Speaking at a national seminar in Delhi on the North East, entitled ‘bridging gaps and securing borders’ on 21st Feb, the army chief, General Bipin Rawat, raised a few relevant issues. Some issues he raised were amalgamation of the residents of the region into our society, illegal immigration from Bangladesh and development of the area. His statement, “There is a […]
Post the Sanjuwan attack, the religion card has again been employed to seek and divide the only secular and apolitical force within the country, the Indian army. Asaduddin Owaisi, President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen stated that five of the seven martyred in the attack were Moslems. He was seeking to question those who regularly ask Moslems to prove […]
Post the Pathankot air force base attack in early Jan 2016, the government ordered a review of all military bases under the Philip Campose Committee. The committee felt that there were gaping holes in security arrangements in military bases and recommended measures to strengthen them. The recommendations of the committee remained with the MoD, while the PM played musical chairs […]
The recent comments of the army chief stating that ‘the time has not come for any rethink on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)’, at a press conference last week, has drawn criticism from many quarters, including editorials in leading newspapers. He was accused of crossing his limits as the head of the organization and commenting on topics beyond […]
The US ambassador to India, Kenneth I Juster, proposed during his first public speech in Delhi that scaling up of strategic relations with India can also involve posting of liaison officers in each other’s combatant commands. He claimed that this was aimed at taking the relationship from ‘the strategic to the durable’. This was a gesture to India that the […]
A candid, clear headed army chief shared his views in his press conference preceding army day. The conference covered a wide range of views from handling the Doklam crises to creating an army for the future, handling Pak’s misadventures, impact of education influencing the minds of the youth in Kashmir to the governments decision to cut the funding of education […]
The defence minister recently withdrew the controversial order of 2016, which had degraded army ranks as compared to their civilian counterparts. It was a welcome new year’s gift to the forces. However, there are many other contentious issues which still await her attention. Many are irritants from the past, while a few are recent decisions. Further is the need to […]
The Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pak is almost seven hundred and fifty Kms. Tensions between the opposing armies is permanent all along it and each action needs to be taken in a measured manner. There is absolutely no scope for error for troops deployed to ensure its sanctity. The region is mountainous, forests exist on both sides, […]
In recent times, there have been numerous contentious issues, dominating social media, concerning armed forces personnel, both serving and retired, for which the top hierarchy is blamed for inaction. Some issues being discussed include non-granting of Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), withdrawal of entitled rations, degrading military ranks as compared to civilian counterparts, denying them status of Group A services and non-implementation […]
The soldier who places his life and limb at risk to ensure that the nation is safe and secure, has no demands, but respect and status. ‘God and soldiers are only remembered in times of trouble’ as an adage, had always been true for India. However, in recent times, there has been a slow but positive change towards respecting the […]