Monthly Archives: August 2018

When Manmohan Singh, who opened the new era of economic liberalisation back in 1991 during his tenure as Finance Minister, calls the current slowdown a man-made crisis, the NDA government can’t afford to dismiss his concerns as an opposition leader’s rant. The renowned economist has appealed to the powers that be to put aside vendetta politics and reach out to the ‘sane voices and thinking minds’ to revitalise the economy. Though the oblique reference to the contentious case of fellow Congress leader P Chidambaram could have been avoided, the former PM deserves to be heard, laying bare the malaise afflicting the economic ecosystem.

The tell-tale signs are too alarming to be ignored. India is no longer the fastest growing major economy in the world; according to India Today, it has been overtaken by China, Vietnam, Egypt and Indonesia. The GDP growth rate has dropped to a six-year low of 5 per cent for the April-June quarter; the rate was as high as 8 per cent in the corresponding period of the 2018-19 financial year. Pushed to the brink, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reversed some of her budgetary proposals in a bid to allay the industry’s apprehensions. Rather than trying to defend the indefensible, she is coming up with corrective steps and reaching out to the stakeholders. However, there is a general perception that the government has taken too long to come out of the self-congratulatory mode after the landslide victory in the 2019 General Election.

The massive mandate that the BJP received — despite the widespread upheaval caused by demonetisation and GST— led to complacency that fuelled $5-trillion dreams. The rank failure of the Opposition to regroup also emboldened the ruling party to have visions of invincibility. The rampaging BJP might be expanding its footprint across the country, but the economic mess has well and truly cut short its honeymoon. Desperate measures like making the RBI part with

Rs 1.76 lakh crore won’t be of much help in the long run. Now that her mentor Arun Jaitley is not around, Sitharaman must pay heed to the voices that count, even if these emanate from the rival camp.

Latest rules say Lt Colonels will not be promoted as ‘time-scale Colonels’ by the Army if their mental health is impacted by alcoholism or any form of substance abuse.

New Delhi: Lieutenant Colonels who are not in the best of psychological health because of alcoholism or any form of substance abuse will no longer be promoted as ‘time-scale Colonels’ by the Army, no matter how exceptionally they perform, ThePrint has learnt.

Time-scale Colonels are those Army officers who are given the rank after completing 26 years in service. Lt Colonels are eligible for promotion as Colonels after 16-18 years in service, but often miss the bus owing to a lack of vacancies or because they fail to clear the promotion board. These candidates are promoted as time-scale Colonels after 26 years.

Time-scale Colonels write the letters ‘TS’ against their rank.

The amended promotion rules were issued by the Personnel and Services Department of the Army last month.

The bar on promotions, a top Army source told ThePrint, will not apply if the cause of psychological issues is determined to be something else, like a stressful home situation, the loss of a loved one, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The psychological scale

The mental health of Army officers is determined through a five-point scale that runs from S1 to S5, where S1 constitutes the fittest one can be. These are ascertained by military psychiatrists. Qualification as S5, Army officials explained, leads to disqualification.

According to the Army’s tweaked promotion rules, Lt Colonels found to be in the “S2” category of psychological or mental health because of alcoholism or substance abuse will not be eligible for promotion, even if they have good Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), which document a candidate’s performance, and are medically fit otherwise (vision, hearing, overall physiology, etc).

A steep pyramid

Colonels constitute the fifth rung of the hierarchy among Army officers, after Lieutenant, Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel.

The first four ranks are determined by the time personnel spend in the force: They are commissioned as Lieutenants, become Captains after two years of service, Majors after six years, and Lieutenant Colonels after 13 years.

After that, the hierarchy becomes steep, and promotion is incumbent on vacancies — when a Colonel is promoted as Brigadier or retires.

Lt Colonels thus get two kinds of promotions: One is ‘selection grade’ promotion, which takes place after a candidate completes 16 to 18 years of commissioned service. Candidates at this stage have to appear before a promotion board. As many as 50 per cent of Lt Colonels are not promoted as Colonels after the promotion board.

Those who are not empanelled as Colonels at this time are promoted as time-scale Colonels after 26 years of commissioned service, subject to consistently high ACRs and medical fitness.

So far, promotion as time-scale colonels was considered relatively more relaxed.

Another senior Army official said the measure was meant to put emphasis on the health of Army personnel.

“Most Lt Colonels miss being empanelled not because of reasons under their control, but because of lack of vacancies,” the official said. “This move will keep them motivated to take care of their health and fitness.”

Psychological health remains an important concern for armed forces personnel, who work under extreme work conditions and stress. This also reflects in the number of suicides involving military personnel in India.

Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply to Parliament this year that 104 military personnel committed suicide in 2018.

Tribune News Service
Rewari, September 29

Former Border Security Force constable Tej Bahadur Yadav joined Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) on Sunday, less than a month before Haryana holds assembly elections.

Yadav, who was dismissed from service in 2017 after he posted a video complaining about the food served to BSF troops, said he would contest from Karnal against Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

He had previously tried to contest Lok Sabha elections as a Samajwadi Party candidate from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Election Commission of India however rejected his nomination, prompting him to unsuccessfully challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. The Election Commission had attributed its decision to differing accounts of how he was dismissed from service in his nomination papers.

Naik Rajendra Singh who got killed in the encounter in Ramban on Saturday, September 28, 2019. PTI

Ramban/Jammu/Srinagar, September 28

A top Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ who is suspected to have a role in the assassinations of senior BJP leaders and an RSS functionary was killed along with two other militants in a nine-hour operation in which a jawan lost his life in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.

The militants, identified as Osama and his associates Zahid and Farooq, were gunned down after they tried to escape from a house where they had barged in while being chased by security forces following a brief exchange of fire in Batote area along Jammu-Kishtwar national highway early this morning, they said, adding a house-owner was also rescued after the encounter ended.

Osama was the brain behind several sensational incidents, including the killings of senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar on November 1, 2018, and RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO on April 9, officials said. He was carrying a reward of several lakhs of rupees and was also wanted in three weapon snatching incidents in Kishtwar town.

Despite repeated attempts to make them surrender, the militants tried to escape from the house while firing indiscriminately on the forces and were eliminated in the encounter, they said.

“All the three terrorists were killed in the gunfight, while an army soldier also achieved martyrdom,” Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand told PTI.

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Charanjit Singh Teja
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, September 27

Based on a tip-off from arrested members of terror module Khalistan Zindabaad Force (KZF), the state special operation cell (SSOC) on Friday recovered a drone from Mahawa village near Attari on the Indo-Pak border here.

A team—along with two KZF members Akashdeep and Subhdeep—visited Mahawa on Friday morning. The SSOC officials claimed that the duo had hid the drone in the bushes on the defense drain near the village.

Also read: Drones from Pakistan dropped arms in Punjab: DGP

“During investigation, the arrested persons confessed that they hid the drone at Mahawa.The same drone had been used for carrying a consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives from Pakistan,” said a SSOC official.

Also read: NIA team visits spot where drone was destroyed by KZF terror module members

On Thursday police had nabbed Shubhdeep Singh alias Shubh. Earlier, the police arrested Akashdeep, Balwant Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Baba Balbir Singh, Mann Singh and Gurdev Singh in the case.

The police have nabbed seven members of the terror module till now.

https://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=9ad62f5e&imageview=0

Amritsar, September 24

Two days after the recovery of arms and ammunition and busting of a terrorist module, the Punjab Police today recovered a drone allegedly used by groups in Pakistan to drop weapons in the state. The cops acted on the confession of Akashdeep Singh and his accomplices.

Meanwhile, CM Capt Amarinder Singh said he was pursuing the matter with the Union Home Ministry. His political adviser Raveen Thukral said the CM had spoken to Amit Shah on the gravity of the situation two days ago.

Sources said following the abrogation of Article 370, the Pakistan-based ISI was trying to disturb peace in Punjab and enhance terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. The use of drones to smuggle  weapons across the heavily guarded Indo-Pak border was its new modus operandi. – TNS

Wing Commander Dhami, serving for 15 years now, has been flying choppers. She became the first woman flying instructor of the Air Force.

NEW DELHI: 

Wing Commander Shaliza Dhami became the first woman officer of the Indian Air Force to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit, news agency ANI reported. Flight Commander is the second in command of the unit.

Wing Commander Dhami, serving for 15 years now, has been flying choppers. She became the first woman flying instructor of the Air Force and is also the first woman officer to get permanent commission of the flying branch.

She took charge of a Chetak helipcopter unit at the Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Chetak is a single engine turbo shaft, light utility helicopter with capacity of 6 passengers and has maximum speed of 220 km/hour.

“The helicopter is suitable for commuting, cargo / material transport, casualty evacuation, Search & Rescue (SAR), Aerial Survey & MAybePatrolling, Emergency Medical Services, Off-shore operations and Under slung operations,” according to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL website.

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Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday that his government would invite former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor.

In a video posted on Twitter Qureshi is heard saying that the former prime minister represented the Sikh community.

“We are making big preparations for it,” he said. “We have decided to invite former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is held in high esteem and represents the Sikh community. On behalf of the Pakistan government, I extend our invite to him. We shall invite him in writing too,” Qureshi said.

“We want all the Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur and participate in the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev,” he said.

The Kartarpur gurdwara, located on the bank of river Ravi in Pakistan, is about 4 km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district, and about 120 km northeast of Lahore. Guru Nanak had lived there for 18 years until his demise in 1539.

The corridor will allow pilgrims to travel from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan. It will be thrown open on November 9 to mark the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.

‘No information’

 Singh’s office said it neither received such an invitation nor did it have any information about it.

The Congress meanwhile remained tight-lipped about the purported invitation. Congress sources added that Singh, even if invited, was unlikely to go.

“When he did not go to Pakistan when he was Prime Minister for ten years of the Congress led UPA rule, why will he go now?” a senior Congress functionary said.

Ramgarh (Jharkhand), Sept 25

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said it was a privilege for him to have got an opportunity to address personnel of the Punjab Regiment, the oldest regiment of the Indian Army.

He was here for presenting President’s colours to 29th and 30th battalions of the regiment. It had even taken part in overseas operations in the 19th century, an Army statement said.

The Punjab Regiment was also a part of the UNs Peace Keeping Missions in Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Congo.

While Lieutenant Preetpal Singh received the President’s colours on behalf of the 29th battalion of the regiment, Lieutenant Kishan Goraiya received it on behalf of 30th battalion from the Army chief.

The President’s colours comprise a flag of a specific design given to infantry battalions. The Punjab Regimental Centre was first raised at Loralai in 1915, subsequently moved to Multan in 1922, then to Meerut in 1929 and finally to its present location at Ramgarh in 1976, the statement said. — PTI