Reality- National Geographic Channel Shows Indian Army

Anil Bhat 4/12/2011 10:24:15 PM
“March with the Indian Army and pay tribute to the saga of the unknown soldier with honour and pride” is the slogan of the ten - serial television reality show produced by National Geographic (Nat Geo) and currently being aired extensively on the Star Network.

Having produced Mission Udaan -Inside the Indian Air Force, in 2005 and Mission Navy- Lehron ke Sartaj in 2008, showcasing both the services in their full glory, Nat Geo launched a project to make the same on Indian Army, called Mission Army – Desh ke Rakshak.

Extensive interaction between the Army and Nat Geo resulted in this mega reality show aimed at giving television viewers an insight into the ‘making of an Army officer’ and ‘life in the Army’, through the eyes of a few civilian youth, selected and further trained. The serial showcases the history, values, customs and traditions as also operational and administrative activities of various combat arms and services of the Army, in varied terrain and extremes of climatic conditions.

Three young men and two young women were selected after passing physical, mental and medical tests of actual Army standards during the auditions Chib, a former Army officer of the Kumaon Regiment has as such a great asset to Nat Geo in making such programmes across Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, for which 30,000 participants from all over India came to try to be a part of this mega reality show. They were, Ela Vohra 23, working at working IBM India, Pune, Priyanka Chand Oswal 19, from Pune College, Rohan Vijay Takalkar 24, running a fitness club in Pune, Rudrashish Sengupta 22, from St Xavier’s college, Mumbai and Kuldeep Rana 24, pursuing MBA from JIMS, Delhi.

Interacting at length with The Asian Age, Mr. Ramon Chibb, Senior Vice President, National Geographic and Fox International Channel, India, said “After grilling 30,000 enthusiastic and patriotic youth applicants across the country, Nat Geo selected the final five who embarked on a journey to win themselves a never before opportunity to experience the life of an Indian Army Officer. National Geographic Channel has taken the viewers to locations and places where none ever has and our Mission properties in the past have lived up to this tradition. We have worked closely with the Indian Army for our biggest Mission property – Mission Army “Desh ke Rakshak” and will take our viewers into the second largest army of the world – The Indian Army. I firmly believe that in the age of scripted reality shows, a docu-reality show like Mission Army will attract millions of people from different age groups across the country. Mission Army- Desh Ke Rakshak is a ten part series which will give us an insight into all arms and services of the Army”

‘Inside the Indian Army’, the first episode starts with a re-created story of Capt Vikram Batra, hero of the Kargil Intrusion of 1999 narrated by his then Commanding Officer, Brigadier Joshi. It is followed by the introduction to the Indian Army, considered as third largest in the world and what it takes to be an officer in it. Through the eyes of young civilians, viewers watch the selection process with high medical fitness standards and the aspirants going through a battle obstacle course at the Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre to get their first feel of training in the Army.

In Episode 2, on Indian Military Academy, the Alma Mater of an Indian Army officers, the chosen five go through a tough training schedule of the academy by learning the basics of Army life as Gentleman Cadets and Lady Cadets - of drill, physical training, firing an INSAS rifle, doing night outdoor camping, negotiating the tough Russian obstacle course and finally crossing obstacles while live bullets are fired over their heads as a doze of ‘battle inoculation’.

Episode 3, with the Infantry, shows how it operates in various and toughest of terrains in the country, including the highest battlefield of the world – Siachen- where the temperature can be as low as minus 60 degrees centigrade. This episode covers the training in the Siachen Battle School and the High Altitude Battle School. The five contestants go through commando training at the Infantry school in Belgaum, compulsory for all Infantry officers. This includes unarmed combat, raid, rock climbing, escape and evasion and surviving by living off the land, which also involves catching, skinning, cooking and eating a snake. Their final task is the challenging climb and crawl to a 60 feet high board and jumping from into a swimming pool.

Episode 4, takes the team to the Armored Corps and the Mechanized Infantry Regimental Centres at Ahmednagar, where the contestants learn about customs and traditions of the cavalry and functioning mechanized forces. They get a great opportunity to learn how to drive the state of the art T-72 and the T-90 battle tanks, fire their guns and watch the complex flotation maneuvers by the amphibious Infantry Combat Vehicles in water.

Episode 5, about Artillery and Air Defence involves deployment of these big high-decibel guns in all terrains, learning about the artillery’s role and the performance of Bofors field guns in the Kargil war, the contestants functioning as artillery observation post officers, who guide the firing of guns over long ranges.

Episode 6, on the Army Aviation finds the team in the Army’s helicopters, watching the complexity of flying in high altitude and the role of Army Aviation Corps in support of the combat arms. The indigenously designed Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv and the versatile Cheetah and Chetak choppers are profiled in extremely challenging conditions of flying in inaccessible terrain like the Siachen heights and the scorching deserts. At the Combat Aviation Training School the contestants learn what it takes to be an army aviator, fly the Cheetah simulator and navigate a Chetak helicopter in a casualty evacuation mission.

Episode 7, on the technical arms of the Army, has the team watching the Sappers (Engineers) construct bridges, lay mines and handle high explosives as well as work with sophisticated communication equipment of the Corps of Signals. They get to drive the tank trawler and lay underwater depth charges. Their final task is breaching a minefield and blowing up a railway track with explosives.

Episode 8, covers the Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) and the Army Medical Corps. The team learns how the Army is administered, how it gets its logistics support and how it is kept battle-ready at all times. The contestants get a feel of repairing and maintaining a battle tank with EME.

Episode 9, shows counter terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley and on the Line of Control(LoC). The Corps Battle School at Srinagar imparting training for counter terrorist operations is showcased, includes fighting a battle in a built-up urban areas, where the margin of error is very small. While here the contestants get trained and tasked to flush out terrorists from a mock village, on the LoC, they learn how the Indian Army soldier is alert 24 x 7.

Episode 10, The Grand Finale, is about Indian Army’s men who spend their lives reinventing themselves to fight in all possible scenarios – the Paratroopers. Specialists of raid and know no obstacle and are trained to operate behind enemy lines. On rare display are some of the unique customs and traditions of this coveted maroon berets regiment, which has tough standards and a probation period, not everybody can pass. The final task for the five contestants is a parachute jump from a helicopter. This episode will also decide the winner of Mission Army, who will have the opportunity to be a part of an overseas Indian military contingent.

Chib, a former Army officer of the Kumaon Regiment and as such a great asset to Nat Geo in producing such monumental programmes, says the viewer ratings on the five episodes broad casted so far have been excellent.

An exciting development for contestant Ela Vohra has been that she has very recently been selected for pre-commission training at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

While there is no doubt that the serials mentioned and movies like JP Dutta’s Border, LOC and yet to be produced Border II go well with viewers, it remains to be seen how much of a difference they will make in the near future in attracting more academically, physically and mentally fit youngsters to join the Army, which is still short of about 12,000 officers.
REALITY SHOW OF WHAT INDIAN ARMY IS ALL ABOUT

Maharaja of Jaipur Bhawani Singh is dead

17/04/2011
Jaipur: Brig Sawai Bhawani Singh, the last titular maharaja of Jaipur, passed away at a private hospital in Gurgaon, his family said Sunday. He was 79.
In 1951, Bhawani Singh was commissioned into the Indian Army in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment as a second lieutenant. In 1954, he was selected for the Presidents' Bodyguard. In 1963, he was posted to the 50 (Independent) Parachute Brigade.
From 1964-1967, he was adjutant at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. In 1967, he volunteered for the new special forces unit and was posted to 10 Para Commando as second-in-command. The following year he became the elite unit's commanding Officer.
In 1970, he helped in training the "Mukti Bahini", the rebel army in Bangladesh against then Pakistani rule.
In 1970, after the death of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, the president of India recognized him as the successor and ruler of Jaipur and a notification was issued for this.
During 1971 India-Pakistan war, he was awarded the second highest wartime gallantry award -- the Mahavir Chakra.
His unit, the 10 Para Commando, also received 10 gallantry awards for their action in the war. He took voluntary retirement in 1974.
When the Indian Army was in action in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, Bhawani Singh went to Sri Lanka at the request of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to boost the morale of the soldiers.
For this the president of India bestowed upon him the rank of brigadier for life.
Bhawani Singh was also the first resident high commissioner to Brunei from 1993 to 1997. Source: IANS
Read more: Maharaja of Jaipur Bhawani Singh is dead

The army officer who has risen above odds and crippling injury

Outlook India The Spine Is Intact
The army officer who has risen above odds and crippling injury by Shreevatsa Nevatia on S.K. Razdan

Maj Gen Razdan in the lawns of his house in New Delhi

In March this year, when Outlook caught up with Brigadier Sunil Kumar Razdan, he was sitting in his garden patch, absorbed in tugging and releasing makeshift weights tied to the bark of a tree. “It’s a small pulley,” he explained, “with stones at one end, and a stupid chap at the other.” Even as you chuckled your way past his self-deprecating humour, it was clear this was a demonstration not just of an exercise routine, but of an extraordinary tenacity, worn like a humble matter of routine. It helped to explain why this brigadier had recently been approved for the rank of a major-general, making him the first wheelchair-bound officer to serve at this level in the history of the Indian army.

At the time of that meeting, seven months ago, Razdan’s fate still hung in the balance, even though he had been approved for the two-star rank. His eventual promotion depended on whether or not a vacancy arose for a major-general’s post before he retired. Unsentimentally, he explained, “I am supposed to superannuate in October 2010. If a vacancy comes before then, well and good, otherwise I just go home.” As it happened, a vacancy did open up, and the brigadier is now a major-general, but with as stoic a manner, as even a tone, as before. He says, “Any new task demands dedication and a greater excellence. If you stop looking to better yourself, you stop growing. You still need the fire in your belly.” And of that, he has always had plenty. Literally.

Razdan was born on October 8, sharing his birthday, he laconically informs you, with Liz Taylor and the Indian Air Force. But this date also has a deeper significance for the paraplegic officer. It was on this day that he found himself engaged in an operation that would change his life irrevocably.

Wife Manju recalls Razdan as an avid biker who once did Delhi to Agra on a Bullet in just two hours.

Razdan, who belongs to the 7th Parachute Battalion, was posted in Jammu and Kashmir during the early 1990s, a time when cross-border infiltration was seeing a steady rise. On October 8, 1994, came the news that nine militants had abducted 14 women, aged between 14 and 30, and were holding them captive in Damal Kunzipur. It found Razdan heading towards the area with a unit of 20 soldiers, where a 12-hour hike later, he found the women incarcerated in a four-storey house. He managed to evacuate them safely through a kitchen window, but was unable to save himself from the attack of a militant, who emptied a rifle into his stomach at point-blank range, the bullets going right through his gut to his spine.

Mr Greyhound One from the family album
Somehow, he still found the energy to be part of the 16-hour gun battle that followed, and only after the nine militants were killed was he finally airlifted from the spot. As he lifts his shirt to reveal the most brutal of scars, his voice surprisingly remains steady. “I was operated on thrice over,” he says, “and was in hospital for a year. During the time I spent there, it dawned on me that I would never be able to walk, and that I had to come to terms with my reality.”

A devastating thought for anyone. For Razdan, for whom physical activity was integral to his life on and off duty, it must have been something akin to death. A long-distance runner since his adolescence, he had been nicknamed ‘Greyhound’ by peers. He was also an almost obsessive biker, his wife Manju recalls. “I remember him going from Delhi to Agra on a Bullet motorcycle. The journey only took him some two hours.” How did he cope with disability? “If one door shuts on you, many windows open up,” he says simply.

The year 1996 brought Razdan a Kirti Chakra, the country’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award. Meanwhile, what Razdan, with characteristic humour, calls his “bad habit of reading” stood him in good stead, enabling him to bring academic rigour to his now desk-based duties. A few years down the road, he found himself posted to the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) headquarters, where he was tasked with making the operations, logistics and administration of the armed forces more efficient and effective. General Vijay Kumar (retd) of the 45th Cavalry Regiment, who worked in an office right opposite Razdan’s at the IDS headquarters, says, “When his posting order came in all those years ago, the general reaction was: why are we getting a guy in a wheelchair? Today, the overwhelming reaction is that Major-General Razdan should not go anywhere, he must stay with the IDS. That’s how tremendous his work here has been.” Sure enough, that is where he will stay, until he retires two years from now, focusing on issues such as insurgency and welfare.

As we chat with him, 19-year-old Paarth Razdan listens attentively, and then breaks his silence to say, “Whenever I feel that something cannot be done, I just think of the pain and struggle my father has overcome, on a daily basis.” Paarth’s 22-year-old brother Ishan will start training to become an air force pilot on January 1 next year, while Paarth himself would like to join the army after completing his medical education. In a voice strikingly free of bitterness and regret for what his father has been through, he says: “The kind of respect you are able to command as a member of the armed forces is unparalleled.”
The Spine Is Intact
He deserves the best wheel chair like the one below and not the low technology one provided by the Army as in picture above!


National Award will be given to a Website having the best accessibility features for persons with disabilities. Will any Military Websites Qualify?
PIB: International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December

Dedicated to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw

Picture Courtesy Bharat Rakshak

I am attaching an incident which took place 44 yrs. Back with late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, my first hand account, and I wish to dedicate it to his memory on his 96th Birthday. Kindly publish it for general information.
Sqn Ldr AK Agrawala(Retd)

In rememberance of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw on his 96th Birthday on 3 April, I would like to recount a heart throbbing incident, along with late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw,more than four decades back but it is as fresh in my memory as it happened very recently. I was a very young officer and met (then) Gen Manekshaw for the first and the only time, not at any Air Force function nor on any occasion in the Air Force Mess, as a honoured guest or invitee, but altogether in a very different situation on an operational commitment. to continue click here to read the memorable episode

60th Republic Day Parade in Pictures- 26 Jan 2009

Photos: PIB
A spectacular view of Rajpath from the top of the India Gate
The Maratha Light Infantry Regiment marching contingent passes through the Rajpath
The Parachute Regiment marching contingent passes through the Rajpath
The Naval Marching Contingent passes through the Rajpath

Letter from Manjit S Gill

Thank you very much for your kind mail. My family and I are touched by your comments on my late father.

I will certainly provide whatever information I can, please give me a little time.

A book on my father's life is being released at Delhi on 20th March, by Gen JFC Jacob, formerly Governor of Punjab and of course, Chief of Staff Eastern Command during the 1971 war. The Parachute Regiment has very kindly taken it upon themselves to co-ordinate the entire event, with the publishers, Penguin Books. The book will be released at the DRDO Auditorium, adjacent to South Block, on 20th March evening. The writer is Mr S. Muthaih, from Madras.

A book release at Madras will follow, probably by 15th April this year. I will let you know as soon as the arrangements are finalised by Penguin.

I will be in touch shortly,
With good wishes,

Manjit S Gill
(Son of Lt Gen Inderjit Singh Gill PVSM, MC)

We thank Sardar Manjit Singh Gill for sharing information with "Report my Signal Blog" Readers, in response to our post, "Remembering Lt Gen Inderjit Singh Gill, PVSM, MC".

Remembering Lt Gen Inderjit Singh Gill, PVSM, MC

Inderjit Gill was born in Madras, Southern India, in 1919, the son of a Royal Medical Corps officer who later became Inspector General of Prisons in the province. As Madras's head jailer, his father became friendly with the political activist Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, who was frequently imprisoned during the freedom struggle against the colonial government. After independence in 1947 Rajagopalachari became the first Indian Governor- General and the friendship between inmate and jailer persevered and led to Gill's father's making Madras his home. The famous Gill Nagar is a tribute to Gill's ancestry and roots in Chennai.

After schooling in Madras, Gill went to England to study but ended up joining the Royal Engineers in 1942, volunteering for Operation Harling and spent the remainder of the war involved in undercover operations in the Mediterranean sector. His well publicised feats reportedly led to his being the inspiration behind the fictitious Lt Kip in Michael Ondaatje's 1992 novel The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and the 1996 film of which reaped several Oscars. Like Gill, the actor Naveen Andrews who played the role of Kip in the film had his roots in Madras.

Gill returned home just before independence in 1947 and nine years later commanded the elite 1 Para Regiment which was part of the United Nations peacekeeping contingent in Egypt and the Sinai. During the second war with Pakistan in 1965 Gill, then commanding a parachute brigade, used his Second World War experience as a guerrilla fighter to track down hundreds of Pakistani infiltrators in Kashmir.

Twenty four years later, as the Indian Army's Director, Military Operations, Gill, then a major-general, once again displayed the same soldierly qualities and blunt reasonableness by planning and executing the defeat of the Pakistani army in 1971. He never left his operational headquarters for the fortnight- long war that ended with the capture of over 91,000 Pakistani soldiers and the formation of Bangladesh. A few months later he was responsible for delineating the line of control that divided the northern disputed Kashmir state between the rival claimants, India and Pakistan.

Legendary exploits Lt Gen Inderjit Singh Gill by Kuldip Singh

Recent picture of Lt Gen Inder Gill (on the right) with the demolition member. Find details at Operation Harling Sep 1942. Lt Gen inderjit Singh Gill PVSM, MC, passed away on May 30, 2001.

It is a refreshing departure to read about the life and times of a dedicated, principled officer and a gentleman, who shunned fame or media plaudits for his brilliant military career, and who many thought should have made it to the post of Army Chief. Lieutenant-General Gill is unfortunately no more, but that is no reason not to find his conduct and values worth emulating, as Muthiah as seen fit to announce in the book titled "The Tales of an officer and a Gentleman", reviewed by Sreya Ray.

The Life of Lt Gen Inderjit Singh Gill, PVSM, MC
Born to Dare by S Muthiah

English Patient
Naveen Andrews starring as Lt Kip Singh, the Sikh with a talent for defusing bombs who finds a romantic connection with co-star Juliet Binoche- the English patient's nurse- in the Academy Award-winning romantic epic, Michael Ondaatje's 1992 novel "The English Patient". It is believed that Lt Kip, the Sikh Sapper is modelled from real life exploits of Inderjit Singh Gill the WWII British Sapper demolition expert in Greece, 1942, who subsequently joined the Indian Army Para Brigade in 1947.

Indomitable Spirit of a Brave Soldier

Two weeks ago, I was invited to participate in the Founder's Day Celebrations of Peevees Public School at Nilambur, near Calicut in Kerala. I took that opportunity to go and look up my friend Brig PT Gangadharan who lives in Calicut and has been sending some very lovely pictures and quips which I have been forwarding them to my friends.

What I saw there, touched my heart. Gangadharan was commissioned in the Brigade of the Guards in 1971 and when he was commanding a Brigade in the valley, he was shot at by insurgents in Mar 2000. In the gun battle which ensued, he slipped and fell into a deep ravine. The fall damaged his spine and he is now paralyzed below his chest. Despite his near total disability, he is neither bitter nor helpless. He has learnt to use the computer and keeps himself occupied, picking up some of the nicest pieces from the Internet. With literally no support from any one, he sends his selection to more than 300 friends. The list is growing.

As one sits with him and his wife, one is filled with admiration for the indomitable spirit of this brave soldier. His motto in life is

"NEVER LOOK DOWN ON ANY ONE EXCEPT TO HELP HIM"

Wishing you all the very best for the New Year!

Maj Gen Surjit Singh
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Brig Ganga writes

1. Thank you for placing my details in Signals blog.
2. It is kind of Gen Surjit to have taken the pains to visit me at Calicut and thereafter sending the letter. I am not a hero as you say but an ordinary soldier. There is a little factual error in the case. I was commanding a Brigade on the LoC and therefore the firing was from across the border, in the form of speculative fire, prevalent in border locations. My injury is as result of a fall for over 200 meters.
3. Thank you once again for placing my details in the Signal blog.

With best wishes and regards,
PT Gangadharan
Brig (Retd)
Date: 01 Jan 2008