Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
June 12

Haryana is second in the number of cadets from the Spring Term-2020 passing out from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on June 13, while Punjab is fourth among all states in the country.Out of the total of 333 Indian cadets getting commissioned as officers, 39 are from Haryana and 25 from Punjab.

With 66 cadets, Uttar Pradesh tops the list. The third slot is shared by Uttarakhand and Bihar with 31 cadets each. The cadets belong to the 146th Regular Course and 129th Technical Graduates Course.

In addition, there are 90 cadets from nine friendly foreign countries who also form part of these courses.

This year, the passing out parade, one of the most cherished moments in an officer’s career, is being held without parents, siblings and friends of the cadets because of the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The parade and piping ceremony, instead, is being telecast live.

In an another departure from convention due to the prevailing circumstances, the cadets  will not get leave to go home after completion of their training, but will proceed directly to join at their respective place of first posting in the Army. This leave period was generally 2 – 3 weeks.

Rosewell (US), June 13

The United States Military Academy at West Point will make history Saturday when it graduates the first Sikh woman to successfully complete the path to a four-year degree.Second Lt. Anmol Narang, is a second-generation immigrant born and raised in Roswell, Georgia. She did a year of undergraduate study at the Georgia Institute of Technology before transferring to West Point, where she will graduate Saturday with a degree in nuclear engineering.

She hopes to pursue a career in air defense systems.

“I am excited and honored to be fulfilling my dream of graduating from West Point,” Narang said in a news release from the Sikh Coalition, a nonprofit based in New York that works to protect the constitutional right to practice faith without fear.

“The confidence and support of my community back home in Georgia has been deeply meaningful to me, and I am humbled that in reaching this goal, I am showing other Sikh Americans that any career path is possible for anyone willing to rise to the challenge.”

Narang will complete her Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, officials said. Following that, she will then head to her first post in Okinawa, Japan, in January.

Congress passed a law in 1987 that prohibited Sikhs and other religious communities from maintaining their articles of faith while in the military. A Sikh’s visible articles of faith, including turbans and unshorn facial hair, were banned.

Narang required no accommodation for her articles of faith, but the coalition said “her exemplary service to date underscores how diversity and pluralism remain core strengths of the U.S. military and the country as a whole.”

US Army Capt Simratpal Singh, a family friend, said he is proud of Narang who is “breaking a barrier for any Sikh American who wishes to serve.”

“The broader acceptance of Sikh service members among all of the service branches, as well as in top tier leadership spaces like West Point, will continue to benefit not just the rights of religious minority individuals, but the strength and diversity of the US military,” he said. AP

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 12

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today conducted a review meeting, the third in 10 days, to take stock of the border standoff with China and its overall military deployment in areas along the undemarcated 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control.

The minister was briefed about the situation by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the service chiefs. The meeting has happened as China has been amassing troops despite the diplomatic dialogue between the two sides for an “early resolution” of the dispute. The Ladakh issue and the movement of fighter jets, bombers, artillery guns and tanks by China was also taken up. Both the countries have had a heavy build-up of troops, much bigger than the one during the 1962 war, on either side of the border in recent past.

In Ladakh, Maj Gen Abhijit Bapat, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s 3 Division, met his Chinese counterpart today. This was the fifth meeting in two weeks, the aim being to defuse tension on ground. India and China have a common meeting point at the LAC, including the one at Chushul-Moldo in Ladakh.

Meetings are also being conducted at the brigade commander and battalion commander level at ground zero in Galwan valley, Gogra Hot Springs and north bank of Pangong Tso, a 135-km glacial melt lake. “The meetings are progressing as per the outcome of the June 6 dialogue,” sources in Delhi said.

On June 6, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, Lt Gen Harinder Singh, conducted a seven-hour marathon meeting with his Chinese counterpart, South Xinjiang military commander Maj Gen Lin Liu. India had pressed for restoration of status quo ante as in April and also cited how China was in violation of all agreements, protocols and laid-down drills relating to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC and for conduct of soldiers.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 12

Taking serious note of non-payment of salaries and lack of proper accommodation for doctors and medical workers amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to address their concerns at the earliest.

“In a war, you do not make soldiers unhappy. Travel an extra mile and channel some extra money to address their grievances. The country cannot afford to have dissatisfied soldiers in this war against Corona,” a Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Centre.

While hearing a petition by Doctor Arushi Jain, the Bench said courts should not be involved in issues like non-payment of salary to health workers and government should sort it out.

Jain alleged that frontline healthcare workers were not being paid salaries or their salaries had been reduced or delayed. She also questioned the Centre’s new SOP making their 14-day quarantine non-mandatory.

“We saw report that doctors went on strike. In Delhi, some doctors have not been paid for past three months. These are concerns that should have been taken care off. It should not require court intervention,” the Bench said, adding, the government needed to do more to address their concerns.

The Bench posted the matter for hearing next week after Mehta said if better suggestions came, they could be accommodated and the issues could be sorted out.

The top court had earlier said doctors and medical staff were the “first line of defence of the country” in the battle against COVID19 and directed the Centre to ensure appropriate PPEs were made available to them.

The Centre had told the court that a “large number” of make-shift hospitals will have to be built in the near future to accommodate the constant rise in the number of newly infected people.

New Delhi, June 12

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed India’s overall military preparedness in eastern Ladakh and several other areas along the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, even as Chinese and Indian armies held another round of Major General-level talks on the current border standoff, official sources said.

The Defence Minister was given a detailed account on the overall situation in eastern Ladakh by Army Chief Gen MM Naravane at a high-level meeting, which was also attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, they said.

The Indian and Chinese armies are locked in an over five-week standoff in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie. The two sides have deployed additional troops along the LAC in North Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh following the standoff.

It is understood that Singh told the top military brass to continue to deal with the situation in eastern Ladakh and other areas with “firmness”.

“The defence minister carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in eastern Ladakh,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Military sources said the two armies held another round of Major General-level talks on Friday to find a way out to defuse tension in eastern Ladakh.

India on Thursday said it is maintaining military and diplomatic engagements with China to peacefully resolve the row at the “earliest”.

In their first serious efforts to end the row, Lt General Harinder Singh, the general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, and Commander of the Tibet Military District Maj Gen Liu Lin held a nearly seven-hour meeting on June 6.

In the next one week, the field commanders of the two sides are slated to hold a series of meetings to discuss specific measures to defuse the tension.

On Wednesday, the two sides held Major General-level talks in a positive atmosphere with an aim to end the bitter tussle.

In the over four-and-half-hour dialogue, the Indian delegation pressed for total restoration of status quo ante and immediate withdrawal of thousands of Chinese troops from the areas which India considers on its side of the LAC, the sources said.

In Friday’s meeting too, India reiterated its demand, they added.

After the standoff began in early last month, Indian military leadership decided that Indian troops will adopt a firm approach in dealing with the aggressive posturing by the Chinese troops in all disputed areas of Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie.

The Chinese Army has been gradually ramping up its strategic reserves in its rear bases near the the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by rushing in artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles and heavy military equipment, the sources said.

The trigger for the face-off was China’s stiff opposition to India laying a key road in the Finger area around the Pangong Tso Lake besides construction of another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.

The road in the Finger area in Pangong Tso is considered crucial for India to carry out patrol. India has already decided not to stall any border infrastructure projects in eastern Ladakh in view of Chinese protests.

The situation in the area deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on May 5 and 6. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, while India contests it.

Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 12

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today conducted a review meeting, the third in 10 days, to take stock of the border standoff with China and its overall military deployment in areas along the undemarcated 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control.

The minister was briefed about the situation by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the service chiefs. The meeting has happened as China has been amassing troops despite the diplomatic dialogue between the two sides for an “early resolution” of the dispute. The Ladakh issue and the movement of fighter jets, bombers, artillery guns and tanks by China was also taken up. Both the countries have had a heavy build-up of troops, much bigger than the one during the 1962 war, on either side of the border in recent past.

In Ladakh, Maj Gen Abhijit Bapat, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s 3 Division, met his Chinese counterpart today. This was the fifth meeting in two weeks, the aim being to defuse tension on ground. India and China have a common meeting point at the LAC, including the one at Chushul-Moldo in Ladakh.

Meetings are also being conducted at the brigade commander and battalion commander level at ground zero in Galwan valley, Gogra Hot Springs and north bank of Pangong Tso, a 135-km glacial melt lake. “The meetings are progressing as per the outcome of the June 6 dialogue,” sources in Delhi said.

On June 6, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, Lt Gen Harinder Singh, conducted a seven-hour marathon meeting with his Chinese counterpart, South Xinjiang military commander Maj Gen Lin Liu. India had pressed for restoration of status quo ante as in April and also cited how China was in violation of all agreements, protocols and laid-down drills relating to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC and for conduct of soldiers.