SOLDIERS CHATBOX ..... BIGGER AND BETTER

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I AM TOUCHED BY THIS STORY.........

 SOURCE : EMAIL FROM A DEAR FRIEND......


A man was polishing his new car.
His 4yr old son picked up a stone and scratched on the side of the car.
In anger, the furious Man took his child's hand & hit it many times,
not realizing he was using a wrench.
At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father, with painful eyes he asked
'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'
The man was so hurt and speechless.
He went back to the car and kicked it many times.
Devastated by his own actions, sitting in front of the car he looked
at the scratches,
His son had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.
Next day that man committed suicide.

Remember, Anger and Love have no limits....

Always remember.... .
"Things are to be used and people are to be loved"

But the problem in today's world is....
"People are being USED & Things are being LOVED"

Befriending China

 DECCAN HERALD



Two centuries ago the share of India and China in the world economy was 25 and 33 per cent respectively. This declined in the colonial period and their share was reduced to about one and two per cent after the Second World War.

The last two decades have seen some improvement and presently their shares have increased to about two and six per cent, respectively. China is moving faster than us. Our laggard position is visible in the nature of our mutual trade as well. We are mainly exporting raw materials like iron ore while importing manufactured goods like toys and bulbs from China. This is the same pattern of trade that the British made with colonial India leading to our severe impoverishment: we exported raw cotton and imported finished cloth. The main reason is that we are not cooperating with each other in remolding the world economic order that is stacked against us.

Both countries are deprived of global leadership by the US but refuse to cooperate with each other. We see each other as enemies. Just as the British conquered and impoverished India — using the policy of ‘divide and rule’ — America is forging an anti-India, anti-China global consensus in global fora because India and China are bickering.

The share of the western countries in the world economy today is about 75 per cent while the combined share of India and China is about eight per cent. It is necessary that incomes of the developed countries should decline for us to regain our historical stature.
Some experts believe that instead of opposing the western countries we must cooperate with them and focus on increase in our incomes within the present world economic order. I am not convinced of this. We have been able to secure a paltry one per cent increase in the share of the world economy in 60 years of cooperation with the western countries.
The three power centres of the world today are India, China and America. India and China want to become No 1 while America wants to retain its position. All three see each other as competitors, if not as enemy. America is ruling the world because India and China are fighting each other.

At Copenhagen, for example, America was able to throw out the Kyoto Protocol because India and China did not make a joint strategy during the early negotiations. They can jointly try to remove the patent laws from the WTO and deprive the West of huge royalties which are a major source of their wealth and our deprivation today.
The roots of this mutual distrust appear to lie in our historical experiences. But the responsibility of crafting a new policy in this changed circumstance is with India because it is falling behind in the race for power. It is for us to take the first steps to be friends with China and jointly challenge the American might. Otherwise, America will rule the world just as the clever cat ate away the bread taking advantage of the fight between two monkeys.

The forward policy
The main impediment to such cooperation comes from the 1962 war. In his book ‘India’s China War’, Neville Maxwell had provided a wealth of data establishing the fact that the war was triggered by then defence minister Krishna Menon’s reckless ‘forward policy’.
The Indian Army made various uncalled for incursions into areas traditionally controlled by China. Real Admiral (Retd) Raja Menon says: “The Chinese have a saying called ‘teaching a lesson’. It is a part of their strategic vocabulary. As far as they are concerned, 1962 was not about grabbing territory but it was about teaching India a lesson.” We should accept our folly of 1962 and move ahead otherwise the America-China combine will crush us. Great powers should have the humility to accept their mistakes.

This atmosphere of mutual distrust pervades the actions of both sides. China is regularly advancing help to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan with the intent to weaken India’s influence in her backyard. It is opposing India’s membership of the UN Security Council. China condemned India’s 1998 Pokhran nuclear explosions. Ninety per cent of the arms sold by China are reportedly going to countries around the Indian Ocean. On the other hand India has consistently given protection to the Dalai Lama. She has also repeatedly broken ranks with China and other developing countries and toed American diktats as in Copenhagen. Our conflicts have provided a free run to the US to play one against the other.

We must take a lesson from the European countries. Germany had done much worse to France than China has done to India. Yet, the two countries are major players in the European Union. They have understood that holding on to old problems will impair their joint future. They have joined hands to strengthen their economic and political muscle. India and China should similarly let go of old disputes and focus on jointly defeating US machinations.

India and China should set aside their lingering border disputes when the United States is strangulating their economies. They must first together make sure that American supremacy is put to an end and then settle their claims. The US will continue to come up with new stratagems to keep us backward. The decision to kill Kyoto at Copenhagen is an indicator of the things to come. Both India and China will be deprived of their claims to global leadership and there will remain nothing much to fight about if they continue their infighting and do not rise against the United States together.

Antony to visit JK today







 GREATER KASHMIR

Jammu, Jan 11: Amid reports of ceasefire violations and fresh infiltration attempts along India-Pakistan border, Defence Minister AK Antony will be in Jammu and Kashmir on a one-day visit on Tuesday.
Accompanied by Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and senior defence ministry officials, the defence minister is schedule to review the security scenario in the state especially in view of the fresh infiltration attempts and recent militant attack in heart of Srinagar city.
Well informed sources told Greater Kashmir that the minister and the army chief will arrive in Jammu in the morning and will attend the Unified Command meet with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at the latter’s official residence at around 11 AM. “The minister and army chief will be guests in the meeting,” sources said adding, “The meeting will review the security scenario across the state.”
Sources said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is also expected to hold a brief meeting with the Defence Minister before the Unified Command meeting.
The minister will later visit forward areas along India-Pakistan border in Rajouri-Poonch sector. Army has kept the schedule of this visit a close secret for security reasons and even the media was being kept out of the reach.
This is the second high profile visit of union ministers to the state in less then three months. Earlier Home Minister P Chitambaram had visited Jammu in November. In December 2009, Antony had announced that nearly 30,000 army soldiers have been withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir in the last one year and more troops will be withdrawn if the situation improves.
“Whenever we feel the situation has improved or is improving we will further reduce the visibility and presence of the army in the state... it is because of the presence of the army that we have been able to counter terrorism in the state,” Antony had added. Home Minister P. Chidambaram has been seeking transfer of law and order responsibilities to the state police with the incidence of violence, both against civilians and forces, being the lowest in 2009 since the insurgency began two decades ago.
The Indian Army has begun withdrawing troops from the Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir in a move seen as a confidence building measure to get Kashmiri separatists, especially the hardliners, on board for talks. The twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch were brought under the Disturbed Areas Act along with the Kashmir Valley in July 1990 and the forces were given sweeping powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act around the same time.
The two districts lie along a 200-km-stretch of the Line of Control with Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Indian Army soldiers get a second career with IGNOU

 INDIA EDU NEWS



New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) recently entered into a partnership with the Indian Army aiming to provide the soldiers a second career option post retirement.

The new venture, called 'Gyandeep', will award degrees to train the soldiers during their service period.

IGNOU will register the Army's 38 regimental training centers, 55 human resource development centers, 11 central training centers and other established schools of instruction as community colleges where soldiers will be trained and imparted learning in their chosen vocations.

The scheme is based on the US system of community colleges in Defence cantonments which is expected to benefit a majority of the 1.2 million soldiers in the Army.

The initiative will not only enable the jawans to earn B.A., BBA, B.Sc. and B.Com. degrees but will also help them master livelihood-driven courses.

Typically Indian Army soldiers retire around 40, with a productive span of nearly 15-20 years ahead of them.

Because of their long training and discipline, post retirement, there is a demand for ex-Servicemen in industries, enterprises and security services.

A formal degree will not only enhance their personality but create new employment opportunities for them.

With the entry of soldiers into the community college system, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) as well as the Gross Graduation Ratio (GGR) is expected to increase.

The soldiers can get themselves enrolled to a community college in their training academy and pursue the course according to their convenience.

An associate degree will be provided to those who successfully complete the two years of training.

Thereafter they will be given lateral entry to the third year of a three-year degree course for a graduate degree.

96 credits are required by the soldiers to be legible for a graduate degree.

A five-member joint consultative committee representing IGNOU and the Army has been formed to formulate a curriculum for the two-year associate degree as well as lay guidelines for in-servicesoldiers to enhance their education.

India-China to hold joint army exercise in 2011


The Indian and Chinese armies will conduct their next round of joint military exercises in 2011, three years after they initiated the process, an official said Monday

The decision to hold the drill and work out a 'mechanism for defence exchange' was taken during the just-concluded visit of Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar to Beijing.

'During the year, the two sides will explore the possibility of holding a joint exercise in 2011 in China,' a senior defence ministry official said. As had happened in 2008, another joint drill will be held in India, the official added.

Kumar had led a 10-member delegation of senior armed forces officers and defence ministry officials to China Jan 6-7. He had met, among others, Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie. The delegation also visited an armoured division of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Academy of Military Science.

'The two sides have identified a number of areas on which further action will be taken for military cooperation. For 2010, both sides have discussed high-level delegation visits, exchanges between military training institutes and reciprocal exchanges for various courses, including language courses,' the official added.

The Indian and Chinese navies had held their first joint exercise in November 2003 off Shanghai on China's eastern seaboard. Subsequently, two ships of the Indian Navy made port calls at Qingdao and participated in a joint exercise with the PLA Navy in 2007.

The first bilateral army exercise between the two countries was organised in Kunming China late in 2007. The next joint army exercise was held in India in December 2008.

The year 2008 also saw high level visits of armed forces officials and defence ministry officials.

India and China had fought a bitter border war in 1962 and their relations remained frosty till the mid-1980s, when Rajiv Gandhi, who was then the prime minister, made a path-breaking visit to Beijing. Since then, there has been a steady warming of ties with exchanges in the political, economic and cultural fields. The two countries have also named special representatives to work out a roadmap for resolving their border row.

Militant shot dead in Pulwama

PTI NEWS


Security forces today shot dead one of the two militants holed up in a house in Pulwama district of South Kashmir.

Police, assisted by the army, cordoned off village Abhama-Keller, 60 kms from here, yesterday to flush out the two Hizbul militants hiding in a house.

The hiding militants opened fire on security forces, who retaliated killing one of the ultras.

Astra test-fired successfully

EXPRESS BUZZ
 

BALASORE: India on Monday testfired two rounds of country’s first beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAM) Astra back-to-back from integrated test range (ITR) off Orissa coast.
The missile was flight-tested in fully operational stage between 9.45 am and 12.15 pm from the launching complex-II. Once operational, this futuristic weapon will propel India into an elite club of countries such as the US, Russia, France and Israel.
Defence sources said the missile was launched from a specially-built ground launcher and both the flight tests turned out to be huge success for the DRDO. “The missile covered the desired distance as coordinated.
It hit two simulated targets and met all the mission objectives. The tests were aimed at checking the control system and its stability,” ITR director S P Dash said.
The indigenously developed Astra is designed for an 80-km range in head-on mode and 20 km-range in tail-chase mode. As an anti-aircraft missile, it can be fired after receiving a signal from the far away target through its on-board manoeuvres based on radio frequency.
Entirely a complex missile, Astra can intercept fast-moving aerial targets at supersonic speeds (1.2 to 1.4 Mach). A source informed that the missile covered about 20 km.
In November last, the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which is spearheading the development of the missile, had successfully carried out captive flight trials of Astra on Sukhoi-30 MKI combat aircraft at Pune Air Force station.
Now the ground tests were also proved successful. The missile is expected to go for integrated trial within a year,” Dash added.
The single-stage, smokeless, solid propelled missile is one of the smallest missiles developed by the DRDO as far as size and weight is concerned.The missile was initially planned to arm Jaguar, MiG-29 and the light combat air-craft (LCA) Tejas, but meanwhile DRDO has started concentrating on integrating Astra with Indian Air Force’s frontline fighter air-craft like Sukhoi-30 MKIs and Mirrage-2000.
“The unique feature of the missile is that since it can’t be traced by any enemy radar, it can successfully destroy targets. In terms of sheer technology, the Astra is more complex than even the nuclear-capable Agni series of strategic ballistic missiles,” said a defence scientist.

Army to issue notice to Military Secretary, 3 others

THE HINDU
 

Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor on Monday decided to issue show-cause notice to four senior officers named in a land scam in Darjeeling, amid speculation that soon-to-retire Military Secretary Lt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash may escape sacking.

The four officers will be given 30 days time to show cause why action cannot be taken against them for issuing a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to a private realtor in Siliguri to purchase a 70-acre land adjacent to the Sukna military station.

Sources said the notices would be issued in a couple of days. A decision on possible further action would depend on the replies to the notices, top Army officials said. Lt. Gen. Prakash effectively would have retired on January 31 before the expiry of the 30-day notice period escaping dismissal.

The Army chief issued the directions in this regard to Adjutant-General Lt. Gen. Mukesh Sabharwal.

However, under the Army law, Gen. Prakash will be liable to punishment, disciplinary action or administrative action up to three years after his retirement. It could be loss of pension and other retirement benefits.Lt. Gen. Prakash as Military Secretary is one of the top eight advisers to Gen. Kapoor. Lt. Gen. Prakash, along with Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath, Lt. Gen. Ramesh Halgali and Maj. Gen. P. Sen were found “culpable” by an Army probe in the sale of the 70-acre land to a private realtor on the basis of an NoC issued by the Sukna military station.