L-R) Haroop Kaur, Nivedita Saini, Kanwarnoor, Anish Pandey
Chandigarh, June 15
Two cadets of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute and two from the Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls, both in Mohali, have become commissioned officers in the IAF.
Flying Officer Kanwarnoor Singh, who hails from Tarn Taran, will be joining the Flying Branch as a fighter pilot, while Flying Officer Anish Pandey, who belongs to Amritsar, will be joining the Flying Branch as a helicopter pilot.
Flying Officer Haroop Kaur, who will be joining the Education Branch, is the daughter of a head constable in the Punjab Police, while Flying Officer Nivedita Saini, who will be joining the Logistic Branch hails from Pathankot and is the daughter of the principal of the District Institute of Education and Training. The cadets were awarded their brevets and badges during the Graduation Parade held at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal.
Three newly commissioned officers from this region have bagged top honours in their respective streams on passing out from the Air Force Academy, Dundigal, on Saturday.
Flying Officer Lalit Gautam, who was awarded the President’s Plaque for standing first in the overall merit in the Navigation Branch and Flying Officer Nandni Sorout topped in the Education Branch, are both from Palwal (Haryana), while Flying Officer Manvi, who stood first in the Accounts Branch hails from Shimla.
Gautam was part of the 213th Course at the AFA, is a second-generation soldier and an NCC ‘C’ Certificate holder from the Army Wing’s 8th Punjab Battalion. Before opting for the IAF, he was working as a systems engineer with Infosys Private Limited.
Nandni is a national-level athlete and the daughter of an NIS qualified coach of the IAF. Flying Officer Manvi is the daughter of an Income Tax Inspector and, though a native of Shimla, studied in Delhi. Both received the Chief of Air Staff Trophy.
New Delhi, June 15
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Saturday said “tomorrow’s conflicts cannot be fought with yesterday’s mindset”, stressing the expected changes in technology and how these would impact future wars.
Bijnor lad adjudged overall best cadet
- The President’s Plaque and the Chief of Air Staff’s Sword of Honour for being the overall best cadet was awarded to Flying Officer Happy Singh from the Flying Branch, who hails from Bijnor, UP
- Flying Officer Taufeeq Raza was awarded the President’s Plaque for being first in the overall order of merit in the ground duty officers’ course
- Flying Officer Akashdeep Singh from Gurdaspur too passed out. He is the son of a soldier in the Defence Security Corps that is tasked to provide security to key installations. He will join the Flying Branch
The IAF Chief was speaking at the combined graduation parade at the Air Force Academy (AFA), Hyderabad. In all, 235 flight cadets of flying and ground duty branches of the IAF passed out of AFA.
He said the year 2024 was declared as the year of “transformation through upskilling. All newly commissioned officers need to learn different skills in order to become ‘multi-domain leaders”.
Speaking on modern warfare, the IAf Chief reminded the passing-out cadets that modern warfare is dynamic and ever evolving, and increasingly influenced by complex data networks and advanced cyber technologies. “As leaders, you all need to adopt, innovate and leverage technology effectively for proving decisive in winning wars,” Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari added.
Talking about the core values of the IAF – mission integrity and excellence — the IAF Chief said mission accomplishment was of utmost importance and vital for maintaining the direction, efficiency and overall success of an organisation.
The graduating officers included 22 women who got commissioned in various branches of the IAF. Nine officers from the Navy, nine from the Indian Coast Guard and the lone cadet from a foreign country were awarded ‘wings’ on successful completion of flying training. This is also the first time that 25 cadets who joined the NDA four years ago for ‘ground duty’, were commissioned as officers.
Many Indians are likely to be part of the Russian army fighting a war against Ukraine and a good number of them may be from Punjab, said Parminder Kaur, widow of Amritsar’s Tejpal Singh, who was killed fighting for Russia on March 12.
She said when she could not talk to Tejpal for quite some time, she managed to get the phone numbers of two persons known to her husband, who were also with the Russian army. Both of them belong to Amritsar district. Their names were Lovepreet Singh and Harpreet Singh, but she had forgotten the names of their village.
She said she had a conversation with Lovepreet Singh about a month ago to know about the whereabouts of her husband. He had told her that he was not aware about the exact location of Tejpal. He had also told her that he was trying to run away from Russia to be back with his family in India. She said she had come to know that the number of Indians fighting for Russia was quite high. After this, she could not contact Lovepreet as his phone was switched off.
On June 10, she came to know that Tejpal had died. The mother of a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, Parminder stated, “I do not know the exact number of people from the region serving the Russian army but their families should come forward to disclose this. Since all of them are civilians with no combat background, they are deployed in the frontline while communication remains a big challenge for them”.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Saturday visited the house of Tejpal on behalf of the government. He announced that the Punjab Government would provide all possible help to the family of Tejpal Singh, who had died for the Russian army. He said the government was making efforts to bring back his body. The government was constantly in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Chandigarh, June 14
The 1999 Kargil conflict was fought amidst a highly challenging situation with serious deficiencies in equipment and information as well as financial constraints. Stating this here today, former Chief of the Army Staff, Gen VP Malik, who was heading the force at that time, said despite such adversities, the men rose to the occasion.
Speaking at a motivational seminar organised by the National Cadet Corps here today to mark the conflict’s 25th anniversary, he said some countries tried to sell old ammunition and pass off second-hand equipment to India.
Sanctions levied on India due to the nuclear tests a year earlier added to the problem as much required ammunition and equipment could not be procured from overseas. In this light, he stressed for a strong indigenous military industrial base.
General Malik said now the situation along the Line of Control in Kashmir, where the two-month war had been fought to evict Pakistani intruders who had transgressed into India territory, has vastly improved and many operational and logistical deficiencies have been overcome with the induction of new equipment.
Among other speakers was Lt Gen YK Joshi, former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, who had commanded the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles battalion that had captured key positions in the conflict, resulting in Capt Vikram Barta and Rifleman Sanjay Kumar being decorated with the Param Vir Chakra.
Presentations were also made on the capture of Tiger Hill, capture of Batra Top, where Vikram Barta had made the supreme sacrifice, lessons learnt from the conflict and the role of Ladakh Scouts, the regiment that draws its manpower from Ladakh.
Delivering the keynote address, NCC Director General Lt Gen Gurbirpal Singh said such events served as an important platform to motivate the youth and make them aware about the experiences and gallant deeds of the soldiers.
About 500 NCC cadets, associate NCC officers, research scholars, faculty from colleges and universities and other distinguished guests along with senior officers from the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorate attended the event.
Chandigarh, June 15
To pay tributes to soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice during the 1999 Kargil conflict, the Dras Thunder Motorcycle Rally was flagged off on its next leg from the Veer Smriti war memorial in Chandimandir today.
The rally will cover a distance of 1,029 km via Pathankot, Palampur, Nagrota and Srinagar before culminating at the Kargil War Memorial in Dras to commemorate the Rajat Jayanti of Kargil Vijay Diwas.
The team comprises Indian Army personnel, war veterans of Operation Vijay, next of kin of bravehearts and Dras locals. Besides paying homage to war heroes, the rally seeks to inspire young generation through motivational talks planned enroute at Jalandhar and Jammu. The team will also meet gallantry award winners, veterans and war widows during their journey.
Chandigarh, June 15
With drones now becoming an integral part of the country’s aviation sector skyline, the National Cadet Corps (NCC) is introducing a new training module for its cadets that will enable them to obtain a licence for operating drones.
“We are working out the details and modalities of conducting such courses,” NCC Director-General, Lt Gen Gurbirpal Singh said here today. “Possessing a licence to operate a drone above a certain weight is mandatory as per law and this would open up more commercial opportunities for our cadets” he added.
The training in this regard is expected to include flight operations of drones, communication links, technical aspects, employment of drones for specific tasks and the design and fabrication of flying models.
In fact, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence had, in a report tabled last year, suggested that the NCC introduce new fields of training include such as cyber and computer expertise, laser expertise and space science, to make the cadets versatile. “The IT skills should also include specific training on drone applications, which is the need of the hour,” the committee said.
The NCC is already exposing its cadets to flying activities on micro-light aircraft, of which there are two variants in the organisation’s inventory. Air Wing cadets are required to undergo a stipulated number of sorties as part of their training curriculum. In addition, fabricating and operating radio controlled aero-models, having limited range of up to about 300 meters, has been part of NCC activity for a long time.
The NCC is the world’s largest uniformed youth organisation, with a strength of 17 lakh cadets, which trains school and college-going students in basic military skills, discipline, leadership and adventure, besides involving them in social activities.
Lt Gen Gurbirpal said that sanction was recently accorded to increase the strength by another three lakh cadets. “Now about 40 per cent of the NCC cadet strength would comprise girls,” he added.
The number of educational institutions seeking to join the NCC is also increasing. At present over 20,000 institutes across the country have NCC, while close to 10,000 institutes are reported to be on the waiting list, up by about 500 over the past three years. Each year 8,000-10,000 cadets join the forces, out of which some are for the officer cadre.
Narayanpur, June 15
Eight Naxalites and a jawan of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Saturday, the police said.
Two other STF personnel sustained injuries in the incident, they said. A huge cache of weapons and other materials belonging to Naxalites were recovered from the encounter site, they said.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said his government was fully committed to eliminating Naxalites, and it would not sit quiet till it achieved the goal. The gunfight broke out around 7 am in the forest of Abhujmad, where a joint team of security personnel from four districts — Narayanpur, Kanker, Dantewada and Kondagaon — was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range Sundarraj P said.
The operation was launched on June 12 based on information about the presence of cadres belonging to Maad division and PLGA company no. 1 of Maoists in forests of Kutul, Farsebeda and Kodtameta villages under the Kohkameta police station area of the district, he said. Personnel from the police’s District Reserve Guard and STF, along with the 53rd battalion of the ITBP were involved in the operation, he said.
