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http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/jai-jawan-battling-the-chill-on-borders/396948
The does Buck Stops Here travels to Greater Gulmarg area, not far from the Line of Control or LoC, to look at the life of soldiers who guard our borders at the altitude of 14,000 feet and in -20 degree Celsius temperature.
More BSF men to guard sensitive points as assessment lists gaping holes
Ajay Banerjee,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 7
After a comprehensive assessment of the Pathankot terror attack, the Indian security establishment has found that conduits for smuggling drugs on either side of the border were used by terrorists to cross over to India with arms, including mortars.Most of these drug conduits on the Pakistani side are controlled by the ISI and have in the past been used to push arms and terrorists inside the Indian territory.Top sources said it was clear that the six terrorists, who attacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot at 3.30 am on January 2, entered India in two groups.The group carrying bigger weapons arrived before the second group of four militants who killed taxi driver Ikagar Singh and “abducted” SP Salwinder Singh. The complicity of BS Force officials in allowing the drug carriers to pass through unfenced portions of the border and also middle-level politicians in Punjab is not ruled out. After the assessment, three key steps have been initiated. First, Punjab will get additional BSF companies to guard sensitive segments, especially the riverine stretch that is not fenced. Second, a way has been found for foolproof security in the area where the Ravi and its tributaries criss-cross the border. Third, security on the periphery of military bases will be strengthened. A new method will be devised for the job.After an alert was received, the first priority before Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha was to secure the assets. The MiG 21 fighter jets were moved out while the Army hiked security around missiles, ATC, ammunition and fuel dumps. Some 500 armed soldiers were stationed in Pathankot on January 1, hours before the attack. The immediate task at hand was to protect the 3,000 families inside the air base. IG Operations of the National Security Guard (NSG) Maj Gen Dushyant Singh was made the commander of the operations in consultation with the Army.
PRESIDENT XI JINPING INAUGURATED A NEW GENERAL COMMAND UNIT FOR THE ARMY, A MISSILE FORCE AND A SUPPORT FORCE
BEIJING: China has created three new military units and will update equipment as well as modernising its command structure as part of a major overhaul of the armed forces announced by President Xi Jinping in November, state media said on Friday.
REUTERS FILEChina has been upgrading its military hardware, but integration of complex systems has been a major challenge.Xi’s push to reform the military coincides with China becoming more assertive in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. China’s navy is investing in submarines and aircraft carriers and its air force is developing stealth fighters.
At a ceremony on Thursday, Xi inaugurated a new general command unit for the army, a missile force and a strategic support force for People’s Liberation Army (PLA), state news agency Xinhua said.
State television showed Xi handing over a large red flag to Li Zuocheng, the new head of the land command force. Li was previously commander of the key Chengdu military region, which includes restless and strategically vital Tibet.
The missile force is taking over from the Second Artillery Corps to control the country’s nuclear arsenal but keeping the same commander, Wei Fenghe.
Xi urged the new unit to “enhance nuclear deterrence and counter-strike capacity, mediumand long-range precision strike ability, as well as strategic checkand-balance capacity to build a strong and modern Rocket Force”.
His reforms include establishing a joint operational command structure by 2020 and rejigging existing military regions, as well as cutting troop numbers by 300,000, a surprise announcement he made in September.
In a separate report listing the powerful Central Military Commission’s recommendations on the reform process, Xinhua said the troop cuts will focus on non-combat personnel.
China has been moving rapidly to upgrade its military hardware, but integration of complex systems across a regionalised command structure has been a major challenge.
Xi has also made rooting out deeply entrenched corruption in the military a top priority, and dozens of senior officers have been investigated and jailed.
Our Correspondent.Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 31
To spread awareness about welfare schemes for ex-servicemen and their families, the Defense Services Welfare Department organised an awareness workshop at Malaudh village near here today.Director Defence Services Welfare, Punjab, Brigadier Jatinder Singh Arora presided over the function.Officers of the department led by Brigadier Arora called upon members of families of the ex-servicemen to be associated with armed forces which besides providing dignified lifestyle to them, will also give rare opportunity to serve the nation.While interacting with the ex-servicemen, widows, veer naaris of the area, Brigadier Arora told about various state and Central government welfare schemes and steps taken by the state government to hike monetary benefits for the fraternity.C-PYTE, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute and Mai Bhaago Armed Forces Institute for Girls were cited among the organisations working for educating wards and members of families of the ex-servicemen. He listened to the grievances of the fraternity and assured them speedy action.
NEW DELHI: It was the speed and spontaneity with which the Indian Army launched its attacks that took the enemy by surprise, leading to their victory in the 1999 Kargil war, says Lieutenant General Mohinder Puri. He headed the 8 Mountain Division.
The book titled ‘Kargil: Turning the Tide’, which was launched here on Monday evening, is a first-hand narrative of the operations of 8 Mountain Division, which was tasked to evict the enemy from the Drass-Mushkoh Sector during ‘Operation Vijay’.
“We surprised the enemy with the speed and ferocity of our movement. It was the speed with which we conducted the operations and took them totally by surprise, this was one of the reasons why we succeeded in evicting the enemy,” he said.
Recounting one such incident, the then Major-General Puri said how after several failed attempts to capture the pivotal Tololing peak, he had asked his men to attack again the next evening, but by the time he reached his headquarters, India had already conquered the strategic feature.
The Tololing, a dominant position overlooking Srinagar- Leh Highway (NH-1D), was so strategic that after it was conquered it was only a matter of six days for Indian troops to notch up a string of successes by evicting well-entrenched intruders in four nearby outposts.
He said, Colonel MB Ravindranath, Commanding Officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles, radioed him, camping some 20-km away and said in a terse message, “Sir, I’m on Tololing top.”
“After I was informed that we have not been able to capture Tololing, I just asked them to consolidate and in the evening I said, ‘have a go.’ By the time I reached the headquarters, I was told that we have captured Tololing.I spoke to Ravi and when I asked him what had happened he said he just saw a window of opportunity and there he launched the attack and captured the feature which was until then with the enemy,” Puri said.
Puri’s division was responsible for spearheading the Army’s offensive in the Kargil sector which restored the sanctity of the Line of Control by capturing Tololing, Tiger Hill and Point 4875.General (retd) VP Malik, who himself has authored a book titled “Kargil – From Surprise To Victory” in 2006 on the same subject inaugurated the event at Manekshaw Centre here.
“Lots of books have been written about the Kargil War and most of them are hearsay. There are only two authentic books I can mention, one is General Puri’s and I will take credit for the second one.
“While I have dealt with the war at a macro level, General Puri’s book talks about the several battles fought. After all, there is no war without these battles,” Malik said.
Increase in basic payby 16%, allowances by 63% and pension by 24% with a total increase of 23.55%
Minimum pay suggested at Rs 18,000 per month; maximumRs2.25 lakh a month
Rate of annual incrementretained at 3%
Gratuity ceiling up from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh — ceiling to go up by 25% with 50% increase in DA
Pay matrix to replace current pay bands and grade pay. Grade pay subsumed in pay matrix and employee’s status to be determined by the level in the pay matrix
52 allowances abolished; another 36 allowances subsumed in existing allowances or in newly proposed allowances
Health insurance scheme for employees, pensioners
Defence forces-like parity for pensioners
The panel has recommended a virtual one rank, one-pension for civilians by suggesting a revised pension formulation for Central employees who retire before January 1, 2016
The formulation will bring parity between existing pensioners and new retirees for the same length of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement — PTI
Financial impact of the bonanza for employees
Will put a strain on exchequer to the tune ofRs1.02 lakh crore in 2016-17, or 0.65% of the GDP
Rs 73,650 cr will be borne by General Budget andRs28,450 cr by Railway Budget
Simran Sodhi,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, December 29
In yet another development that should worry India, China has decided to provide Nepal with additional 1.4 million litre fuel. The decision comes in the backdrop of the continuing blockade in Nepal which has brought the Himalayan kingdom to a state of humanitarian crisis.The decision was disclosed to the media in Kathmandu today by Kamal Thapa, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal, who returned home after a week-long visit to China.While the Madhesis have blocked entry points on the Indo-Nepal border for the last four months, Nepal has turned to China to look for an additional supplier of fuel. “The Chinese government has agreed to provide 1.4 million litres of fuel worth 10 million yuan to Nepal as a grant,” Thapa said in Kathmandu today.In October, Nepal signed its first-ever fuel agreement with China for the import of petroleum products. China had then provided Nepal with 1.3 million litres of fuel, giving India the first jitters. India seems to have dug itself into a hole on the Nepal issue. By publicly demanding time and again that Nepal amend its Constitution and give more rights to the Madhesis, India has lost much goodwill in Nepal and also forced its neighbour to look to China.Despite the recent commitment made by Nepal, which was welcomed by India, that it would amend its Constitution to adjust the demands of the Madhesis, the blockade has continued. While India has denied it is behind this “unofficial blockade”, many in Nepal have publicly accused India of it.
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, November 15
Members of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM), Uttarakhand chapter, have decided to return their medals tomorrow to register their protest against the Union Government.
They are not happy with a notification on the OROP issued by the Centre recently and are agitated over the clauses added by the Union Government in the OROP.
Maj Gen Chander Nandwani (retd), president of the front, said they would gather at Parade Ground at 11 am tomorrow. Those who were willing to return their medals should submit them with their particulars like name, rank, unit etc., he added.
He said the medals would then be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Major Nandwani (retd) added the medals would not be handed over to the Dehradun District Magistrate as was decided earlier.
Brig KG Behl (retd) media in charge of the front, said, “When there is no voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in defence forces then there is no question of stopping defence personnel from taking the benefits of OROP.”
“And therefore, initially focus would be on reduction of tension and maintenance of calm on the Line of Control to provide relief to the people living across LoC,” he said.
Aziz said the comprehensive dialogue in January between Pakistan and India will focus on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
He said in a meeting between prime ministers of India and Pakistan in Lahore yesterday it was decided that foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet in mid-January to decide details of dialogue on all issues.
To a question, he said promotion of good relations with all neighbours is the policy of Prime Minister Sharif as this is a pre-requisite to benefit from projects aimed at regional connectivity and resolution of energy crisis.
Injecting an element of drama into the see-saw Indo-Pak ties, Prime Minister Narendra Moditook the world by surprise by making a “stopover” in Lahore on his way back home from Kabul to greet Sharif on his 66th birthday on December 25.
The first visit by an Indian premier in 11 years marked another step forward by the two countries in their efforts to put on an even keel in their ties which was going through a chill until recently.
Modi also attended a marriage function of Sharif’s grand-daughter Mehrun Nisa (who is the daughter of Mariam Nawaz Sharif) at the latter’s Raiwind home on the outskirts of Lahore.
Also read: No dialogue with India unless bilateral issues on agenda: Sartaj Aziz
नयी दिल्ली,13 नवंबर (वार्ता)
दिल्ली के मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल वन रैंक वन पेंशन (ओआरओपी) पर केन्द्र सरकार की ओर से जारी अधिसूचना के विरोध में धरना दे रहे पूर्व सैनिकों से एकजुटता प्रदर्शित करने शुक्रवार को जंतर -मंतर पहुंचे।
उन्होंने इस मौके पर पूर्व सैनिकों से मुलाकात की और उनकी मांगों के प्रति पूरा समर्थन जताया। इस मुलाकात के बाद केजरीवाल ने ट्वीटर पर लिखा ‘मैंने कई पूर्व सैनिकों से मुलाकात की । उनकी सारी मांगें जायज हैं। सरकार ने उनके साथ न्याय नहीं किया है। सरकार को तत्काल उनकी मांगें मान लेनी चाहिए।’
केजरीवाल की आम आदमी पार्टी ने कहा कि सेना में पहले से ही जवानों और अधिकारियों की 30 प्रतिशत कमी है। केन्द्र की गलत नीतियों से युवा सेना में जाने से कतराएंगे। यह सुनिश्चित करना सरकार की जिम्मेदारी बनती है कि देश की रक्षा करने वाले जवान सम्मानपूर्ण जीवन बिताएं। आप के अनुसार सरकार ने पूर्व सैनिकों की शिकायतें सुनने के लिए पांच सदस्यीय आयोग बनाने की बजाय एक सदस्यीय आयोग बनाया है जिसमें पूर्व सैनिकों का कोई प्रतिनिधि नहीं है।
पार्टी ने कहा कि जब पूर्व सैनिक सरकार द्वारा जारी अधिसूचना के कई प्रावधानों का विरोध कर रहे हैं तो सरकार यह दावा कैसे कर सकती है कि वन रैंक वन पेंशन की व्यवस्था लागू हो गयी है। सरकार ने दीपावली से ‘वन रैंक वन पेंशन’ लागू करने का वादा किया था। इसके लिए 24 लाख से अधिक पूर्व सैनिकों के लिए पिछले दिनों अधिसूचना जारी की थी लेकिन पूर्व सैनिकों का एक धड़ा इससे खुश नहीं है । इन लोगों ने अपने मेडल भी लौटाए हैं और बुधवार को जंतर-मंतर पर अपने मेडल जलाने की कोशिश भी की थी।
