Current Events :
New Delhi: All India Radio (AIR) is planning to “revitalize” its Punjabi service to augment its reach to the Punjabi-speaking listeners “on both sides of the border”. AIR currently broadcasts programmes in Punjabi from its Jalandhar station in short and medium wave transmitters, which do not air quality voice, thereby losing listeners to Pakistani channels. PTI
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, June 9
Stepping up its offensive against the infiltrators, the Army today killed five unidentified militants when they were trying to sneak into Kashmir from the Uri sector along the Line of Control.The fresh infiltration bid was foiled on the day Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre visited forward areas along the LoC to review the overall security situation.The latest bid was foiled near Gawalthan in Uri, some 120 km from Srinagar, when the Army intercepted a group of infiltrating militants trying to negotiate the LoC to enter into the Valley.“When the militants were challenged, they opened fire, triggering a gunfight. In the gunfight, five militants have been killed so far,” a source said. Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said the operation was still underway in the Uri sector.On Wednesday, an infiltration attempt was foiled in the same sector and in a brief gunfight two soldiers had been injured.Twelve militants have been killed in three gunfights in Nowgam and Machil in Kupwara district and Uri in Baramulla district since Wednesday. A jawan was also killed in one of these gunfights. A large quantity of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the gunfight sites.Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre also visited the forward areas along the LoC in Baramulla district to review the overall security situation.Defence spokesman said Bhamre along with Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen JS Sandhu visited forward areas along the LoC as also the hinterland where he interacted with soldiers and was briefed on the security situation.
Tributes paid to soldier Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre on Friday joined the Army in Srinagar in paying tributes to Rifleman Tara Bahadur Roka who was killed in the Nowgam sector on Thursday. Lt Gen JS Sandhu, Chinar Corps Commander, and all ranks paid homage to the soldier in a solemn ceremony at Badami Bagh Cantonment. “Laying wreath on behalf of the proud nation, the minister saluted the hero’s sacrifice and expressed his condolences to the bereaved family of the martyr who is survived by his parents,” a defence spokesman said. TNS
New Delhi, July 9
India is actively trying to join the export control regimes, the Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group, notwithstanding China’s attempts to stonewall its bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). An official said work on applying for a membership of the Wassenaar Arrangement had begun.An entry into the two groups can help strengthen India’s non-proliferation credentials and build up a strong case for it as the country seeks an entry into the 48-member NSG.The government also recently approved SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies) items, mandatory under the Wassernaar Arrangement.Through the revised list of items, India also seeks to send a message about its larger commitment to non-proliferation.Twenty-eight states are common members of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Australia Group, the Wassenaar Agreement and the NSG — the four non-proliferation groups.India is a member of the 35-member MTCR, which it joined last year. Membership in Wassenaar and Australia Group would give India a chance for a closer interaction with member-states and also hold up its credentials, despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Membership to these groups is by consensus, as in the NSG. Indian had applied for NSG membership last year, but its bid is primarily being blocked by China, which maintains that the signing the NPT is a prerequisite for entry into the bloc.Neither China nor Pakistan is a member of either of the two groups.Rakesh Sood, a former special envoy of the Prime Minister for disarmament and non-proliferation, said India had been working with these export control regimes.A team from the 41-nation Wassenaar Arrangement had visited New Delhi early this year, he said.Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, head of nuclear and space initiative at the Observer Research Foundation, said entry into the Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group would help remove “skepticism” about India’s NSG bid among some nations, which are still on the “edge”.“India’s membership to the NSG still looks very uncertain at this point of time due to the stiff opposition from China. In the meantime, its membership in other groups will give India additional opportunities to interact with the countries who are members of all four non-proliferation groups,” she said. — PTIThe Game plan
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 6
Delhi University student and martyr’s daughter Gurmehar Kaur today said the country was facing tough times in view of curbs on freedom of speech and expression with regard to both press and students.She was in the city to announce her alignment with Future Talent Society – a students’ group which will hold a national conclave on “Responsible Freedom of Expression”.Asked whether she thought that the country faced an “undeclared emergency”, she said, “I agree to the statement to some extent because if a student’s questioning of violence against a 17-year-old can be blown up into such a huge issue, then we are living in a tough time.”Trolled for her video questioning the ABVP, Gurmehar has ever since been celebrated as a champion for the freedom of speech.Terming it a national students’ movement, society president Gautam Seth said, “The aim of the conclave is to make the forces, working to rob us of our freedom, aware that we are free and our freedom can’t be snatched by anyone. Over 5,000 students and youths from across the country will participate.”Gurmehar said, “What angered me initially was seeing friends with broken wrists and lathi marks. There was a whole bunch of them who returned from the campaign which I had missed due to classes. You can’t impose violence on young girls just because you believe they did something wrong. You can’t do that.”
According to the advisory, Chinese living in India need to pay attention to the local security situation.
Beijing, July 8
Amid bilateral tensions over the Sikkim standoff, China on Saturday issued an advisory for its citizens travelling to India, asking them to take necessary precautions for their personal safety.
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“It is not a travel alert. It is an advisory asking Chinese travellers to be careful,” an official of the Chinese Foreign Ministry told PTI here.
The advisory asked Chinese people travelling to India to pay close attention to the security situation and take necessary precautions.The advisory, which is in Chinese and has today’s date on it, was issued through the country’s Embassy in New Delhi.It asked Chinese travellers to pay close attention to the local security situation, improve self-protection awareness, strengthen security, reduce unnecessary travel, pay attention to personal and property safety as well as to provide advance information to family and friends.The Chinese travellers should pay attention to the situation, keep the communication open, carry personal identification, strictly abide by the Indian laws and regulations and respect local religious customs, the advisory states.It also provides phone numbers of the consular section of the Embassy in case of emergency.On July 5, China had said it will decide on issuing a travel alert for Chinese citizens visiting India depending on the security situation, playing down reports in the official media asking Chinese investors to be on alert in view of the standoff in the Sikkim section.China and India have been engaged in the standoff in the Doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for the past three weeks after a Chinese Army’s construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim. — PTI
Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat
New Delhi, June 4
Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat has given a thumbs up to the strategic partnership model rolled out by the government to rope in leading private players for defence production, calling it a “big ticket” move to push modernisation of India’s armed forces.
Gen Rawat said the new model is expected to fast track Army’s modernisation plan as it will bring new technologies and help implement major military manufacturing projects.
The Army has been pressing for updating its weapons systems considering the evolving security scenario in the region and Gen Rawat said the SP model will help the Army in replacing its ageing fleet of tanks and critical weapons.
“The strategic partnership model is a big ticket thing.
It will help the modernisation of armed forces. We have to gradually think of replacing our tanks. In the next seven to eight years, some of our old systems will have to be replaced.
It is good to start the process now. Because for production to take place, you need time,” the Army Chief told PTI in a recent interaction.
Under the new model, government will allow Indian private sector companies to form joint ventures with foreign defence majors to build fighter aircraft, helicopters, submarines and main battle tanks in India.
Referring to the Army’s modernisation programme, Gen Rawat expressed happiness over its progress and referred to arrival of two ultra light howitzers from the US and also about the Dhanush 155mm artillery gun developed by the DRDO.
“The modernisation programme is moving. It is on fast track. It cannot happen overnight. It is a process,” he said, adding the artillery modernisation programme was going on “very very well”.
After a 30-year wait for new artillery guns since the Bofors scandal, the Army last month received the first two howitzers from the US as part of an order for 145 long-range guns.
Gen Rawat said modernisation of the armed forces must be a continuous process, adding the Navy and the Air Force are going to benefit significantly from the SP model.
“Modernisation is a process which must continue and must happen at all times. You will always have some equipment in the Army which is reaching the stage of obsolescence,” he said.
Talking about the need to look for new technology for the Army, he said, “You keep getting future technology and future technology becomes current and current will become obsolete.
It is a cycle.”
The government unveiled the much-awaited strategic partnership (SP) model last week which is aimed at setting up world-class production facilities in India to manufacture submarines, fighter jets and battle tanks.
Asked about his recent comments that the armed forces are not getting their due share of resources, Gen Rawat said he made the remarks as the defence budget was little less than expected, but added that SP model will offset the shortage.
“The government is going ahead with SP model. It is also goining for government-to-government contracts (for military procurement). These steps will help us,” Gen Rawat said.
Last month, the Army Chief lamented that the spending on defence is considered a “burden” by many in the country and the military is not getting its due share.
India’s defence budget for 2017-18 was Rs 2.74 lakh crore, which is 1.63 per cent of GDP. China’s defence budget is close to three per cent of its GDP.
There has been a feeling among security experts and the defence establishment that the modernisation of armed forces is taking place at a very slow pace and that government has not been allocating adequate funds for it in the last few years.
Asked about the report of the committee headed by Lt General (retd) D B Shekatkar, he said some of the recommendations are being considered for implementation in a phased manner.
“We are working towards it,” he said.
The committee was appointed in May last year to recommend steps for enhancing combat capability and rebalancing defence expenditure and it had submitted its report to the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in December 2016. PT
“JUST FIX ME FOR GOOD,” HE SAID. NO QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT RISKS OR COMPLICATIONS. HIS WIFE PUT UP A BRAVE FACE THOUGH I COULD MAKE OUT SHE WAS ANXIOUS.
The other day, an elderly man, who looked fit, walked into my clinic. I instinctively knew he was from the armed forces. “Doc, I need to undergo a bypass surgery,” he said in a no-nonsense manner.
I went through his medical records. He had suffered a major heart attack and his angiogram showed critical blocks. His heart functioning was laboured. I learnt he was a retired wing commander from the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“Just fix me for good,” he said. No questions about risks or complications. His wife put up a brave face though I could make out she was anxious.
We took him for an off-pump triple bypass. The surgery went off well. His heart bounced back to normal. He was fast-tracked in the intensive care unit (ICU). Armed forces’ men hate to be tied down. Action and discipline is in their blood. These qualities stay for life.
The day after the surgery, he was sitting in a chair reading a newspaper. On Day 2, he combed his hair and got ready. He had to look smart to the nurses you see!
He returned home on the sixth day. On his first post-surgery visit, he was smartly turned out. “I tied the turban myself,” he said proudly. All parameters were good. In my office, his eyes settled on my father’s photo. “I know this guy,” he said pointing to the third man in the standing row. “I flew him in my Dakota with a bunch of paratroopers in December 1971.”
Men from the services have an unwritten code of mutual respect for each other. I knew he was referring to the war of liberation of Bangladesh. I was in school then. We found it fun though I knew that my dad was in the thick of a battle. There was curfew in Dehradun and we dug trenches in school, had mock drills, and blackouts at night. We prepared for the final school exams in candlelight.
Dad was a paratrooper (the Red Devils because of their maroon berets/turbans) in the then secret and decorated Establishment 22 (Special Frontier Force) and had been parachuted behind the enemy lines in Chittagong with his men.
They were part of the brave effort put up by the Indian Army and the Mukti Bahini in getting the Pakistani forces to surrender. Anyway, the wing commander (then a flight lieutenant) flew the DC3, popularly called Dakota, used in the 1971 war. He recalled that it was a twin prop piston engine aircraft that could seat 28 armed paratroopers. It had a cruising speed of 150 miles per hour and a range of over 1,000 miles. It could fly nonstop from Delhi to Bombay.
He said he remembered the sortie where he dropped dad and his troops! On recalling that day, he looked at his wife, twirled his moustache and smiled.
When I got home I told my dad about the gentleman. Dad squared his shoulders, looked at my mother, twirled his moustache and smiled.
It’s a small world, isn’t it?
Dehradun, June 1
Army Education Corps (AEC) celebrated its 97th Raising Day at the IMA here today. IMA Commandant Lt-Gen SK Upadhya conveyed his best wishes to all ranks and families of AEC and lauded the role of corps towards strengthing academic aspect at the academy. Brig Rajveer Singh, head of the Academic Department, IMA, extended his best wishes to the personnel of AEC and asked all ranks of the corps to re-dedicate themselves to the cause of education in the Army. — TNS
