Kargil Divas

COMMEMORATION OF THE 12TH ANNIVERASRY OF KARGIL VIJAY DIVAS I have great pleasure to share the following mail from Veteran Ajit Odhekar. May his tribe increase. Will other Veterans please popularize this event? Thanks. Ajit. I wish you would add on the Candle Light Tribute too.
With Warm Regards,
Col RP Chaturvedi

Dear Sir,
In our Dhule district we have five Kargil war Martyrs. Out of them three are from Dhule taluka only. With the initiative of IESL Dhule, without any government support we have erected two grand memorials in their village with local public contribution. Out of which one was inaugurated by Late Lt Gen A.S. Parmar,AVSM,PVSM ADC with lots of fan fare. And last 10 years we are celiberating Kargil Vijay Diwas at 2400hrs at war memorial erected in center of Dhule city. Attended by people from all walks of life.Even if it is raining people listen to us at ut most attention and we also allow to any body who wish to express his view on the subject. Local colleges also arrange workshop on the National Security and invite us for delivering lecture.It gets lots of publicity on local level and occasion to put across our problems as veterans.
CAPT AJIT ODHEKAR
CEO & GM Admin,
Jairam Hospitals & Research Centre Pvt Ltd Nashik

Hello, Veterans of Karnataka!
I am no good at writing, please tolerate lack of fluency, readability, etc. Dear All,
What are we planning to do to Commemorate Kargil Divas?
Sure, some self interested high profile NGO is lurking around to highjack the event. Then we will all be there for the wreath/ flowers to be handed over to be laid as per the protocol and there on get marshaled to decorated Shamiana and so on.
Why, we the greats of Army, Air Force or Navy Veterans have so far not attempted to re-establish a strong and vibrant IESM fraternity including all ranks?
Is it that the Veterans of Karnataka, a state that boasts of venturing to create first ever National Mil Memorial, a state that produced Great Generals etc, etc, have become suddenly deficient of pride of being a Veteran? Was one & the only Col Rajan a phenomenon could achieve a lot but who finally/ unfortunately preferred to stay out?
Dearest Veterans, I am confused at the present state of affairs, please pardon me for all the above lamentations and accusations, but I do beg for some solution so am looking for some kind of meeting of minds. Getting engaged our self in any form of road show, sit-in demonstrations and not the least in badakhanas is not being suggested. We might as well make a restart by just assembling around Unknown Soldier to commemorate The Kargil Day. Would it be OK? For, if we now make a beginning, we may do better things on Vijay Divas!
Certainly we do not want the presence of any shade of Politics or show of magnanimity by vested interests, we carry a wreath or a flower each and lay it as an act of Homage, exchange pleasantries and thin out gracefully. One last point, all or any are welcome to task me for what ever to be done in this regard, but wish me better health and strength to push ahead so that Civilians shall follow Military Men instead of them pushing us in this matter of Great Militarily Solemn Function.
With Fondest Regards.
Veteran Sreedhar.

Dear Col Sreedhar,
Thanks very much for your timely and clarion call for organizing the Kargil Vijay Divas. I wish more and more ESM think similarly and organize this event at their towns/ settlements(and gradually and repeatedly also include the other historic milestone- Vijay Divas 16 Dec, until both become ritualistically included in the citizenry's calender of important dates).We in NCR are organizing following functions, aside from lectures in willing schools by veterans, on intrinsic qulalities like valor, camaraderie etc (not many have been marshalled so far unfortunately due to some reasons).Homage to Martyrs. Shaheed Smaarak Noida. Sunday 24 July. 1100-1300. Citizen's function. No chief guest. No politics. No speeches. A very quiet homage. Followed by a cup of tea. Plan to have Blood Donation and Organ Pledging organized for volunteeers. This was done in 2009 and inspired many. That year we had 80 odd units of blood donated and 68 people pledged organs. Kargil Divas is 26th but by experience,we find a Week end draws better crowd.Candle Lighting Homage. At 8 PM 26 July, homes- both military and civilinans, across India-er- world, light one candle at their entrance, and lay a marigold by its side after saying a silent prayer for those who did not come back. This poignant ceremony has been widely accepted Pan India.Sponsors are encouraged, and their banners/ tributes can be displayed at site, suitably. In Bangalore, as you rightly point out, Col Rajan had been organizing it well, and single handedly I am told. Last Year, I understand, 'Flags of Honor - perhaps the NGO you hint, did it, as per some mails that came out on this. Whichever way, I believe the EVENT must carry on, irrespective of WHO does it. May I urge you to take the lead?
Therefore go forth companion, when you find,
No Highway more, No track, all being blind,
The way to go, shall glimmer in the mind.
Though you have conquered Earth, and charted Sea,
And planned the courses of all Stars that be,
Adventure on, more wonders are in Thee.
Adventure on, for from the littlest clue,
Has come whatever worth man ever knew,
The next to lighten all me, may be you. (John Masefield) -With Warm Regards,
Col RP Chaturvedi

Commemoration of the 12th Anniverasry of Kargil Vijay Divas at Panchkula on Sunday, July 24, 2011
For the Tricity Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula, and Dist Panchkula, it has been resolved to commemorate the 12th Anniversay of the Kargil Vijay Divas on Sunday, July 24 at Panchkula under arrangements of the IESM Panchkula Branch as per programme below:
Homage Ceremony 1030 – 1130H Including Tea & Refreshments
Candle Light Vigil 2000 ­– 2045 H
Place Major Shankla War Memorial, Sector – 2, Panchkula (Opposite Bella Vista Mall)
You are all requested to participate in the functions with family and
friends. The Ex-Servicemen community must use this occasion to bond together.
With Regards,
Yours Sincerely,
Brig Kiran Krishan, SM (Retd)
Convener, IESM Panchkula Branch

Happy Republic Day

MOD asks Deepak Kapoor to Manage his own Disaster

With his appointment to head the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) stuck due to the controversy over Mumbai’s Adarsh housing society, former Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor on Thursday met Defence Minister A K Antony to explain his position on the matter.

The meeting took place even as Army Chief General V K Singh said on Thursday that the Army had been shamed and its image had taken a beating due to the controversy surrounding senior serving and retired army officers who acquired flats in the housing society.

Sources said Kapoor told Antony that he returned the flat allotted to him by the society — along with former Army Chief Gen N C Vij and former Navy Chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh — and that he used his personal savings and loans to acquire it .

While Kapoor’s appointment with Antony was fixed earlier, the meeting came on a day when it was revealed that the government was not keen on his appointment to head the NDMA.
Scam has shamed Army, says Chief
Read more:
(Greedy) General Deepak Kapoor PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC (b. 1948) was the 25th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army, appointed on 30 September 2007 and Chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee(COSC) appointed on 31 August 2009

A witness who walked tall inspite of the Bureaucrats

By T J S George, 04/10/2010
A witness who walked tall
Out of the blue, as it were, a new and wholly unexpected voice broke above the newspaper din in India in 1959. In a politics-obsessed world, this voice began talking about development projects – Bhakra Nangal, Damodar Valley, Hirakund, Nagarjunsagar – and then about “brand names of distinction” like HAL, HMT, BHEL, ONGC etc. These were all new terms at that time and the overall picture that came through was that of a massive change under way in the thinking as well as structural composition of India. It was as good as a scoop... That was B. G. Verghese's entry into public attention...

His stint as adviser to Indira Gandhi allows him to speak frankly about the reality of high-level activities - how drafts for after-dinner speeches are finalised only after the dinner has started, how the Government does not work out a world view and relies instead on tired slogans, "the haphazard manner in which government functioned and the Prime Minister's inexperience in so many matters".

Verghese' assessment of Indira Gandhi is a highlight of the book. He pays tribute to her qualities of leadership, the dignity of her deportment, her pride in India. But he is unsparing in his condemnation of the Emergency, the "savage and thoroughly illegal demolition orgy" of Sanjay Gandhi and of Indira's own "split personality".

B.G.Verghese is a serious person, concerned with serious, "un-sexy" topics like water resources. That makes his humour more appealing. The quality of his mind is reflected in the lightness with which he describes his introduction to the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

"There was no airconditioner in the room as the previous incumbent was a mere deputy secretary who 'as per rules' was not entitled to feel overly hot. The official theory was that the blood grew thinner with ascending seniority, entitling the officer to one, two or more airconditioners. The same theory worked for arm rests, back rests and foot rests..... Nor did I allow my chaprassi to hover around the car park in the morning to relieve me of my briefcase the moment I arrived. Official research had established that senior officers carry so much responsibility that the weight of a briefcase could do incalculable damage to their spine".

His briefcase tightly held in his own hand, Verghese kept his spine straight and walked tall.
Read More: A witness who walked tall

Is the Nation in a coma induced by cancerous corruption?

Monday, May 31, Business Line: The Hindu Group by Mohan Murti
Europeans believe that Indian leaders are too blinded by new wealth and deceit to comprehend that the day will come when the have-nots will hit the streets.

A few days ago I was in a panel discussion on mergers and acquisitions in Frankfurt, Germany, organised by Euroforum and The Handelsblatt, one of the most prestigious newspapers in German-speaking Europe.

The other panellists were senior officials of two of the largest carmakers and two top insurance companies — all German multinationals operating in India.

The panel discussion was moderated by a professor from the esteemed European Business School. The hall had an audience that exceeded a hundred well-known European CEOs. I was the only Indian.

After the panel discussion, the floor was open for questions. That was when my “moment of truth” turned into an hour of shame, embarrassment — when the participants fired questions and made remarks on their experiences with the evil of corruption in India.

The awkwardness and humiliation I went through reminded of The Moment of Truth, the popular Anglo-American game. The more questions I answered truthfully, the more the questions get tougher. Tougher here means more embarrassing.

European disquiet
Questions ranged from “Is your nation in a coma?”, the corruption in judiciary, the possible impeachment of a judge, the 2G scam and to the money parked illegally in tax havens.

It is a fact that the problem of corruption in India has assumed enormous and embarrassing proportions in recent years, although it has been with us for decades. The questions and the debate that followed in the panel discussion was indicative of the European disquiet. At the end of the Q&A session, I surmised Europeans perceive India to be at one of those junctures where tripping over the precipice cannot be ruled out.

Let me substantiate this further with what the European media has to say in recent days.

In a popular prime-time television discussion in Germany, the panellist, a member of the German Parliament quoting a blog said: “If all the scams of the last five years are added up, they are likely to rival and exceed the British colonial loot of India of about a trillion dollars.”

Banana Republic
One German business daily which wrote an editorial on India said: “India is becoming a Banana Republic instead of being an economic superpower. To get the cut motion designated out, assurances are made to political allays. Special treatment is promised at the expense of the people. So, Ms Mayawati who is Chief Minister of the most densely inhabited state, is calmed when an intelligence agency probe is scrapped. The multi-million dollars fodder scam by another former chief minister wielding enormous power is put in cold storage. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chairs over this kind of unparalleled loot.”

An article in a French newspaper titled “Playing the Game, Indian Style” wrote: “Investigations into the shadowy financial deals of the Indian cricket league have revealed a web of transactions across tax havens like Switzerland, the Virgin Islands, Mauritius and Cyprus.” In the same article, the name of one Hassan Ali of Pune is mentioned as operating with his wife a one-billion-dollar illegal Swiss account with “sanction of the Indian regime”.

A third story narrated in the damaging article is that of the former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, who was reported to have funds in various tax havens that were partly used to buy mines in Liberia. “Unfortunately, the Indian public do not know the status of that enquiry,” the article concluded.

“In the nastiest business scam in Indian records (Satyam) the government adroitly covered up the political aspects of the swindle — predominantly involving real estate,” wrote an Austrian newspaper. “If the Indian Prime Minister knows nothing about these scandals, he is ignorant of ground realities and does not deserve to be Prime Minister. If he does, is he a collaborator in crime?”

The Telegraph of the UK reported the 2G scam saying: “Naturally, India's elephantine legal system will ensure culpability, is delayed.”

Blinded by wealth
This seems true. In the European mind, caricature of a typical Indian encompasses qualities of falsification, telling lies, being fraudulent, dishonest, corrupt, arrogant, boastful, speaking loudly and bothering others in public places or, while travelling, swindling when the slightest of opportunity arises and spreading rumours about others. The list is truly incessant.

My father, who is 81 years old, is utterly frustrated, shocked and disgruntled with whatever is happening and said in a recent discussion that our country's motto should truly be Asatyameva Jayete.

Europeans believe that Indian leaders in politics and business are so blissfully blinded by the new, sometimes ill-gotten, wealth and deceit that they are living in defiance, insolence and denial to comprehend that the day will come, sooner than later, when the have-nots would hit the streets.

In a way, it seems to have already started with the monstrous and grotesque acts of the Maoists. And, when that rot occurs, not one political turncoat will escape being lynched.

The drumbeats for these rebellions are going to get louder and louder as our leaders refuse to listen to the voices of the people. Eventually, it will lead to a revolution that will spill to streets across the whole of India, I fear.

Perhaps we are the architects of our own misfortune. It is our sab chalta hai (everything goes) attitude that has allowed people to mislead us with impunity. No wonder Aesop said. “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office.”
(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. blfeedbackatthehindudotcodotin)
Is the nation in a coma?

Related reading
The Hindu: Wednesday, Jun 02, 2010 by Smita Gupta
We will fight terror ‘root and branch': Manmohan
UPA-II report card keeps social inclusiveness in sharp focus
— Photo: R. V. MoorthyPrime Minister Manmohan Singh, flanked by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, during the release of the ‘Report to the People' on the completion of one year of the second term of the UPA government in New Delhi on Tuesday.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised the nation on Tuesday that his government would not flinch from frontally battling Maoist violence, communalism and terrorism.
We will fight terror ‘root and branch': Manmohan

Moderator comment
Truly a sad state of affairs. The vast majority of patriotic and law abiding citizens of India will hang his head in shame and shed a few tears. The thought like that of the French Revolution in the 21st century is mind boggling and beyond one's comprehension! Are then the Maoists and Naxals prelude to the predicted Revolution? Pertinent question: Can this revolutionary threat be doused by the Indian Corruption Inc.?

Honour in Uniform

General K.S. Thimayya resigned in 1958 over differences with the then defence minister, V.K. Krishna Menon, on a promotion case. He was a charismatic, very respected and popular Army Chief with a brilliant war record. Pandit Nehru persuaded him to withdraw his resignation and thereafter castigated him in Parliament. General Thimayya ignored this reproach and continued to serve. He became a lame duck Army Chief during his remaining tenure. Had he chosen to resign on a more substantive issue, like neglect of defences in the Himalayas, and stuck to his resignation, he could have gone out a hero, setting the right pattern for civil-military relations. The nation would have been saved the humiliation of 1962. Nehru need not have died broken-hearted. By 1962, the institution of service chief had been so degraded that the then Army Chief, General P.N. Thapar, seems to have had little say in the decision to go to war with China. On his way to Sri Lanka, Nehru told the press at Chennai that he had given orders to the Army to evict the Chinese from the Himalayas. A joint secretary at Tezpur conveyed this order on a chit of paper to Gen. Thapar. Fortunately the position of the Army Chief was redeemed by General J.N. Chaudhuri during the 1965 war, and more so by Manekshaw in 1971.
The Bofors scam ushered in an era of ongoing rampant corruption and the most blatant coverups. Hardly any of the numerous tainted political leaders have been convicted. Corruption, like a galloping malignant cancer, has been spreading to all departments of the government and to all sections of civil society. The Army has also been affected and a few general officers got involved in corruption. This has badly tarnished the Army’s image. A redeeming feature has been that unlike in the case of civilians, the tainted generals were promptly dealt with and punishment meted out to them.

* The author SK Sinha, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir
Read the full article:
Honour in uniform

Major J S Suri succumbs battling terrorists

BRAVEHEART: Major Suresh Suri laid down his life battling terrorists on Wednesday.
September 24, 2009
Srinagar On October 5, Major J S Suri would have turned 30. He had planned to celebrate his birthday with his wife, S Pallavi, by the picturesque Manasbal lake where his 13 Rashtriya Rifles unit is deployed. Pallavi arrived at the 13 RR regimental centre in Manasbal a few days ago. On Wednesday, Major Suri was killed in a major encounter with militants in Bandipore in North Kashmir. Pallavi is in shock. They were married only last year.

“She seemed to have guessed last night that something was wrong... confusing reports about Maj Suri were coming in from the encounter site,” said an Army officer who was part of the 45-hour operation to flush out the militants holed up on an island on Wular lake.

“She is in a state of shock. Officers and jawans of the unit are trying to console her. It was very difficult for senior officers to break the news to her that Maj Suri had sacrificed his life for the nation.”

Pallavi will return with her husband’s body to his home city Hyderabad.

Four Armymen — Maj Suri and three jawans — were killed after security forces engaged two groups of militants in separate encounters over two days in Bandipore and Rafiabad.

Maj Suri joined the 6 Kumaon regiment in 2001, and was on deputation with 13 RR in Bandipore and Ajas. He had served earlier in the Valley in 2004.

He was married last year and his wife had come down for a short duration to visit him. That is when this encounter took place," said Colonel JS Brar, Army Spokesman, 15 Corps. A resident of Hyderabad, Major Suresh Suri was commissioned in the Kumaon Regiment eight years ago and had been posted to Jammu and Kashmir just one year back.

The braveheart would have turned 30 next month had not the terrorist bullet cut short his promising career. For many this braveheart died young but for his colleagues in Army he will live forever.
Major killed in J and K encounter
Last rites of Army Major killed in J-K performed

On behalf of all Readers and Members of RMS forum, we salute Major Suresh Suri. May his soul rest in peace and inspire the rest of the Nation. We profoundly offer our heartfelt condolences to Pallavi and all family members.