News Analysis India

Tag: Bipin Rawat

  • Retired Colonel Vijay, brother of late CDS Bipin Rawat, not to contest Uttarakhand Assembly polls

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Gen Bipin Rawat’s younger brother Col (retd) Vijay Rawat, who recently joined the BJP, on Sunday said he is not contesting the upcoming assembly polls in Uttarakhand.

    Col Rawat said he was asked by party leaders to contest but he said no to them.

    Asked what if they insist on fielding him, he said 99 per cent chances are that he would politely refuse.

    “I am not contesting the polls. I am interested only in serving the people of Uttarakhand,” Col Rawat said in an interview to PTI.

    Joining the BJP less than a month ahead of the state assembly polls had given rise to speculation in the media that he might be given a ticket by the party.

    “My purpose behind joining the BJP was serving people and not holding an office or a post. During my 34 years in the Army I was transferred to different places. I didn’t get a chance to serve people of my own state. Now that I am retired I can do that,” he said.

    “I don’t want to be tied up to a post. I want to serve people freely,” he said.

    Col Rawat, who lives in Jaipur after his retirement five years ago, said Uttarakhand’s tourism potential can be utilised for generating employment for locals at their homes and stop migration from the hills.

    “With a growing tendency among people living in urban areas to take a break and spend a holiday in the unpolluted atmosphere of the hills, homestay facilities introduced by the state government have a huge employment generation potential,” he said.

    Yoga, trekking and other adventure sports is another area in which there are self-employment opportunities for locals in Uttarakhand, he said.

    Col Rawat said even CDS Rawat, who died in a helicopter crash, was very passionate about serving the people of Uttarakhand from outside politics.

    “My elder brother had specific development plans ready for different areas of the state including Almora and Ranikhet,” he said, adding he doesn’t want to talk about him much as thinking about his demise makes him distraught.

    CDS Rawat and 13 others were killed in a helicopter crash in Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8 last year.

  • IAF chopper crash: Probe report likely to be submitted to Air HQ next week

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The report of the tri-services investigation into the chopper crash, that killed CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others, is set to be submitted to the Air headquarters next week, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.

    They said the investigation into the December 8 accident near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu has nearly been completed and the voluminous report is being finalised for submission in the next few days.

    It is learnt that the probe team led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh examined all likely scenarios for the crash, including a possible human error.

    The experts also investigated if it was a case of disorientation by the crew when the helicopter was preparing for landing.

    The sources said the findings of the Court of Inquiry and the procedure it followed in the probe are being legally vetted.

    “The legal vetting is being done to ensure that the probe team followed all the laid down norms and procedures,” a source privy to the developments said.

    When asked about possible causes of the crash, several aviation experts said there were a significant number of air accidents caused by visual disorientation triggered by the loss of situational awareness by pilots.

    And, bad weather could be a factor contributing to the loss of situational awareness at times, said one of them while refusing to speculate on the Coonoor crash.

    They said the probe team, led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, investigated all possible angles and is finalising the report, which is expected to be submitted to Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, in a week’s time.

    However, there are no official details available on the matter.

    The black box, comprising the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), of the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) was recovered from the crash site on December 9.

    The Chief of Defence Staff had left the Palam airbase in an IAF Embraer aircraft at 8.47 am and landed at Sulur airbase at 11.34 am. He took off from Sulur in the Mi-17V5 chopper at around 11.48 am for Wellington.

    The chopper crashed at around 12.22 pm.

    Air Marshal Singh, currently heading the Bengaluru-headquartered Training Command of the IAF, is known to be one of the “best available” air crash investigators in the country.

    Before taking the reins of the Training Command, Singh was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at the Air headquarters. He had developed various protocols for flight safety while serving in the post.

  • 15 military chopper accidents since March 2017: Official data

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Thirty-one people were killed in accidents involving 15 military helicopters since March 2017 that included the December 8 crash of the Mi-17V5 near Coonoor, according to details provided by the government in Lok Sabha on Friday.

    The 15 choppers that met with accidents included four Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), four Cheetah, two ALH (weapon system integrated) versions, three Mi-17V5, an Mi-17 and a Chetak.

    Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt shared the details of all helicopter accidents in the last five years in all three services.

    He was replying to a question.

    The list of crashes provided by him began with the accident involving a Cheetah helicopter of the Indian Air Force on March 15, 2017, in which no one was killed or injured.

    Seven helicopters each from the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force were involved in accidents during the period while the number from the Navy was one, according to the details.

    The data showed 31 people were killed and 20 injured in the accidents.

    The total number of deceased in the 15 accidents included 14 people killed in the December 8 crash near Coonoor.

    CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 12 armed forces personnel were killed in the crash.

    To a specific query on the crash of an ALH Rudra (WSI) in Ranjeet Sagar dam near Pathankot on August 3, Bhatt said there was no restriction on the helicopter flying over the water body.

    “Lt Col A S Bath and Capt Jayant Joshi lost their lives after their helicopter Rudra-WSI crash landed in Ranjeet Sagar Dam on August 3. There is no restriction on the helicopter flying over water,” the minister said.

    “However, low flying over water needs specific authorisation. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the crash,” he added.

    Asked whether the pilots were not given specialised training required to fly over water, Bhatt said the training has been structured to meet the operational requirements.

    He said, however, operations over a large expanse of water are restricted.

    To a separate question, he said following the Pathankot incident, the government approved an integrated smart power fencing called Integrated Perimeter Security System (IPSS) for 23 airbases.

    There was a terror attack on Pathankot airbase on January 2, 2016.

    He said Bharat Electronics Ltd signed a contract with Indian Air Force for establishing the IPSS in the airbases across eight states.

    He said the pilot site was commissioned in February 2021, adding the BEL has given sub-contract to many several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and system integrators to implement the project.

  • Ashes of General Bipin Rawat, wife immersed in Ganga in Haridwar

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: The ashes of General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika were immersed in the Ganga in Haridwar by their two daughters on Saturday.

    The rituals were conducted by priests Aditya Vashisth and Parikshit Sikhola as the urns containing the ashes of General Rawat and his wife were emptied into the holy river by their daughters, Tarini and Kritika, amid full military honours.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the two sisters at the VIP ghat. He said General Rawat will forever remain lodged in people’s memory.

    India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Rawat and his wife Madhulika were killed, along with 11 others, in a tragic helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8. General Rawat hailed from Saina village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district.

  • ‘Fate brought, took them together’: CoDS General Bipin Rawat’s brother-in-law on sister’s marriage

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: As the nation bid the final farewell to armed forces power couple — Gen Bipin Rawat and Madhulika Rawat — her brother on Friday emotionally recalled the events that led to their matrimonial alliance 35 years ago.

    Yash Vardhan Singh, brother-in-law of Gen Rawat, said that fate had brought them together and fate took them away both at the same time. “It was actually his father (Laxman Singh Rawat), who was also an army officer, who had sought the hand of my sister for his son (Bipin Rawat). He wrote to my father late Mrigendra Singh and that’s how the marriage talks began,” he said.

    Yash Vardhan Singh’s ancestral family hails from Sohagpur in Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh. “Our ‘nanaji’ lived in Lucknow and that is where my sister was born in 1960s. Incidentally, the address of her place of birth was ’25, Ashoka Marg’ and she got married in Delhi at ’25 Ashoka Road’. Isn’t it a pleasant coincidence,” he told PTI.

    Singh, born in 1966, along with his daughter, Bandhvi Singh, a national-level shooting player, were present at the official residence of the Chief of Defence Staff in Delhi where mortal remains of Gen Rawat and Madhulika Rawat were kept for people to pay their respects.

    ALSO READ| Process underway for identification of bodies of 10 deceased armed forces personnel

    Their cremation took place took place at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment, two days after they were killed with 11 others, all from the armed forces, in a helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu.

    Madhulika Rawat’s younger brother recalled the marriage that had taken place 35 years ago. “The year was 1986. And, Gen Rawat then held the rank of a Captain, and was posted in Dehradun. Such fond memories, and now cruel fate has snatched my sister, and my brother-in-law from us,” Yash Vardhan Singh said.

    Bandhvi, a history graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, said she reached Delhi late last night to be with the family. “I somehow completed my rifle shooting competition in Bhopal. Images of ‘phua-phupha’ (Gen Rawat and Madhulika Rawat) were flashing in my head. But, my ‘phuphaji’ (Gen Rawat) had always inspired me to be a fighter,” she told PTI.

    Bandhvi, who will turn 21 on December 18, recalled the time she had spent with him a few months ago at Gen Rawat’s official bungalow. “I had returned from Peru after taking part in world shooting championship. And, it was Dussehra time. And, ‘phuphaji’ (Gen Rawat) took me to the Dusshera festivities as observed by Gorkha Regiment soldiers. And, as I shoot rifle as a sport, he wanted me to get blessings of the Goddess. All of these memoies, I will cherish now,” she recalled.

    ALSO READ| Tribute posters put in streets near CoDS General Bipin Rawat’s residence

    An alumnus of St Edward School, Shimla, and the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, he was commissioned into the 11th Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in December 1978.

    Recalling, Gen Rawat’s personality, Bandhvi said, “He spoke, not much, among us, but through his gestures taught us a lot”. Gen. Rawat assumed charge as Chief of Army Staff in December 2016. And, was appointed the first CDS on December 31, 2019.

  • Coonoor air mishap: Tribute posters put in streets near CoDS General Bipin Rawat’s residence

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Several posters paying homage to Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were on Friday put up in streets near his official residence in Delhi. The huge posters, only carrying images of the couple and slogan ‘amar rahe’ (long live) were hung from poles and trees at a roundabout on Kamraj Marg and other streets in Lutyens’ Delhi.

    The official residence of the CDS is at 3, Kamraj Marg, where the mortal remains of Gen Rawat and his wife, were kept on Friday for people to pay their final respects. Their cremation later took place at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment, two days after they were killed with 11 others, all from the armed forces, in a helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu.

    In the morning, ambassadors, military attaches of several foreign countries also visited to pay homage to Gen Rawat and his wife.

    Earlier in the day, right outside his official residence at 3, several people who had gathered and raised slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘General Rawat amar rahe’, and ‘Uttarakhand ka heera amar rahe’, while a stream of dignitaries paid floral tributes and last respects till the funeral procession left the bungalow.

    A Hindu outfit had put up a series of posters in a row, bearing an image of Gen Rawat, on a pavement near the main entrance of the official bungalow. Garlands were put up on these posters.

  • IAF chopper crash: Tamil Nadu CM Stalin writes to kin of deceased persons expressing condolence

    By PTI

    CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday personally wrote to the families of the Defence personnel killed in the Coonoor helicopter crash expressing his condolences, the state government said. All the people were with the families during this tough time, he told them in separate letters.

    Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others were killed after the helicopter carrying them to Wellington in the Nilgiris district in the state crashed near Coonoor there on Wednesday.

    Stalin had rushed to Coonoor soon after coming to know of the accident and paid floral tributes to the departed on Thursday, an official release recalled.

    The state government had ensured all arrangements during the rescue activities and later during transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased, which were later flown from Coimbatore to Delhi, it said.

    “Further, the chief minister today wrote individually to the families of the Defence personnel killed in the accident, expressing his sincere condolences and regret.”

    “He said all the people were by them in this tough time and said though their loss is irreparable, he wished they got the strength to recover from it,” the release said.

  • IAF chopper crash: 3 families left to grieve for an eternity

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: Naik Gursewak Singh (35), who was serving with CDS General Bipin Rawat for three years, belonged to Punjab. He spoke to his family on Tuesday and visited them 20 days ago.

    Naik Vivek Kumar (20) was the personal security officer of the CDS. He was from Kangra in Himachal and visited home in August.

    Brig LS Lidder, Defence Assistant to the CDS, hailed from Panchkula. He was a second generation officer who had last visited his family in July this.

    Gursewak from Dode village in Tarn Taran district has five brothers and two sisters. Gursewak tied the knot about 11 years back to Jaspreet Kaur. They two daughters and a son. His father is 70. Gursewak joined the forces in 2000 and got attached to General Rawat three years ago. Before that, he was serving in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Brig Lidder was a second generation officer. He is survived by wife Geetika and a 16-year old daughter. His father Col Mehnga Singh was an army officer who died a few years back. His sister and mother left for Delhi after hearing the news.

    Vivek was from Upper Theru village. He was home for a month in August for the birth of his son. He was a para-commando. 

  • IAF helicopter crash: All possible angles being probed

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The tri-services team investigating the tragic chopper crash near Coonoor that killed CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and 12 others is focusing on all possible reasons including whether a human error caused the accident, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.

    The black box, comprising the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), of the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force was recovered from the crash site on Thursday.

    While the CVR will provide details about the communication between the pilots and the air traffic control, the FDR will provide information like altitude, speed and other technical data of the chopper.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat: An outstanding, forthright military commander with vision of tri-service synergy

    The Chief of Defence Staff had left the Palam airbase in an IAF Embraer aircraft at 8:47 am and landed at Sulur airbase at 11:34 am.

    He took off from Sulur in a Mi-17V5 chopper at around 1148 am for Wellington, official sources said.

    The chopper crashed at around 12:22 pm, they said, adding it was to land at Wellington at around 12:15 pm.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat was making ‘necessary adjustments’ among three forces, says former Army chief Shankar Roychowdhury

    “All angles including possible human error will be investigated,” a senior military offcial said.

    In a statement in Parliament, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced ordering a tri-services enquiry into the accident.

    Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, who is heading the tri-services team investigating the tragic chopper crash near Coonoor, is a helicopter pilot and oversaw probes into various air accidents involving IAF platforms.

    ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh loses daughter Madhulika and son-in-law General Bipin Rawat

    Several former and serving military commanders described Air Marshal Singh, currently heading the Bengaluru-headquartered Training Command of the IAF, as the “best” available air crash investigator in the country.

    Before taking the reins of the Training Command, the Air Marshal was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at the Air headquarters and developed various protocols for flight safety while serving in the post.

    In a distinguished career spanning over 38 years, the Air Officer has flown a wide variety of helicopters and trainer aircraft.

    He is a qualified flying instructor with vast instructional experience and over 6600 hours of accident-free flying in various challenging sectors like the Siachen, the Northeast, Uttarakhand, the Western desert and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The Air Marshal has also served in tri-service joint institutions and was Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Joint Operations) at the headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff.

  • Mi17-V5 among safest of helicopters in world: IAF veterans

    By Express News Service

    BENGALURU: The Mi-17V5 helicopter with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on board crashed 10 minutes before it was to land at Wellington, where the CDS was to address students and faculty members at the Defence Services Staff College.

    “The timing of the air crash shows that the helicopter was already in descent mode,” said Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar (retd) while discussing the possible reasons for the tragic air crash in which General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other were killed in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. 

    Ruling out bad weather, the former test pilot and director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) said before taking off from Sulur air base, the pilot would have received weather clearance from Wellington. The Mi17-V5 is part of the Air Headquarters’ Communication (Com) Squadron. It is used for flying the President and the Prime Minister. 

    “This particular helicopter must have been from the Sulur air base, which has an Mi17 unit. The flight duration between Sulur air base and Wellington is around 15 minutes,” he added.

    A twin-engine chopper of Russian origin, the Mi17-V5 is supposed to be one of the safest helicopters in the world. “It is the latest acquisition and a workhorse of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has a sound safety record,” said Air Marshal BK Pandey (retd).  

    The IAF veterans said it is difficult to speculate the reasons for the crash and only a Court of Inquiry will be able to establish the cause. When asked whether sabotage could be a reason, Rajkumar said sabotage was a standard term of reference for any Court of Inquiry into such fatal defence accidents. 

    Meanwhile, sources said some locals saw a ball of fire in the sky and the debris of the helicopter in flames as it fell on the trees. “It is possible that as the helicopter was descending, the pilot may have hit a tree because of the mist. The helicopter fell like a stone and turned into a ball of fire,” said a source.