Defence Scan by AirMshl PK Roy (Retd)
74-year-old CBR Prasad, a proud veteran of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has donated almost the entire savings of his life to the Ministry of Defence. “After 9 years I left the IAF because the Indian Railways offered me a good job. Unfortunately, I did not get that job. I started a small poultry farm for my livelihood. Fortunately, I did well and after fulfilling my family responsibilities, I thought I should give back to the defence whatever I got from there and I decided to give Rs 1.08 crore to the defence forces,” said Mr Prasad.
As per the information provided to the Lok Sabha by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik, over 9,600 acres of defence land across the country has been encroached leading to legal battles between the Ministry of Defence with various states and municipal bodies. Uttar Pradesh, with over 2,000 acres of encroached defence land tops among the states while Maharashtra comes second with 923 acres. Government has initiated various steps to check encroachment. Some of these are:
(a) Strengthening of defence land management
(b) Conduct defence land audit
(c) Digitisation of land records and audits of defence lands
(d) Pursuing court cases to evict encroachers
(e) Liaison with revenue and civil police authorities to detect attempt to encroach upon the defence land by encroachers.
Year 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of the successful culmination of Operation Vijay wherein brave soldiers of the Indian Army overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to win the Kargil war. On this momentous occasion, the Indian Army celebrated this victory in memory of its brave martyrs with events covering a myriad spectrum. One of the major events planned during the celebrations was lighting of the Victory Flame at the National War Memorial, New Delhi, by the Raksha Mantri, Shri Rajnath Singh on July 14, 19. A relay of Victory Flame from National War Memorial, New Delhi to Kargil War Memorial, Dras was also flagged off on the occasion. The Victory Flame is being carried by Indian Army’s outstanding sportsmen and war heroes.
In order to facilitate the Indian private industry for testing/ trials, proof firing or field firing of their products, government has offered the test facilities/ranges available with its PSUs and the Service Headquarters to private industry. Nodal officers have been designated to assist the industry in this regard. List of Test Facilities offered by each Government entity is available at their respective websites. (Representative Picture)
On July 16, 2019, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in coordination with Bangladesh Coast Guard successfully repatriated 516 fishermen along with their 32 fishing boats from Bangladesh. These boats had taken shelter at Payra Port in Bangladesh due to inclement weather and rough sea conditions in the Bay of Bengal. The boats were initially escorted by the Bangladesh Coast Guard Ships up to the International Maritime Boundary Line where they were formally handed over to ICG ships. Search for remaining 24 missing Indian fishermen is in progress. The coordinated response between Coast Guard agencies of India and Bangladesh demonstrates mutual commitment for safety of fishermen at sea and further strengthens the bilateral relationship between the two countries. n
