PIGGY BACK

Piggybacking The Armed Forces For Political Gains – India Elections 2019       By Jaishree Laxmikant  12 May 2019

 I wish this election season would end soon. I am not anxious about who will form the next government or to know who our next Prime Minister will be. Every party has its share of wrongdoings, so called reforms and a manifesto, which may or may not see fulfillments. There is only so much we as citizens can do. Those things will eventually come to the fore at the designated time.

DYNASTY

DYNASTY: FROM STARDUST TO SAWDUST 

M.J.Akbar at his best. Read it for the brilliance of its diction:

The clues lay all around us, pebbles  scattered in different corners of public discourse; or occasionally  wrapped in whispers, at the edge of the narrative rather than the main story.The reasons for victory and defeat in something as momentous as an Indian general election are far more complex than any one factor, and yet an event or an incident can become a metaphor that defines the larger story.

AMRINDER

The enigma of the Captain Captain Amarinder's armada withstood the Modi wave even as his party was decimated outside Punjab

Bhopinder Singh28 May 2019 10:05 PM

Punjab was arguably the only honourable exception to the recent decimation of Congress, and the man who defended his citadel valiantly, was the 'Maharaja' of the foremost Phulkian State, Patiala - Captain Amarinder Singh, from the 2nd Sikh Regiment. The proud former soldier and military historian, who wears his soldering lineage on his heart and sleeve, lived up to his regimental motto, 'Nischay Kar Apni Jeet Karon' (With determination, I will be triumphant).

ECHS - PROVISIONS , MSG FROM NEW MD ECHS

*From MD ECHS*  (NEW ECHS MD )

1. I have been reading a number of e-mails and have come across numerous cases where ECHS beneficiaries are facing difficulties because

MILITARY & CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Constitutional provisions for the executive authority of the military. Constitutional military executive authority of the soldiers comes out of the following articles:

1. Article 18;- respects the "Title of Ranks" of Soldiers even after his death. Soldiers never retire. Title of Ranks never die.

MODI MEDITATION & ELECTIONS -2019

Will Modi Meditating be the Defining Moment of This Election?

The picture of Modi sitting in the cave with his eyes closed, meditating reminded me of a picture from another era from childhood.

REMOTE RULE

*Those 11 Years Of Authoritarian  remote control rule by Sonia Gandhi.*

*Written by Congress Central minister Margaret Alva*

As excerpts from Margaret Alva's book 'Courage and Commitment – An Autobiography' are making headlines, one after another, the fears of millions of  Bharatiya citizens are coming true – that Sonia Gandhi functions in an absolutely arbitrary manner and supports corrupt, anti-national activities and nexus. 

DEGRADATION

Armed Forces are degraded of late - WHY

I am 71 years old and have no ambitions left. I have been lucky to retire as Brigadier with total service of 32 years. I am convinced my own course mates who are better than me as GCs in IMA Dehradun did not become Brigs not because of anything lacking in them. It is only luck which I had and which they did not. I was lucky to serve under very kind and magnanimous COs who over rated me and I ended up my career fairly well.

POLITICISATION

 The politicisation of India's 3.5 million strong military is a fiercely debated subject today. But in this passionate and largely irresolvable argument, the uniforms' culpability in pleasing the politician is rarely, if at all dwelt upon. This is because it has become an axiom in official and media circles that the military remains sacrosanct, commits no wrong and its behaviour is unchallengeable and beyond reproach.   

HANUT

Lt. Gen. HANUT SINGH- A PERSONAL TRIBUTE

           By Maroof Raza

   In April this year, Lt.. General Hanut Singh ascended to the heavens. And since then, my mail box - like that of so many others in the serving and retired military fraternity – has been flooded with emails about the man, who had acquired a legendary standing in the Indian army. I cannot recall any General, other than Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw, who received the kind of adulation and respect that General Hanut has received.

ELECTIONS - SOLDIERS

ELECTIONS AND THE SERVICE PERSONNEL

With HSC ruling in favour of Serving personnel registering as voters in their respective duty stations, such allegations against the commanders are bound to arise and also increase in the future. This kind of problem was visualised even in 2014. We are  reproducing an article of April 2014, written by our Ex Chief Election Commissioner, N Gopalaswami.

SKY

*The Sky Gets Dark, Slowly*

Mao Dun literary prize winner Zhou Daxin's latest novel to be published, "The Sky Gets Dark, Slowly", is a sensitive exploration of old age and the complex, hidden emotional worlds of the elderly in a  rapidly ageing population.

Bengal

*IT WAS BIRTHDAY OF WEST BENGAL**

*Abnormal it may sound, but the fact remains that on this day of 1947, after much hardship Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was able to influence the Bengal Legislature to include the Hindu part of Bengal within India!*

*Md Ali Jinnah very clearly said he will not settle for Bengal, if Calcutta is not given to Pakistan!*

POLL OFFICIALS - 2019

These poll officials are breaking the internet

Shailvee Sharda & Jamal Ayub TNN

Lucknow/Bhopal:
Two polling officers have become internet sensations after their photographs, clicked while on duty during the Lok Sabha elections, went viral online. They have been flooded with friends request on social media, are being approached by strangers for selfies and TV cameras have chased them home for interviews.

NALWA

30 अप्रैल/बलिदान-दिवस - अद्भुत योद्धा हरिसिंह नलवा

भारत पर विदेशी आक्रमणकारियों की मार सर्वप्रथम सिन्ध और पंजाब को ही झेलनी पड़ी। 1802 में रणजीत सिंह विधिवत महाराजा बन गये। 40 साल के शासन में उन्हें लगातार अफगानों और पठानों से जूझना पड़ा। इसमें मुख्य भूमिका उनके सेनापति हरिसिंह नलवा की रही। 1802 में उन्होंने कसूर के पठान शासक निजामुद्दीन तथा 1803 में झंग के पठानों को हराया। 1807 में मुल्तान के शासक मुजफ्फर खान को हराकर उससे वार्षिक कर लेना शुरू किया। 

FAMILIES

Is there anything tougher than writing letters to families of the Martyred !  Those who made the ultimate......?

by Lt Col George Goodson, USMC (Ret)

My two years as Casualty Notification Officer in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

It was late 1967. I had just returned after 18 months in Vietnam. Casualties were increasing. I moved my family from Indianapolis to Norfolk, rented a house, enrolled my children in their fifth or sixth new school, and bought a second car.

IAF

;"THE IAF LIVES UP TO ITS MOTTO TO TOUCH THE SKY WITH GLORY IN DARKNESS AND BY DAY"


By Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis (Retd) Led the IAF with distinction as its Chief during the Kargil War in 1999

The highly complex Balakot operation was planned and conducted by the IAF through outstanding team work within the service, as well as with other government agencies. A month after celebrating its 69th anniversary, the Indian Republic awakened to its strategic responsibility of protecting its citizens. An awakening that shook off the blindfold of self-delusion that had cajoled itself and its citizens into believing that destructive attacks against its people and real estate were acts of terror by extreme radical groups, and finally accepted that these were in reality acts of war, and had to be responded against as such.

IDENTITY - MY BATTLE TO BE AN ESM

"Nemo Resideo - The Battle for My Identity

 April 12, 2019,   Lally Virk.   These are not my usual musings.

I am plucking a leaf from my life of the last five years, to tell you all how seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome if one has the strength of one’s convictions, courage, will, grit, determination and perseverance.

KUMARAMANGALAM

GENERAL PP KUMARAMANGALAM

The Chief who Overcame the Ministry of Defence

By Lt Col CR Sundar, psc, MSc(Defence Studies)

          One of the greatest Generals of modern India was General Paramasiva Prabhakara Kumaramangalam whose 106th Birth Anniversary falls on 01 July 2019. General PP Kumaramangalam was the 7th Chief of the Army Staff from June 1966 to June 1969.

RAVI-SATLUJ

The Battle for Ravi-Sutlej Corridor 1965

A Strategic and Operational Analysis

A.H Amin

Originally Published in Defence Journal Karachi, December 2001 Issue

http://www.defencejournal.com/2001/dec/ravi.htm

The Indian attack on Lahore in particular and Ravi-Sutlej Corridor in general has remained the subject of too much propaganda and too little analysis. On Pakistani side the Battle for Lahore was seen as a superhuman effort while on the Indian side it exposed many glaring weaknesses in the Indian Army at unit, brigade, divisional and corps level.

On the other hand the total failure of the main Pakistani attack in Khem Karan was ignored or forgotten in the smoke screen of glory created by official propagandists who successfully shifted the entire public attention on laurels of Aziz Bhatti etc.