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Night-landing facilities soon at forward area IAF bases
Airspace congestion hits force’s training plan |
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PGI Director’s Appointment
dilution of rti act
Vocational skills to be certified
Tajik army officer stuns Antony with his Hindi diction
Gadkari plays the ‘renunciation’ card
SohArabuddin
ENCOUNTER
Maya suspends another MLA
Former DMK minister’s house raided
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Night-landing facilities soon at forward area IAF bases
New Delhi, October 8 These forward bases are virtually the life-line of the Indian Army’s deployment in the Himalayas. The IAF provides a major quantum of the air support using transport planes that carry supplies while the Army has its own choppers chipping for small tasks and reconnaissance. The airstrips become vital when the passes in the mountains close down in winter and air-dropping supplies is the only option. Sources confirmed to The Tribune that the Indian Army has made an official pitch seeking night-landing facilities at key bases at Leh, Thoise and Kargil (all in Ladakh) besides some more bases in the eastern part of the country, especially in Arunachal where new landing strips are being developed. A night landing facility in the Himalayas will need the latest instrument-aided landing facilities both on ground as well as inside the aircraft. The Russian-origin IL-76 and the newly upgraded AN-32 transport planes have the facility. The US-made C-130-J is also capable of instrument-aided landing and so is the yet-to-arrive C-17 Globemaster. IAF pilots have successfully landed transport planes at Leh on ‘moon-lit’ nights. The matter to have instrument-aided landing will be discussed at the five-day bi-annual Army Commander’s conference to be conducted in the National Capital from October 10. The Army wants the night-landing facilities. The IAF is also said to be open to the idea. Sources explained that night landing will increase the pace at which equipment is moved. During the day the load carrying capacity of an aircraft taking-off from say a base like Leh (located at an altitude of 11,000 feet) decreases sharply as the day temperature rises. The rarity of oxygen and the altitude adds to the difficulties. Hence, at times cargo planes have to take off with less than 25 per cent of the designed capacity. A take-off at night at Leh would mean the temperatures would hover at 8-10 degrees Celsius even in peak summer. At present, the operating window, due to rise in temperatures, is too small — at best a few hours every day — for flights to land and take off at Leh, Thoise and Kargil. The same story is repeated in North east. Meanwhile, the commanders conference will focus on macro level issues pertaining to operational preparedness, equipment sustainment for mission readiness and maximising combat power generation capability of the Army and an improvement of habitat in high altitude areas. The Army Commanders will join for the combined commanders’ conference, involving Commanders and all the three services, who would be addressed by the Prime Minister. There would also be an interaction with the Finance, Home and External Affairs Ministers.
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Airspace congestion hits force’s training plan
Bangalore, October 8 Kukreja, the overall boss of the flying lessons imparted to trainee pilots, is worried about the congestion in the airspace resulting from the unprecedented rise in the number of passenger flights in the recent days. Coming up of the new Bangalore International Airport at Yelahanka has put restrictions on the transport planes and helicopters operating from the Air Force Station in the area. “There is going to be a second runway and they are also talking about a third runway. This will further restrict scope of training of IAF’s rookie pilots,” Kukreja said. He spoke about how the increase in volume of the civilian air traffic using the international airport at Shamshadabad near Hyderabad was posing problems for the IAF training programme carried out from three neighbouring centres, namely Begumpet, Hakimpet and the Air Force Academy (AFA) at Dundigal. Begumpet is used for training pilots in flying Avro transport aircraft. Hakimpet is used for flying lessons aboard subsonic Kiran jets. It also houses Cheetah and Chetak helicopters for training. The AFA at Dundigal has Kiran jets. Passenger planes and other civilian aircrafts taking off from Shamshadabad put restriction on IAF’s rookie pilots using either of the three above-mentioned centres. Even an accidental straying from the route by the rookie IAF pilot or the pilot of the civilian aircraft could lead to a mid-air collision, he said. “In places like Delhi and Bangalore, IAF is in touch with the air traffic control (ATC) of the civil airports”, Kukreja said, adding that the introduction of modern radars and increased communication between civil and IAF ATC were urgently needed.
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PGI Director’s Appointment
New Delhi, October 8 Documents in possession of The Tribune reveal that on June 24 this year, the Ministry of Health, in reply to a question under RTI Act, said Dr Chawla had been nominated for the post by an “unsolicited authority”, namely Dr SK
Sarin, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi. Nominations sent by unsolicited authorities were not admissible at least as per the notice the PGI’s Financial Adviser had issued on December 27, 2010 inviting nominations for the post of PGI Director. The notice had clearly spelt out the categories authorised to nominate candidates for the post. These solicited authorities included vice-chancellors of Indian universities, directors of central institutions or those of medical education and research, members of the PGI body concerned and principals of all medical colleges of India. Accordingly, the ministry, in its RTI reply, said on June 24 that Dr Chawla had a sole nomination in the “unsolicited category” from Strangely, however, the ministry later changed its own position vide another letter dated September 15 under the RTI Act. Going back on its earlier position, it said, “Due to typographical error, the earlier reply dated June 24 does not mention that Dr YK Chawla had himself applied for the post of Director.” This causes confusion over the status of Dr
Chawla, considering even the PGI, which received all 24 nominations for the post (self or otherwise), corroborated Health Ministry’s June 24 position on the nature of Dr Chawla’s nomination. The
PGI, in its reply under RTI Act on June 2 this year, admitted Dr Chawla had been nominated by Dr Sarin and nowhere does the institute say he had applied himself. In the reply, Dr Chawla’s diary number is mentioned as 2315 and his nomination is stated to have been received on January 31, 2011. In the same reply, the PGI specifies names of several other candidates who had been nominated by “self” or others. This point has been vehemently made in the petition filed before CAT by Dr D
Behera, currently Director, LRS Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi. He was one of the five candidates shortlisted by the selection committee constituted by the Health Ministry to select the Director. However, his name was later dropped. Repeated attempts to reach Dr Chawla for comments failed.
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‘No changes possible without consent of stakeholders’
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 8 Aggarwal, who believes that senior ministers Salman Khursheed and M Veerappa Moily have created further problems for the government with their “irresponsible talks about need of diluting the RTI Act”, gives the reference of an RTI reply reaffirming to him that no amendment in the Act could be made without consulting the stakeholders. “...Government is not proposing to dilute the RTI Act. Amendment to the RTI Act, if any, will be undertaken only after consultations with stakeholders,” CPIO and Under Secretary (RTI) RK Girdhar replied to Aggarwal recently in response to his RTI query. Questions Aggarwal: “What do these ministers want? Should guilty not be punished? Should the truth not come before the public? An officer told me that a senior minister changed his decision when my RTI petition reached his department. The Act has been instrumental both in exposing and checking future scams.” While Moily and Khursheed have expressed concern over the RTI Act affecting government functioning, much to the chagrin of RTI activists, officials also say that bureaucrats are becoming apprehensive about putting their views on controversial issues in writing, thereby affecting the functioning of departments. “Defence procurements worth $ 100 billion are expected in the next five to 10 years. There are genuine fears that crucial procurements could be adversely effected, even stretched to unacceptable time limits,” they say.
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Vocational skills to be certified
New Delhi, October 8 “Time has come to give equal status to those who work with their hands and those who work with paper degrees. Paper degrees have not worked. We have seen that,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said after launching the framework. He said it would be implemented across the country from the 2012 academic session and once this framework is rolled, another will be prepared to target agricultural workforce. Agriculture sector currently employs 55 per cent of the workforce in India. “We want a similar framework for agriculture by 2013,” Sibal said. Launching the framework that covers sectors like automobiles, film industry, IT and ITES, Sibal admitted that the academic component of the vocational course framework is not yet ready. “An automobile engineer has to study physics also. We need to put the academic content in place and that will happen soon,” the minister said two years after the framework saw light of the day. The occasion is important as at present, there is no framework or body in place to upgrade or formally certify skills. Now the AICTE has developed the framework which will be imparted through integration with the main education stream and thus provide the students multi-level entry and exit systems to enable them to seek employment after Class XII and beyond through college. The framework is expected to secure future for school-goers who fail to get higher education and drop out. It is estimated to empower 200 million students including dropouts by 2011 and secure opportunities for 150 million students who may not get access to higher education by
2020
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Tajik army officer stuns Antony with his Hindi diction
New Delhi, October 8 It was an unusual thing as the officer, Captain M Saied, while answering a query from the minister replied in Hindi. Captain Saied was attached with Antony as local liaison officer — a normal protocol on such occasions. Antony was informed that the Captain had been trained at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, and Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun. The first thing Antony did was to ask the officer his opinion of the training at NDA and IMA. Antony had asked in English — the language, besides Malayalam, he is comfortable in — “How was your training?” Capt Saied replied in fluent Hindi, “It is lifetime training and it changes you totally.” A senior functionary said, “The Indian entourage was surprised at the response in Hindi from a Tajik, who then explained the details.” Captain Saied explained that he had spent his formative years — from the age of 17 years to 23 years — in India, training at the academies where he picked up Hindi. Antony’s Tajikistani counterpart, Sherali Khairyulleov, thanked Antony for the role of the Indian Army in providing training. Khairyulleov had earlier welcomed him with a traditional “bread-dipped-in-honey welcome” in Dushanbe. India-Tajikistan defence cooperation covers a wide spectrum of issues, including training. Young military cadets from Tajikistan started training at the NDA in 1998. Besides, India has re-built the Soviet-era Ayni airbase located just 10 km outside Dushanbe. It is located just 100 km from Afghanistan and is strategically located with Pakistan and Xinjiang province of China nearby. Besides this, India and Tajikistan have an agreement on sharing of information, material support and joint exercises.
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Gadkari plays the ‘renunciation’ card
New Delhi, October 8 “I don’t want any post. I have no ambition. I am too small a man. I am not even capable of occupying this post, I am presently occupying,” Gadkari said at the release of the compilation of his speeches in book form titled “Vikas ke Path”. Present on the dais were Advani, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, RSS deputy chief Suresh Soni, MJ Akbar and sitting in the front row, among the distinguished guests, was Subramaniam Swamy, currently rediscovering his Sangh roots. The book is about Gadkari’s achievements in building flyovers, producing bio diesel, bio fertilizers and running sugar factories and other such ventures for the “development and progress of the poor”. Gadkari’s declaration before a packed audience at the Siri Fort Auditorium here earned him the necessary approval and the pass marks to qualify as a leader who possesses the required sensitivity to lead the nation.
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ENCOUNTER Key witness escapes from police custody
Udaipur/Ahmedabad, Oct 8 Sylvester, alias Dipu, was an important witness for the CBI which is probing the Soharabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and his escape could be a stumbling block for it. He was brought to Udaipur in connection with the murder of another alleged gangster Hamid Lala. The CBI has sought a detailed report from the Gujarat Police on the incident, agency sources said in Ahmedabad. Sylvester escaped when the police vehicle in which he was being taken back to Gujarat broke down near Reti stand in Udaipur last night, IG-Udaipur range Govind Gupta has said. "The accused Sylvester, alias Dipu, was produced in a local court by a team of Gujarat Police and was being taken back to Gujarat when he managed to escape from their custody," he said. — PTI
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Maya suspends another MLA
Lucknow, October 8 A press statement issued by state president Swami Prasad Maurya said the action was being taken after a complaint was lodged by one Nikunj Bansal on October 7. Nikunj accused the MLA of murdering his mother Laxmi Bansal in November 2009 and attempting to forcibly take over her property. According to the BSP press release, Nikunj, in his complaint to the Meerut police, has levied serious charges of murder, attempt to murder and dacoity against the sitting MLA, his brother and their associates.
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Former DMK minister’s house raided
Chennai, October 8 The action came on the basis of a "specific and credible information" that Rajan had acquired movable and immovable properties disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2006 and 2010, it said in a statement. — PTI
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