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As nominated councillor, he was instrumental in framing pet dog bylaws, promoted sports & made efforts for the construction of Martyrs’ Pillar

In this 2011 picture, Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (retd) is seen raising a point as a nominated councillor during a meeting of the Municipal Corporation in Chandigarh. File Photo

Brigadier Chandpuri’s wife Surinder Kaur (centre) along with her son Hardip and daughter-in-law at their residence in Chandigarh on Saturday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

The war hero’s son shows the awards conferred on him during his exemplary career. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17

While the hero of the 1971 Indo-Pak War, Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (retd), will always be remembered for his bravery, those who worked with him during his tenure as a nominated councillor with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation remembered him as a person who worked tirelessly for the welfare of society.

Nominated to the city MC as a councillor by the Chandigarh Administration in 2007, he won the hearts of one and all, cutting across the party lines.

Former Mayor Subhash Chawla said whenever the tempers ran high, Chandpuri restored decorum through his soothing words.

Former Mayor Pradeep Chhabra said they always sought his opinion on important issues. He raised many issues regarding the welfare of the ex-servicemen. It was he who demanded to exempt the ex-servicemen from paying property tax.

He commanded such as respect from his fellow coucillors that for the consecutive four years, he acted as the presiding officer for the mayoral poll in the city. The Martyrs’ Pillar, dedicated to 27 war heroes from the city, came up due to his efforts. He also promoted sports activities in the city.

Dr AP Sanbaria, a former nominated councillor, said as a solider, Chandpuri was committed to his work. They worked together for five years on different committees. Chandpuri was also instrumental in framing the pet dog bylaws. He took six months to frame the rules. Dr Sanbaria said he never lost cool on any issue.

Always humble, helpful 

Notwithstanding his exploits on the battlefield, he was a humble and respectable person. Even after retirement, he took active interest in the affairs of the Punjab Regiment, to which he belonged. He attended the meets of the association and never turned away any soldier who approached him for help or assistance, — Col Rajinder Singh (retd), President, Punjab Regimental Officers’ Association, Chandigarh

Led the life of saint-soldier  

He was a true leader and led the life of a saint-soldier. He did selfless service and a wonderful job in 1971. Jovial and helpful at all times, he was worth his weight in gold. His demise is a big loss for the nation as well as the Punjab Regiment. — Brig HS Ghuman (retd)

Acted as inspiration for youth 

Besides being a true soldier, Brigadier Chandpuri also contributed immensely towards nation building by motivating the youth of the Balachaur-Hoshiarpur belt, to which he belonged, to pursue developmental activities. In addition, he was very active in sports, serving as an umpire or referee for various games. — Brig KS Kahlon

Beijing, November 15

Top officials of India and China held the ninth Annual Defence and Security Dialogue here after a one-year gap due to the Doklam standoff, as both countries agreed to enhance military exchanges and interactions.

The dialogue on November 13 was held between the two defence delegations headed by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and China’s Deputy Chief of Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission.

At the talks both sides agreed on enhancing defence exchanges and interactions at different levels between the two militaries, a press release by the Indian Embassy here said on Thursday.

After the talks, Mitra called on Chinese State Councillor and Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe on Wednesday, the release said.

Mitra was accompanied by senior officials of the ministry of defence and Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

The annual dialogue did not take place last year following the 73-day tense standoff between the two militaries at Doklam, which was triggered by the Chinese PLA’s plan to build a road close to the narrow Chicken’s Neck corridor connecting India’s northeastern states in an area also claimed by Bhutan besides China.

The standoff ended when Chinese troops stopped the road construction after which both countries stepped up efforts to normalise relations leading to the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Wuhan in April this year.

The defence dialogue was also held ahead of the 21st round of border talks between the Special Representatives of the two countries in the Chinese city of Dujiangyan on November 23-24.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi are the designated Special Representatives for the border talks.

Besides efforts to work out a solution to resolve the boundary dispute spanning 3,488 km, the border talks also focused on discussions on other aspects of India-China relations.

Also the two militaries are due to hold the annual ‘Hand-in-Hand’ drills next month in China after gap of one year.

During the dialogue, both sides also agreed on specific defence exchanges for 2019.

“Both sides agreed to enhance exchanges and interactions through reciprocal high-level visits between the two ministries of defence as well as between military commands, joint training exercises, mutual visits by defence personnel, including mid-level and cadet officers were also agreed upon,” the Indian Embassy’s press release said.

Both sides reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, implementing the consensus reached between Modi and Xi and specific additional confidence-building measures at the operational level, it said.

The two sides also had exchange of views on regional and global issues.

“Both sides underlined the importance of this dialogue as an important mechanism between the two countries for consultations on defence and security matters. They emphasised the need to further strengthen military-to-military ties in order to strengthen political and strategic mutual trust between the two countries,” it said.

Both sides agreed to hold the next round of the dialogue at a mutually convenient time in India in 2019. PTI

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Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 7

Two days before the Shiromani Akali Dal’s major rally on his home turf (Abohar), Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar accused SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal of orchestrating “pre-meditated violence on Sikh protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015”.

Referring to his political rival as Sukhbir Singh “Insan” – a suffix used by followers of Dera Sacha Sauda, Jakhar, during an interview with The Tribune, said it was his (Sukhbir’s) arrogance that was going to be his nemesis.

“It was in his arrogance that he asked the police to fire at peaceful Sikh protesters in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan (in October 2015); it was this arrogance that led to his party’s crushing defeat in the 2017 elections; and it is this arrogance that seems to lead to ‘frittering away’ of the Akali Dal,” he said.

Jakhar further said: “Holding a rally is flexing his (political) muscles. It proves his political insecurity. Such a show of strength does not absolve him of the responsibility of opening fire on protesters, especially when he was donning two hats – Home Minister and president of a Panthic party like the Akali Dal.”

He added that Sukhbir had a lot to answer for, but was still not sensitive to his own reputation or the high position (SAD president) he held. ‘That’s why he keeps saying at each rally or public meeting — ‘Thok deyange, tang deyange’. He should learn humility from his father, and also the political acumen that Parkash Singh Badal has, if he wants to succeed,” the state Congress chief said.

Jakhar said the Badals may have rejected the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report, but the (Justice Zora Singh) Commission set up by them, too, had come up with similar findings on innocent people being fired at from close range in Behbal Kalan.

“How can he (Sukhbir) run away from these facts? During the 10 years of the Akali-BJP rule, Sukhbir used to thunder that nothing could move in Punjab without his permission. Such a strong police action could not have taken place without his concurrence, as he was the de facto Chief Minister. Instead of controlling a law and order situation, he created a bigger law and order situation that threatened to tear apart the social fabric of Punjab,” Jakhar said.

Maintaining that it was Sukhbir who gave the order to use force and disperse the crowds, Jakhar said as the “co-conspirator” in the sacrilege cases, Sukhbir would not be forgiven by the people of the state.

“He held a meeting with the dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, where a deal on sharing profits of the latter’s movie was made. This is mentioned in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report. What is not mentioned is the reason for granting pardon to the dera chief eight years after he tried to imitate Guru (Gobind Singh) Sahib — the movie had to be released on Friday so that one week’s collections could be earned. Pardon was granted on Thursday (September 24), and the first week’s collections were Rs 104 crore. It was not just votes, but ‘notes’ that led to the maafinama (pardon),” he alleged.

On the charges being levelled against his party and Congress ministers of trying to usurp the “Panthic agenda” and flirting with Sikh radicals and radical ideology, Jakhar denied the same, saying that the Congress was a secular party. He also dismissed the claims made by two of his party’s ministers in the Vidhan Sabha of wresting control of the SGPC from the Akali Dal.

“We won’t allow anyone to disturb the hard-earned peace of Punjab. We are not getting the radical leaders’ dharna at Bargari lifted only to avoid any untoward incident. Our government is trying to get it lifted peacefully,” he said. Toeing the line of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Jakhar said the ISI could have been involved in one or two cases of sacrilege after they saw trouble brewing in the border state.

SAD chief counters charges

• On ordering use of force to lift dharna: Even the Ranjit Singh Commission report says I was out of the country. The report mentions my name only at three places, but never once in connection with the firing incident.
• On monetary deal with Sirsa dera chief: Jakhar has gone berserk in making such allegations. Even in the report of a Commission set up by his party’s government, this incident is passed off as hearsay.
• On being referred to as ‘Insan’: Jakhar has become frustrated after he saw that no one rejected Akalis in villages, as he had proclaimed after the Commission report came out. Rather, we are getting a stupendous response for our rally in his home town. Their government is so scared of us that they are not even allowing Akalis to file nomination papers for panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections.
• On being called arrogant: His (Jakhar’s) defeat in Abohar in the 2017 elections was because of his arrogant nature. People still believe in the Akali Dal being the best bet for Punjab.

Four strategic studies are being carried out by the government to pinpoint ways to optimise the size of the military forces.
– As part of the restructuring of the army, overlapping divisions will be cut down while a host of new positions will be created.
– In August last year, the government approved the reform programme – which involves the redeployment of 57,000 officers, merger of garrisons and the shutdown of redundant military support units and farms.
– Personnel costs are a significant drain on the army’s operating budget, accounting for 63% of costs while the modernisation of equipment accounts for only 14%.

At the end of last month, the Indian government continued work on one of the largest reform programmes of its defence forces in its history as a independent country.

In fact, four separate assessments – which were given by a greenlight by the Army Commanders’ Conference in the second week of October – are being carried out by the government to pinpoint ways to “right-size” its military, with reforms being implemented gradually over the next couple of years.

The individual studies will each focus on separate issues — reducing the size and organisational structure of the Army Headquarters and optimising the number of junior commissioned officers and other ranks of officers.

As part of the restructuring of the army, overlapping divisions will be cut down while a host of new positions will be created, according to a Hindu report citing sources. These include a new Deputy Chief of Army Staff, in addition to two existing deputy chiefs that handle planning and intelligence systems, and a new Director for Strategic Communications, which will report the third Deputy Chief.

The goal is to increase the army’s teeth-to-tail ratio, which refers to the amount of combat-ready soldiers that can be supported by one military support officer.

The government approved the reform exercise in August last year. At the time, it was reported that 57,000 junior officers would be redeployed to functions where their skill sets were better suited. In addition to this, the reform exercise involves the merger of military units and the closure of redundant logistics units like signal operators as well as the military farm service and postal departments.

Military farms, which were established during colonial times, are tasked with supplying milk to military units across the country. Once all 39 military farms are shut, the land will be given back to the defence ministry, which will then re-allocate them to military units.

The reform exercise is part of a larger plan to optimise defence spending by redirecting it from personnel expenses to equipment procurement. This has been evident in the slew of big-ticket military deals closed this year so far.

In May this year, it was reported that India had broken into the ranks of the world’s top five countries by military expenditure, overtaking France. The country’s defence costs rose by nearly 6% to $63.9 billion in 2017 owing to higher salaries and pensions for army personnel and weapon imports.

Personnel costs are a significant drain on the army’s operating budget, accounting for 63% of costs while the modernisation of equipment accounts for only 14%. This is why the reorganisation and “right-sizing” of the military forces has become an urgent priority.

Separately, in recognition of the high cost of importing weapons, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also encouraged the domestic production of military equipment under the “Make in India” programme. However, the foreign investment in the defence industry has been meagre in recent years.

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Ajay Bisaria on Wednesday visited Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan’s Narowal, bordering Gurdaspur in Punjab.

This comes just days after Punjab minister Navjot Sidhu visited Pakistan to attend the oath ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sidhu had later mentioned that Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa suggested that they were considering opening up the Kartarpur corridor to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year.The 4-km corridor, if opened, would connect Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years, to Dera Baba Nanak Dev in Gurdaspur on the Indian side.

According to sources in Pakistan, the envoy during his visit looked towards the Indian border visible from the gurdwara rooftop, interacted with caretakers and  explored the possibility of the corridor. “We hope to bring this longstanding proposal to fruition with focused follow up and coordination with the Pakistan side. This corridor will have a special appeal and significance for devotees as we celebrate 550 years of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth next year,” Bisaria told The Tribune.

The proposal of the corridor first came up during the Musharraf era, but was never actively followed up.

Sikh pilgrims from India visiting Pakistan have been provided access to Kartarpur Sahib over the years through Wagah and Lahore.

However, a direct corridor from Punjab would be very different. “Kartarpur Sahib was the resting place for Guru Nanak Dev for several years. It will be an important gesture from Pakistan for the pilgrims if it happens. It will be significant for devotees,” said Sarat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan.

There is no clarity yet on the modalities and logistics under discussion and if the corridor could be opened for a few days next year or for the long term.

Meanwhile, Bisaria who was stopped by the Pakistan authorities from entering gurdwaras, including Nankana Sahib, during recent visits, was accorded a warm welcome at Kartarpur. However, he was not presented a robe of honour (siropa), as per sources.

Representatives of atleast three Russian banks operating in India, including Vnesheconombank, Sberbank and VTB, will meet executives from top Indian banks in Mumbai on Monday to discuss rupee-rouble settlements between businesses of the two countries.

According to sources close to the development, the meeting being organised by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) will also see participation from the RBI and Russia’s central bank representatives.

India and Russia have been trying to establish mechanisms for trade in national currencies, bypassing the US dollar, for about a decade, but there has been little progress on the ground.

The need for rupee-rouble trade has increased in the past one year as Russia continues to face pressure of US sanctions. India-Russia bilateral trade is highly dominated by defence deals and several Russian defence majors contracted by the Indian government are currently under US sanctions. Since the beginning of this year, Indian banks have halted defence-related payments worth several billion US dollars.

The issue was raised during the 24th meeting of Indo-Russian working group on banking and financial matters held in August in the Russian city of Tula chaired by Ksenia Yudaeva, first Deputy Governor of the Central bank of Russia, and Bibhu Prasad Kanungo, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. According to the minutes of the meeting reviewed by BusinessLine, the infrastructure for such settlements is in place, but banks need to make further progress to start transactions.

The Indian side expressed concern over negative implications of the US sanctions against Russia while the Russian side said these challenges “can be addressed through a more accurate interpretation by Indian banks of the unilateral restrictions imposed against Russia by third countries”. The Russian side said it will provide the Indian side with regular updates on the sanctions regime which would then be communicated by the RBI to Indian banks. Experts believe the current volume of trade between India and Russia, which is around $10 billion, is too less to move to settlements in national currencies, and for the beginning the countries could start with agreement on currency swap.

“The trade volumes should go up by at least 30-50 per cent for the entire ecosystem to be interested,” an analyst with a Moscow-based brokerage said. “The rupee-rouble settlements could be more expensive and time consuming, at least in the initial phase. Hence, for business participating in this the governments and regulators of both countries should ensure they create a favourable environment,” he added.

Analysts said that the launch of rupee/dollar futures by the Moscow Exchange last month is a favourable step. Although technically it does not pave the way for settlement in national currencies, it could popularise the rupee in the Russian market.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20

Barely three weeks after the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of the Director General Medical Services (Army), the post has again come under judicial scanner with a Lieutenant General moving the apex court against the appointment of another officer as the new head of the Army’s medical branch.After the Supreme Court’s order on August 1, the Ministry of Defence posted Air Marshal Rajvir Singh, DGMS (Air Force) as the DGMS (Army) on August 10 in the rank of Lieutenant General.In his petition, Lt Gen Manomoy Ganguly has averred that he is one promotion batch senior to Rajvir Singh and also has a higher professional qualification and career profile. Ganguly, according to the petition that is expected to come up for hearing on August 27, is the second senior-most Lieutenant General after the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, an Army Commander equivalent who heads the medical establishment of all three services.Although the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet notified Ganguly’s promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General on January 19, 2018, he is still posted as the head of the medical branch at Southern Command, a post tenable by a Major General.Earlier, Ganguly had moved the Armed Forces Tribunal for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General. The tribunal allowed his petition, but it was challenged by the government in the Supreme Court. Upholding the tribunal’s judgment in its order of August 1, the apex court observed that there had been some attempt to deny Ganguly his promotion.

Petitioner’s argument

• Post SC order, the Ministry of Defence posted Air Marshal Rajvir Singh, Director General Medical Services (Air Force), as the DGMS (Army) on August 10
• In his plea, Lt Gen Manomoy Ganguly has averred that he is one promotion batch senior to Rajvir Singh and also has higher professional qualification and better career profile

One of the government’s plans to kick-start defence manufacturing in the country as part of its ambitious Make in India programme has run into a stumbling block on account of constraints on sharing original design details and drawings of Russian equipment and curbs on exporting these, documents reviewed by Hindustan Times show.

The specific case involves parts that go into the T-72, T-90 tanks and amphibious armoured troop carriers.

Ordnance Factories Avadi, a defence public sector unit, manufactures the tanks under a licence arrangement. It isn’t financially viable for the factory to make all parts for these and the plans to outsource more to Indian private sector firms.

Hence, it wants to share the original Russian designs with the private sector.

The government was also of the view that this would boost the manufacturing of defence equipment in India, especially by the private sector, one of Prime Minister’s articulated objectives.

India imported about $ 41 billion worth defence equipment last year despite the government push to make some of that in India. It also sees export opportunities in doing this.

The Russian origin T-90 and T-72 tanks are the mainstay battle tanks for India. India bought about 124 T-90 tanks directly from Russia and contracted to make another 1,375 tanks in India by December 2018.

“As regards items of Russian designs, namely for tanks T-72, T-90 and ICV BMP-II, (armoured troop carriers), it has been mentioned that all three contracts have clauses governing maintenance of secrecy with regard to Russian ToT (Transfer of Technology) documentation…While procuring items of Russian ToT from indigenous sources (OFB), factories have to prepare their own drawings/specifications based upon absorption of ToT and share the same for purpose of indigenous sourcing,” the joint secretary (land systems) in the department of defence production wrote in August in response to a query whether designs can be shared with Indian manufacturers.

Put otherwise, this means the original details and drawings can’t be shared; only those made by the ordnance factory can.

And even these cannot be used to make equipment for export. Nor can the manufacturers make derivative products from these drawings.

The ministry of defence spokesperson did not respond to queries seeking comment.

Dr Ajay Kumar, secretary, defence production, said in response to an e-mail that his department is “examining the issue”. “No final conclusions have been arrived at. Any solution will have to be within the framework of our existing agreements.”

“MoD has been pushing very hard. They are reaching out to vendors on both sides at various platforms. And, at the military industrial conferences between India and Russia, several agreements to share technology were signed to address this issue.

“Also, Russia has now agreed to certify components and spare-parts made in India which is a great help. Importantly, Russia is also open to working with the private sector, including the small and medium sectors. A good beginning has been made, things will change soon,” said Lieutenant General Subrata Saha (retd), the former deputy chief of Indian Army and founding DG of Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers.

Russia has now agreed to certify components and spare-parts made in India which is a great help. Importantly, Russia is also open to working with the private sector, including the small and medium sectors.