fighting against COVID-19 menace, the defence services must operate beyond the mandate and come to the support of our people and government in whatever way we can,” General Rawat told ANI in an exclusive interview.

“In order to do so, we have to first ensure that we remain safe from COVID-19 because if our own sailors, soldiers and airmen get affected by this virus, how are we going to support our people. That is why we have issued very strict directions on social distancing, wearing of masks and ensuring that people who require to be in quarantine remain in quarantine,” said the CDS.

He pointed out that all the meetings and conferences are taking place through video conferencing. “The medical directions are being regularly issued by our Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) to ensure good health of our soldiers and airmen under these difficult times.”

Stressing that directions issued from the “highest body”, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is being followed in letter and spirit to fight the menace of COVID19 and to ensure that Armed Forces remain safe, he said,”We are attending meetings organised by the Cabinet Secretary and we are attending meetings of the Ministry of Health. Whatever directions are coming, are percolating down to the rank and file and we are ensuring that these reach in the right time and right manner. This is very important for us to maintain strict discipline and patience.”

“There would be problems in these challenging times but we have to learn to live with them. It cannot be business as usual. These are the times when certain directions have been issued and they have to be adhered to if we want to fight the COVID-19 menace. I think our nation has done well. We will continue to do well if the directions issued from time to time are adhered to,” he added.

General Rawat, while referring to the lockdown, said this is not the time to be impatient.
“We do know when the country is under lockdown and people are told to stay indoors, they tend to become impatient. This is not the time to be impatient. Patience is very important to ensure that we remain disciplined. Maintaining discipline in armed forces is not very difficult as we are accustomed to be in discipline but to maintain patience is the need of the hour,” he said.

He further informed, “I am very happy to inform you that all our people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu application and should anyone get affected, we would be able to pick that up very soon. We would be able to ensure that the spread does not happen.”

Also read: Covid blurs distinction between war and peace as soldiers worldwide fight the third army

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ribune News Service

Bathinda, April 25

In all, 80 buses were sent to bring back stranded pilgrims at Hazur Sahib (Nanded) in Maharashtra on Saturday.

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said AC buses of Punjab Roadways and PRTC were being sent to bring back the pilgrims and the cost would be borne by the state. He said three drivers, a conductor and a policeman had been deployed in each bus.

Patiala, April 25

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) today dispatched a fleet of 32 buses, including Volvo Scania and HVAC buses, to Takht Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded, Maharashtra, to bring back pilgrims stranded in the state. These 32 buses were part of the 80 buses fleet, which will leave from Bathinda to Sri Hazur Sahib.

KK Sharma, Chairman, PRTC, who flagged off seven Volvo buses from the Patiala bus stand said Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had made commendable efforts to bring back the pilgrims from Takht Sri Hazur Sahib. The plan came through only after the CM held a series of talks with the Union Government and Maharashtra CMUddhav Thackeray, he said.

“Buses have already been sanitised. Two sub-inspectors Amandeep Singh and Surinder Singh Tuli will accompany the passengers. The buses will be carrying masks, sanitisers, gloves, medicines, food items etc for all pilgrims,” he added. Responding to a query, Sharma said that government had provided all the necessary funds to the PRTC. — TNS

There is merit in Captain Amarinder Singh’s request to his counterparts in other states to strongly pursue with the PM a bailout package, with the governments being given the flexibility to make use of the revenue grant as per local conditions. The Punjab CM is correct in his assertion that special assistance is essential for handling the additional health and relief-related expenditure that a sustained fight against the Covid-19 pandemic demands. There would also be many takers for his other suggestion of deferment of the full report of the Finance Commission by a year, so that the requirements of the states for economic revival and relief as well as rehabilitation could be fully assessed, and adequately provided for.

Lockdown 2.0 ends on May 3, but strained for resources and struggling to garner any income, several states are desperate for economic activity to be back on track. Mamata Banerjee wants the lockdown to be quickly scaled back in stages: ‘lift 25 per cent in the week beginning May 4, reopen 50 per cent in the second week, and total rollback should happen in two weeks after May 4’. Captain Amarinder’s request to the Centre to allow sale of liquor, a critical source of earning for the state, may have been turned down, but it does point to the severity of the financial crisis.

A mega stimulus package is said to be in the works for the manufacturing and services sectors, but the delay in fine-tuning the contours on how to raise resources is making the industry more restive. India’s GDP growth, according to Fitch Ratings, is estimated to slip to 0.8 per cent for the current fiscal as compared to 4.9 per cent growth in the previous fiscal, before rebounding to 6.7 per cent in 2021-22. On the ground, prospects of a quick economic recovery appear weak. In this scenario, a collaborative Centre-state roadmap would make more sense.

Gurugram, April 24

For the first time in its history, the world’s largest paramilitary force, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), commissioned 42 officers into the force through a webinar due to the Covid scare.

Trained at the CRPF officers’ training academy in Kadarpur village, Gurugram, the 42 trainee officers, including four women, dressed in their uniforms and additionally adorning masks and gloves took the traditional ‘antim pag’ (last step at the training institute) by stepping on a special doormat kept at the exit of the auditorium and embossed with these words in Hindi.

The trainee officers had completed their training on March 5. However, their passing-out parade (POP) scheduled for March 22 had been put on hold due to the pandemic.

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and CRPF chief AP Maheshwari addressed the young officers, seated in an auditorium, from their respective offices in North Block and Lodhi Road in Delhi.

They inducted this 51st batch of DAGOs (directly appointed gazetted officers) through the first-ever e-passing out parade that replaced the traditional way of holding a parade and ceremonial event under the sky.

The officers were administered the oath to serve the country. Later, the academy officials pipped ranks of Assistant Commandant on their shoulders. — TNS

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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 25

The vital road access to  Ladakh and to Lahaul-Spiti of Himachal Pradesh, across the Rohtang pass near Manali was opened for summer traffic on Saturday. The road opening is some three-weeks in advance of normal time, largely necessitated

The road access from Ladakh to Lahaul Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, across the Rohtang pass near Manali was opened for summer traffic on Saturday.

A team, led by a doctor, was the first convoy to pass through carrying essential supplies, and approx 150 farmers to Lahaul Valley.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a body under the Ministry of Defence, is in charge of the road opening.

This will facilitate the Centre and State Government to bring much needed relief material and medical supplies for the local population.

Also, the agriculture activities which are the backbone of the Lahaul district can now recommence.

Work to open the pass was expedited April 11 after the Government of Himachal Pradesh approached MoD to expedite the snow clearance to facilitate return of farmers to start cultivation and movement of essential supplies & relief material to Lahaul Valley in wake of COVID-19.

BRO inducted Hi-tech machinery from both ends of the pass.

Snow blizzards, freezing temperatures and frequent triggering of avalanches at Rahala Fall, Beas Nallah and Rani Nallah did delay the operations, but the snow clearance teams kept on working relentlessly day and night with all COVID-19 precautions to provide relief.

The opening of the pass means the Indian Army can start stocking up on rations for the winter period in Ladakh and Siachen, besides items of use by the civilian population of Union Territory of Ladkah.

Ladakh has two access roads — one is the 475 kms Srinagar-Leh road over the Zoji-La and other is 477 kms Manali-Leh road via Rohtang, a 13,050 feet high massif.

Both remain closed for six to seven months due to heavy snowfall.

The road across the Zojila (11,570 feet high) opened last week.

During winters, men and rations can only be moved onboard the military planes from Chandigarh, however, all equipment is moved during the summer months.

Meanwhile, the ongoing work on the 8.8 Km long Atal Tunnel below the Rohtang Pass was also stalled when the lockdown came into force.

Since, the construction of Tunnel is at a critical stage, proactive measures were taken to recommence the work and is expected to be ready by September 2020 as planned.

London, April 26

The remarkable story of an airman who overcame prejudice to become one of only a handful of Indian fighter pilots in the First World War has emerged in newly-released archive files by the UK’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

Lieutenant Shri Krishna Chanda Welinkar is one of the thousands of moving stories from the war preserved in family correspondence and being brought alive as part of a digitisation project.

The never-before-published files contain thousands of letters, pictures and other papers sent between the Commission and the next of kin of First World War dead.

Among them is the story of Welinkar, who hailed from Bombay in colonial India. After much hardship and discrimination, he eventually became a pilot and went missing while on patrol over the skies above the Western Front in June 1918.

His family had to wait nearly three years before they finally knew for certain that he had died, and his grave was located.

“For everyone who died in the First World War there was inevitably a partner, parent or child back home who had questions. The heart-breaking letters in CWGC’s archive give us an insight into what it was like for those families trying to come to terms with their loss,” said Andrew Fetherston, chief archivist for CWGC.

“For everyone who died in the First World War there was inevitably a partner, parent or child back home who had questions. The heart-breaking letters in CWGC’s archive give us an insight into what it was like for those families trying to come to terms with their loss,” said Andrew Fetherston, chief archivist for CWGC.

“They are stories that show desperate searches for closure, former enemies uniting and, on many occasions, the sad realisation that a missing loved one would always remain so. We are pleased to be able to make this invaluable piece of World War history accessible to a new generation and help deepen our understanding of how the First World War impacted those who were left behind,” he said.

Welinkar was one of the 1.3 million Indians who answered the call to fight for the British Empire. Nearly 74,000 never saw their homeland again and are remembered today in cemeteries and memorials throughout the world, including France, Belgium, the Middle East and Africa.

Studied at Cambridge

Welinkar was a well-educated man studying at Cambridge University. He trained to become an aviator in Middlesex and wished to join the Royal Flying Corps, later known as the Royal Air Force.

Upon attempting to enlist, Welinkar encountered the same prejudices as his other fellow Indian airmen and was encouraged to become an air mechanic instead.

He was eventually given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps as an Officer. In 1918, he was posted to France and patrolled the skies above the Western Front.

In June 1918, Lieutenant Welinkar embarked on what would be his final patrol; he did not return and was reported missing. His fate remained unknown for many months afterwards.

The newly-released e-files chronicle the remarkable discovery of Welinkar and his final resting place long after the war had ended. Colonel Barton, who knew Welinkar, acted on behalf of his mother and helped find her missing son. They spoke to former enemies and honed their search to the grave of an unidentified man, buried by the Germans as “Oberleutnant S.C. Wumkar” in a grave in Rouvroy, Belgium.

The body was later moved and reinterred in Hangard Communal Cemetery Extension but it wasn’t until the vital clue, found in the original German burial records in February 1921, that it was confirmed beyond doubt this grave was of Welinkar’s.

In May 1921, Colonel Barton, on behalf of Welinkar’s mother, requested that a Commission headstone be placed on the grave with the following personal inscription: “To the Honoured Memory of One of the Empire’s Bravest Sons”.

This records — known as Enquiry Files — are part of a collection of nearly 3,000 files which have never been made available to the public before. Nearly half have been digitised so far, alongside a previously unreleased collection of more than 16,000 photographs held in negatives in the Commission’s archive.

The files, internally referred to simply as E-Files, contain correspondence between the CWGC and the next of kin of the war dead. They often contain letters, typed memos between Commission staff and on occasion photos, maps and diagrams.

CWGC only holds an enquiry file for a small proportion of the 1.7 million people it commemorates from the Commonwealth. Today it is only possible to release those surviving records from the First World War because correspondence with families of Second World War casualties often involves people still alive today and cannot be made public for many years, due to the UK’s data protection rules.

To date, more than 1,300 of the surviving 3,000 First World War enquiry files have been digitised.

The CWGC commemorates the 1.7 million Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during the two World Wars. It also holds and updates an extensive and accessible records archive, while operating over 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries and territories. — PTI