Monthly Archives: August 2018

Vaishali, July 15

As the Russian army continues its operation in Ukraine, the soldiers march on using ‘Made in Bihar’ boots manufactured in Hajipur.

Bihar’s Hajipur city, known for its agricultural production, is writing its own story by manufacturing safety shoes for the Russian army, which has an acclaimed international presence.

Hajipur-based Competence Exports, a private limited company, makes safety shoes for companies based in Russia and designer shoes catering to European markets.

Speaking about the facility, general manager Shib Kumar Roy said: “We started the Hajipur facility in 2018, and the main interest is to generate local employment. At Hajipur, we make safety shoes that are meant to be exported to Russia. The entire exports are for Russia and we are also slowly working on Europe and will launch in the domestic market soon.”

Roy added that the Bihar Government had promoted and supported industries but it still needed improvement in infrastructure like roads and better communication so that buyers from Russia could communicate easily. “Our aim is to develop high-end shoes for international brands,” said Mazhar Pallumiah, head of marketing for the company.

The Indian Navy said on Monday that the “warships INS Aditya and INS Visakhapatnam were part of the exercise with US Naval Carrier Strike Group comprising USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Daniel Inouye in the Arabian Sea on July 12”.

The US Central Command headquartered at Bahrain had earlier on July 12 put a post on X saying the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) arrived in the US 5th Fleet area of operations on July 12 to deter “aggression, promote regional stability and protect the free flow of commerce in the region”. The US said the joint maritime activity with the Indian Navy advances interoperability between the two major defence partners and underscores their shared commitment to upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The US and Indian military forces are focused on improving shared maritime domain awareness and information sharing; enhancing replenishment at mid-sea and interoperating with logistics of each other while improving combined air-to-air capabilities. The Indian Navy routinely participates alongside US Navy units in multilateral exercises.

In a major relief to the Himachal Pradesh Government, the Ministry of Defence has agreed to transfer free of cost to the state the proprietary rights over all assets meant for providing civic amenities to the civilian population in cantonments.

As all civil areas, after their excision from cantonments, will be handed over to the state and merged with local municipalities in accordance with the latest guidelines, the residents have heaved a sigh of relief. Once the exercise is completed, the civilian population will be able to enjoy the benefits of various state government schemes and also undertake need-based repair and modifications in their buildings without following a rigorous procedure. The state government, for its part, will be able to impose taxes in such areas, which will be governed by local municipal laws.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was supposed to lease out its properties to the state government while retaining the ownership rights. Civil areas are currently being excised out of Himachal’s six cantonment towns of Kasauli, Dagshai, Subathu, Baklog, Jutogh and Dalhousie, an exercise that is being conducted nationally. The process was completed at Khas Yol in Kangra district last year.

The MoD has issued related directions to the Cantonment Executive Officers (CEOs) to liaise with the state government and apprise it of the status of such areas. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Director General Defence Estate held on June 26.

Confirming the development, Kasauli Sub-Divisional Magistrate Narayan Chauhan said, “Once the CEO sends the revised report based on the new directions to the state government, we will conduct a field assessment and prepare the final report.”

The municipal jurisdiction over the leased and old grant properties (OGPs) in the “excised” area shall also be transferred to state municipalities. “Though this is a welcome move, a majority of the OGPs are located outside civil areas on the defence land in towns like Kasauli. The owners of such properties are keen to be part of the “excising”. This will, however, require change in modalities as in the present scenario, only civilian areas are being excised from cantonments,” observed Devinder Gupta, former vice-president of the Kasauli cantonment board.

Of the total 688 acres in Kasauli Cantonment, the notified civil area (NCA) comprises 43.5 acres. It includes Sadar Bazaar, Market Bazaar, Mashobra, Slaughter House, Ettawa and Nahari. Out of these pockets, certain vacant land of Sadar Bazaar and Slaughter House area were earlier proposed to be retained by the defence authorities. These areas would also be excised from the cantonment, as per the MoD’s fresh guidelines.

The state government will be able to collect over Rs 50 lakh as house tax. This will be its sole commercial gain after merging certain NCAs into nearby panchayats.

What will change

• State to earn extra revenue from newly merged areas
• Owners of buildings can easily carry out need-based modifications in their properties

Doda is one of those heavily forested hilly districts of Jammu division where terrorists are believed to be operating on a hit-and-run strategy

Jammu, July 16

Four army personnel, including an officer, who were critically injured in a gunfight with heavily-armed terrorists, succumbed to injuries in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir early Tuesday, official sources said.

The encounter took place when the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late Monday evening, the officials said.

After a brief exchange of fire, the terrorists tried to escape but were chased by the brave troops led by an officer, despite challenging terrain and thick foliage, leading to another firefight in the woods around 9 pm, they said.

Five soldiers were critically injured in the encounter and four of them, including the officer, later succumbed to injuries, the officials said.

Long-post on applicability of death related benefits to Next of Kin of deceased defence personnel:

I have been watching with disbelief the ill-informed and disturbing commentary on death-related benefits to the parents and widows of deceased defence personnel. Usually, I avoid commenting on issues that assume divisive, controversial or political colour, but seeing misinformation and also certain crass comments on social media, I thought I would be failing in my duty if I do not put across the correct position.

First things first. The Govt cannot be faulted in these issues and the official policies are well-rounded, time-tested and liberal, even though there are a few areas in which progressive changes can be initiated, as is the case with most policies. All such cases of disputes (or imaginary/imposed disputes) are a matter of interpersonal relations and have no connection with the Govt or the defence services, and neither is their intervention or interference called for, and further, there is no black or white or mathematical solution to such issues and one-sided stories casually thrown into the public domain can do more harm than good, including on the psyche of families. If there are stories of spouses mistreating the parents of the deceased, there also are instances of widows being turned out of the house or forced to marry someone else in the family. One cannot reach a conclusion of right or wrong based only on assumptions. Having said that, please do not get me wrong since this is not to discredit those public spirited individuals who, in human interest, try to bring out such stories of despair and misery.

TYPES OF PENSION
Family Pension in the defence services is (broadly) of three types-

-Ordinary Family Pension (OFP) which is granted when the death is in no manner related to military service, such as death in a road accident while on leave without any connection to service conditions, suicide etc

-Special Family Pension (SFP) when the death is due to factors which have a direct or indirect link with service, such as death while on duty due to a disease incurred while in service, or accident on duty etc

-Liberalised Family Pension (LFP) due to death in operational areas.

IS PENSION A PART OF ESTATE?
Pension/Pensionary benefits do not form a part of ‘Estate’ and CANNOT be determined by the ‘Will’, and in usual circumstances are released only to the spouse. In case of unmarried personnel, it is released to the parents. OFP is released to parents of unmarried personnel subject to an income/means limit, while there is no such condition for SFP and LFP.

CAN PENSION BE DIVIDED?
OFP cannot be divided, however SFP and LFP can be divided between the widow and the parents in case of destitution subject to conditions laid down by the Govt, subject to investigation, such as in case the widow does not support children after remarriage etc.

IS FAMILY PENSION DISCONTINUED ON REMARRIAGE?
SFP and LFP are NOT discontinued on remarriage. Even OFP is not discontinued on remarriage but is subject to an income limit from other sources, whereas there is no such limit for SFP/LFP. Those who are advocating stoppage of Pension on remarriage are advocating a regressive move and taking the clock back to the dark ages while the founding fathers and mothers of this nation took great pains to advocate and encourage widow remarriage, and so did the Government.

NOMINATIONS AND WILLS
Benefits such as Insurance and other amounts which form a part of the ‘Estate’ are supposed to be released as per nomination but are subject to the ‘Will’ of the person or succession laws in case the person dies intestate (without leaving a Will). As the name signifies, a Will is prepared as per the person’s own wish and neither the Govt, nor the Army or family can have a say in the same. The law of succession is much too complex to be discussed on social media, and in fact should not be casually discussed by commentators since these are complicated legal issues which can lead to much complexities for the parties concerned. Even those in full knowledge, or legally qualified, should, IMHO, refrain from rendering ‘advice’ on social media, since neither is it ethical, nor warranted.

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS
What the official establishment can however do to improve the situation is to introduce division of OFP in cases of destitution of parents which is not currently permissible.

Secondly, the allied facilities or in-house facilities of the defence services which are not directly or wholly funded by public exchequer, and invitations to ceremonies etc should be equally extended to parents and spouses. Much of it is done, but the schism can be covered and officially mandated. The acknowledgment of sacrifice of those Killed in Action must flow towards both parents and the spouse. The establishment must have in place an equal outreach to parents and spouses.

Thirdly, most State Govts grant ex-gratia from their own funds to families of soldiers who die in the line of duty. Many States have a policy of dividing the ex-gratia between parents and the spouse. All States can be encouraged to follow such a system. Moreover, the variation of amount between different States can be requested to be bridged by the Central Govt, though it cannot be legally enforced being a State subject. It may not be out of place to mention here that successive Raksha Mantris have made such attempts in the past.

Fourthly, reservations such as in housing, and other facilities such as medical care etc must equally flow to parents and surviving spouses.

Again, to reiterate- the Govt and the defence services have done a lot for the families of those whom we lose in war or otherwise. Much of the issues being discussed on social media are interpersonal and private between the parties where official intervention is neither permissible, nor warranted. Rather than creating gaps between the families, we must find ways to address these issues in a more mature manner.

But then this is not to say that there would not be some horrifying stories or that any such happenings which would shock the societal conscience should be brushed under the carpet or should not be brought out or highlighted. The members of the defence services are part of the same society and are not immune to human faults and sufferings.

The above is only for the purposes of better understanding of issues.

Please do not use my post for political purposes, and please do not cite or reproduce this or any part of it in any publication. 

Thanks.

It is celebrating ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas Rajat Jayanti’ at Air Force Station Sarsawa from July 12-26 to honour the bravehearts

New Delhi, July 14

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday recalled the force’s contribution in the Kargil war 25 years ago during which it flew thousands of strike missions and helicopters sorties to bolster the Army’s efforts in fighting against the adversary.

To commemorate the silver jubilee of the victory in the 1999 Kargil war, the IAF is celebrating ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas Rajat Jayanti’ at Air Force Station Sarsawa from July 12-26, honouring the bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice for the nation, the ministry of defence said in a statement.

On Saturday, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari laid a wreath at the Station War Memorial as a tribute to all air warriors who laid down their lives in service of the nation. He felicitated and interacted with many next of kin during the event.     

A spectacular air show was organised that included display by the Akash Ganga Team and aerial displays by Jaguar, Su-30 MKI and Rafale fighter aircraft.

A ‘Missing Man’ formation was flown by Mi-17 V5 in memory of the fallen heroes.    A static display of IAF helicopters such as Mi-17 V5, Cheetah and Chinook was also organised along with performances by the Air Warrior Drill Team and the Air Force Band, it said.

The event was witnessed by over 5,000 spectators, including school children, local residents of Saharanpur area, veterans, civil dignitaries and personnel of defence forces establishments from Roorkee, Dehradun and Ambala.

The IAF has a proud legacy of courage and sacrifice by its gallant air warriors who fought valiantly in the Kargil War 1999, which was indeed a milestone in the history of military aviation, the statement said.

“IAF operations in Kargil War (‘Op Safed Sagar’) are a testament to IAF’s ability to overcome insurmountable challenges posed by the steep gradient and dizzying altitudes of above 16,000 ft, that posed unique operational difficulties in targeting the enemy,” it said.

The swift technical modifications and on the-job-training held IAF in good stead in its employment of air power to win this war fought at the highest battlefield of the world.

“Overall, IAF flew around 5,000 strike missions, 350 reconnaissance/ ELINT missions, and around 800 escort flights. The IAF also flew over 2,000 helicopter sorties towards casualty evacuations and air transport operations,” the ministry said.

Also, the 152 Helicopter Unit, ‘The Mighty Armour’, of Air Force Station Sarsawa played a key role during ‘Op Safed Sagar’. On May 28, 1999, Sqn Ldr R Pundir, Flt Lt S Muhilan, Sgt PVNR Prasad and Sgt R K Sahu of 152 HU were tasked to fly as ‘Nubra’ formation for a live strike against enemy positions at Tololing. After successfully pressing home the attack, their helicopter was hit by an enemy Stinger Missile during the break away, leading to the loss of four precious lives, it said.

For this act of exceptional courage, they were awarded Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry), posthumously. Their supreme sacrifice ensured that their names forever remain etched in the annals of history of IAF forever.

The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence also posted on X a video marking 25th year of the victory of the Indian armed forces in the Kargil war.

‘On this day, 25 years ago, #OperationVijay was declared a resounding success. Our soldiers stood tall amidst the Kargil heights, their extraordinary bravery and heroism a source of immense national pride and honour. #25YearsofKargilVijay,’ it posted.

The war was declared over on July 26, 1999, after the Indian forces successfully pushed back the Pakistani forces which had stealthily occupied important heights in Ladakh.

New Delhi, July 10

Russia on Wednesday said it is hoping for quick resolution of the issue relating to India’s call for return of Indians recruited into the Russian Army as support staff and asserted their recruitment was purely a commercial matter.

In first comments on the issue from the Russian Government, Russia’s Charge d’affaires Roman Babushkin said Moscow never wanted the Indians to be part of its Army and their number is insignificant in the context of the conflict.

“We are on the same side with the Indian Government on the issue… We hope that the issue will be resolved soon,” he said at a media briefing while responding to a question.

Babushkin’s remarks came a day after Russia promised to ensure early release and return to home of the Indian nationals working in the Russian military as support staff after Prime Minister Narendra Modi “very strongly” raised the issue with President Vladimir Putin.

Babushkin noted that the issue should not be politicised.

“Let us be very clear, we have never wanted Indians to be part of the Russian Army. You would never see any announcement by Russian authorities on this,” he said.

The Russian diplomat said most of the Indians were recruited under a commercial framework as they wanted to “make money”.

The number of Indians—50, 60 or 100 people—does not make any significance in terms of the wider conflict.

“They are there purely for commercial reasons and we did not want to recruit them,” he said.

Babushkin said most of the Indians recruited as support staff are working illegally as they do not have appropriate visas to work.

He said most of them came to Russia on tourist visas.

Asked if the families of those killed would be given compensation and Russian citizenship, Babushkin said that it “should happen anyway as per the contractual obligations”.

On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said in Moscow that the Russian side promised early discharge of all Indian nationals from the service of the Russian Army.

“The Prime Minister strongly raised the issue of early discharge of Indian nationals who have been misled into the service of the Russian Army. This was taken up strongly by the prime minister and the Russian side promised early discharge of all Indian nationals,” he said.

It is learnt that Modi raised the issue during his informal talks with Putin over dinner at the Russian leader’s dacha or country home on Monday evening.

Kwatra said the two sides will work on how expeditiously the Indians can be brought back home.

Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the issue of Indian nationals serving with the Russian Army remains a matter of “utmost concern” and demanded action from Moscow over it.

On June 11, India said two Indian nationals, who were recruited by the Russian Army, had recently been killed in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which took the number of such deaths to four.

Following the deaths of two Indians, the MEA demanded a “verified stop” to further recruitment of Indian nationals by the Russian Army.

In a strongly-worded statement, it said India demanded that there be a “verified stop to any further recruitment of Indian nationals by the Russian Army and that such activities would not be in “consonance with our partnership”.

In March, 30-year-old Hyderabad resident Mohammed Asfan succumbed to injuries sustained while serving with Russian troops on the frontlines with Ukraine.

In February, Hemal Ashwinbhai Mangua, a 23-year-old resident of Surat in Gujarat, died in a Ukrainian air strike while serving as a “security helper” in the Donetsk region.

Modi was on a two-day high-profile visit to Russia from Monday to hold the 22nd India-Russia annual summit with Putin.

A senior police officer on Saturday said security agencies are working in synergy to wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district which has witnessed a number of deadly terror attacks over the past two-and-a-half years. Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch, Yougal Manhas said the Army and security agencies are on high alert to foil Pakistan’s design to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking to PTI on the sidelines of a ‘Public Darbar’ at Mendhar town of Poonch district, the SSP also sought the cooperation of the civil society in effectively dealing with the drug menace in the district.

“Our security grid is in place and there is synergy among all security forces, including intelligence agencies. Together we will succeed in eliminating terrorism from the region once again,” he said.

Poonch along with nearby Rajouri district has witnessed dozens of terror attacks since October 2021 that left about 50 people, mostly army personnel, dead and many injured.

“Pakistan has been making all attempts to facilitate infiltration by terrorists… but our troops guarding the border are vigilant,” SSP Manhas said, adding the security forces are determined to defeat terrorism in the border district.

On the challenge posed by the smuggling of drugs from across the Line of Control (LoC), he said police are acting tough against those found involved in drug trafficking.

Counselling and awareness programmes are held on a regular basis to keep youngsters away from drug addiction, Manhas said.

Parents, religious scholars and the civil society as a whole need to come forward and fulfil their responsibility by making the youth aware of the ill of drugs, he said.

The SSP said police are ready to provide support for the treatment of drug addicts and asked the youths to utilize their energy in a positive way and get involved in sports.

At the ‘Public Darbar’, the SSP listened to the problems highlighted by the people and assured them that the police would do everything possible to address all the issues.

The people attending the meeting demanded the strengthening of village defence guards in militancy-prone areas, initiating a recruitment drive for special police officers and issuing gun licenses for self-defence.

(With Inputs From Agencies)