News Analysis India

Tag: Indian Army

  • Indian Army to induct first batch of women chopper pilots by 2022

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Indian Army will deploy the first batch of women helicopter pilots by 2022 after their induction into the Aviation Corps of the Indian Army.

    Army chief General MM Naravane confirmed the news. “One month ago, orders were passed and the proposal has been initiated,” he said while addressing the media on the eve of the Army Day.

    Till now, the women officers in the Army were serving in the Air Traffic Control and ground duties. “The batch of officers to begin will join the next course starting from July.” said the General.

    Concurrence was sought from the three-related branches of the Army Aviation Corps, Military Secretary Branch, and the Adjutant General’s branch and they all concurred with the proposal, General Naravane said.

    The Army Aviation pilots train jointly with the Air Force and their conversion training is done in the Army Aviation School at Nasik.

    Indian Army’s Aviation Corps was raised on November 1 in 1986. The Corps is comprised of officers and jawans from all arms of the Army.

    Within a year of its formation, the Army Aviation Corps personnel were inducted in ‘Operation Pawan’ in 1987 in Sri Lanka and proved their mettle.

    The Corps also played a significant role during the Kargil War in 1999.

    Army Aviation Corps’ choppers are being used for casualty evacuation, reconnaissance, observation, essential load drops, and combat search and rescue.

    During peace times, the Corps performs Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations across the country.

    Indian Air Force was the first to induct women fighter pilots on an experimental basis in 2015. Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh, and Avani Chaturvedi were the trainees in the first batch who qualified for the fighter stream.

    So far 10 women officers have been commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF till September last year.

    As per Rajya Sabha records, the strength of women officers serving the IAF as of September 1, 2020, is 1,875. There is a total of 111 women pilots serving in the IAF, including those who fly transport planes and choppers.

    As per the Indian Navy, the first batch of women pilots was operationalised for maritime missions on the Dornier Aircraft in October last year. The three of them had graduated as ‘Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots’ in October last year.

    The women Pilots in the Navy serve as observers on Dornier and P8i.

  • India should be prepared to deal with ‘two-front’ threat scenario: Gen MM Naravane

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Pakistan and China together form a potent threat to national security and their collusive approach towards India cannot be wished away, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said on Tuesday.

    Addressing a press conference ahead of Army Day, Gen Naravane elaborated extensively on the situation in eastern Ladakh, and said Indian troops have been maintaining a very high level of combat readiness to effectively deal with any eventualities in the region.

    The Chief of Army staff said he was hopeful that India and China will be able to reach an agreement for disengagement and de-escalation based on an approach of mutual and equal security.

    At the same time, Gen Naravane, apparently referring to capture of certain strategic heights along the southern bank of Pangong lake by the Indian Army, said his force will hold on to its positions in eastern Ladakh based on its national interest and goals.

    Talking about the overall national security challenges, the Army Chief said collusive approach of both China and Pakistan towards India is manifesting on the ground.

    “Pakistan and China together form a potent threat,” he said.

    The Chief of Army staff said India will have to be prepared to deal with a “two-front” threat scenario.

    He said there has been an increasing cooperation between China and Pakistan in both military and non-military sectors.

    Gen Naravane said Pakistan continues to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy and India will continue to confront the menace effectively.

    We reserve the right to respond to cross border terrorism at a time of our choosing with precision, he said.

  • China moves troops at rear, but no change in deployment along LAC

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: China recently moved around 10,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel deployed deep inside the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on their side, further away from the border. But there was no change in its deployment of troops and equipment on the Ladakh border, where they ingressed into Indian territory several months ago.

    Confirming the development, a senior Army officer said, “There is no change in the troop positions from the Chinese side.” The deployment of equipment and systems, including the artillery, armoured vehicles and missile regiments in the stand-off mode, have also not changed.

    OPINION | The million dollar question: What will China do hereafter?

    Though the purpose of the Chinese troop reorganisation was not immediately clear, there was speculation that it could be due to bad weather. 

  • Army says it has no system of cash rewards for its personnel

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: The Army on Monday denied that its captain, who is facing the allegation of a fake encounter in Amshipora, was “driven” by a Rs 20-lakh reward for killing terrorists, saying there was no system of cash rewards for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty.

    The brief statement was released by Srinagar-based defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia.

    “There are media reports quoting that Amshipora encounter actions were driven by a Rs 20 lakh award for the killing of terrorists. It is clarified that the Indian Army has no system of cash awards for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty,” the statement said.

    It said the reports are “not based on facts of the processes internal to Indian Army”.

    Three youths, who were dubbed as terrorists, were killed in the alleged fake encounter in July last year.

    However, the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Jammu and Kashmir police to probe the incident stated in its charge sheet that “by staging the encounter” the accused Capt.

    Bhoopinder Singh and two other civilians –Tabash Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone — also “purposefully destroyed evidence of the real crime that they have committed and also have been purposefully projecting false information as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched between them with the motive to grab prize money of Rs 20 lakh”.

    The army had ordered a Court of Inquiry into the incident.

    The charge sheet was filed by the police before Chief Judicial Magistrate Shopian on December 26, 2020.

  • PLA soldier apprehended on Indian side of LAC handed back to China

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: A Chinese soldier, apprehended after transgressing to the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), has been handed back to China on Monday.

    According to the army, “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier who had been apprehended on 08 January 2021, has been handed back to China at Chushul- Moldo at 10.10 am today.”

    The People’s Liberation Army soldier was apprehended during early hours of January 8, on the Indian Side of the LAC, in Ladakh area, South of Pangong Tso lake.

    ​This was second such case, in about three months, that a Chinese PLA soldier ‘transgressed’ on the southern bank of Pangong Tso. Otherwise, both sides have been in communication only through the hotlines established at various locations and the crossing of LAC takes place only after informing each other.

    FLASHThe PLA soldier who had been apprehended on 08 January 2021, has been handed back to China at Chushul – Moldo at 10.10 AM today: Army@NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard
    — Mayank (@scribesoldier) January 11, 2021

    The cases of transgression, after May 2020 standoff, have been focused to the South Bank side of Pangong Lake in the Eastern Ladakh. It was after the Indian Army took heights on the South Bank of Pangong Tso that the entire dynamics of standoff of the Eastern Ladakh had changed completely.

    Since August 2020, Indian soldiers are deployed on the hill peaks giving advantage of keeping an eye on every move deep inside the Chinese side. The Chinese tried to push the Indian Army soldiers back but the ground situation remain unchanged. In the ensuing process even bullets were fired in air by the soldiers of both countries.

    ​ALSO READ OPINION | The million dollar question: What will China do hereafter?

    As reported first by The New Indian Express, Chinese soldiers had clashed first at Finger 4 in the first week of May, 2020 before deployment of PLA troops at multiple points along LAC in Eastern Ladakh. 

    At present troops from either side are deployed along the LAC since friction erupted last year due to unprecedented mobilisation and forward concentration by Chinese troops.

    The first such transgression from Chinese side took place on October 20, 2020 and a Chinese PLA Corporal Wang Ya Long was apprehended in Demchok, the Indian side of the LAC, south of Pangong Lake.

  • Army officer who went missing during training exercise still untraceable: Rajasthan Police

    ACP Neeraj Sharma said the search will now resume on Sunday morning as the officer remained untraceable.

  • Indian Army to vacate Kargil land to build township

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: The Indian Army would vacate around 3,000 kanals (375 acres) land at Kargil Lower Plateau in six months, starting March, paving the path for a well-planned civilian township. The one-and-a-half years of talks on the issue culminated  in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Deputy Commissioner Kargil and CEO of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Baseer-ul-Haq Choudhary and Brigade Commander, 121 Infantry Division, Brigadier Vivek Bakshi on Friday.

    The army had been using the land locally known as Khurbathang plateau for field and firing range, logistics, and operational purposes. The civilian administration has assured the army of alternative land.As per the MoU, army would start vacating the land in March, and hand over its control to the civil administration in six months.

    Baseer-ul-Haq told TNIE that army would get alternative tract of 3,000 kanals at two places in Kargil – one near the Maratha Unit Kurbathang and the other at Mulbekh.  Baseer-ul-Haq said this would pave the path for the establishment of a new and planned township in Kargil, with all modern amenities under the Smart City project. 

    In April 2015, the then PDP-BJP coalition government in J&K had asked the army to vacate the Khurbathang plateau. It had decided to provide alternative locations at Mulbekh (75 acres) and upper Yogmathang (187 acres).

    When asked about the future of the structures raised by army on the land, Baseer-ul-Haq said, “It will be decided after proper guidelines and protocols are framed. The guidelines will decide on providing compensation, if any, to the army for the structures.”

  • Two Army personnel injured in mine blast along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch

    By PTI
    JAMMU: Two Army personnel were injured in a landmine blast along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Thursday, officials said.

    The Army personnel were patrolling the forward area in Mankote sector when they accidentally stepped on an anti-personnel mine triggering explosion, they said.

    The personnel suffered injuries and were hospitalised, they said.

  • Army troops help pregnant woman reach hospital as snowfall disrupts normal life in Kashmir

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As heavy snowfall threw life out of gear across Kashmir Valley this week, Army troops helped a pregnant woman in Kupwara reach hospital by carrying her a distance of about 2 km in knee-deep snow before she could be driven to a hospital, sources said on Friday.

    The woman gave birth to a boy at the Karalpura hospital.

    The Company Operating Base (COB) of the Indian Army at Karalpura in Kupwara received a distress call at around 11.30 PM on Tuesday from Manzoor Ahmed Sheikh who lives in Pharkian village, sources noted.

    Sheikh informed the Army that his wife was undergoing labour pain and has to be evacuated to a hospital immediately, they stated.

    It had been snowing for nearly 24 hours continuously when the call came, they said.

    “Due to heavy snowfall and inclement weather, neither community health service vehicles nor civil transport could drive on snow-filled roads,” a source noted.

    Understanding the gravity of the situation and plight of the family, the army troops and a battlefield nursing assistant at Karalpura took some medical comfort items and reached their home on time.

    “The troops escorted the woman and the family for about 2 km in knee-deep snow till the road head, from where she was taken to Karalpura hospital. On reaching hospital, the woman was immediately attended by the medical staff, who were ready due to the coordination of the Indian Army with the civil administration,” a source noted.

    The family and the civil administration thanked the Army unit for its humanitarian efforts, the sources said.

    The father came to the Company Operation Base to distribute sweets to all troops after being blessed with a healthy boy, they said.

  • Joined conspirators on Army duty: Malegaon blast accused to Bombay HC

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Malegaon bomb blast case accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court, through his lawyer, that he was collecting intelligence for the Indian Army as part of his duty by attending conspiracy meetings for the 2008 blast.

    The high court was hearing Purohit’s application seeking that all charges against him in the case be dropped.

    Six people were killed and 100 others injured when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon city in Nashik district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008.

    Neela Gokhale, the counsel for Purohit, who has been booked under anti-terror laws by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik that he had been meeting conspirators and attending secret meetings in a bid to gather information and pass it on to the Army.

    Gokhale submitted that Purohit was merely discharging his duties, and therefore, the NIA should have obtained a prior sanction of the Central government to prosecute him.

    She said the section 197(2) of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) barred a court from cognisance of any offence that had been committed by any member of the Armed Forces while acting in discharge of his or her duties without previous sanction of the Central government.

    Gokhale cited “documents from the Indian Army, and former Mumbai joint commissioner of Mumbai Police, Himanshu Roy, commending Purohit for the inputs and information he had allegedly shared with them over the years”.

    “I (Prasad Shrikant Purohit) am pointing out from these documents that I was discharging my duty, infiltrating in the groups and reporting to my superiors for protecting national security,” Gokhale said.

    “And for this work, they put me in jail, tortured me, and branded me a terrorist,” the counsel said.

    In September last year, Purohit had filed a pleain the HC seeking that all charges in the case against him be quashed.

    He submitted that the NIA, the prosecuting agency in the case, did not seek prior sanction under the Criminal Procedure Code to prosecute him, therefore, the courts couldn’t have taken cognisance of the charges against him.

    The NIA, however, opposed Purohit’s plea.

    In an affidavit filed in the high court in September last year, the NIA had said that in attending the conspiracy meetings, Purohit was not working for the Army and therefore, no sanction under 197 of the CrPc was required for his prosecution.

    Purohit was arrested in the case in 2009.

    According to the NIA, the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Purohit’s co-accused and BJP MP Pragya Thakur.

    The HC will continue hearing the arguments in the case on February 2.