Lt Gen AS Rao, Director General NCC, presented a cheque for rupees 44,87,862 for the Prime Minister’s Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund on behalf of NCC to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee.

One cadet each from all the sixteen directorates was present on the occasion. The Prime Minister praised the National Cadet Corps for its contribution towards the earthquake relief fund. He also praised the NCC cadets who assisted civil authorities in rescue and relief operations after the devastating earthquake.

Darjeeling is well known for its contribution of great warriors to the defence of motherland. It was on July 10, 1999 when one of the heroes laid down his life during operation Vijay. Rfn Suresh Chhetri of 2 Naga was one of the seven martyrs from Darjeeling district.

Mr Tilak Bahadur Chhetri, a resident of a sleepy village on the Indo-Nepal border, attracted the attention of Lt Gen Ashok Chaki, GOC 33 Corps through a newspaper article. The Corps Commander invited Mr Tilak Bahadur Chhetri with his family to his office to felicitate them. Mr Tilak Bahadur was accompanied by his daughter-in-law Mrs Manju Chhetri, the widow of Rfn Suresh Chhetri and his sons Suresh and Netraraj. Another son, Naresh is serving in 16 Kumaon. Mrs Manju, who gave birth to a baby boy in October 1999, named him Kargil Chhetri in fond memory of her late husband. She has received all the financial benefits, as admissible.

The Institute of Military Law (IML) Kamptee, a research institute and a seat for imparting military and allied law training to Army officers, celebrated its 12th raising day.

The raising day celebrations commenced with the offering of prayers at the IML mandir. Later, a computer lab and Nyay Dwar were inaugurated by the Commandant of the IML, Col PS Rathore.

Speaking on the occasion, Col Rathore said that digital technology and developments in the field of information technology have brought a dramatic change in all walks of life. He hoped that the computer lab would go a long way in imparting legal education to the Army officers.

Highlighting the importance of the departmental motto, Nyaya evam Dharma, Col Rathore said that the Nyay Dwar would be a constant reminder at the threshold of the institute.

A special family meet was presided over by Mrs Aruna Rathore. She took stock of the welfare activities for the families of the soldiers and stressed the need for improving the quality of life.

Messages of goodwill from senior Army officers were read out at a special sainik sammelan. Col Rathore exhorted the staff to rededicate themselves to achieve excellence in every task entrusted to them. A community lunch, badakhana, was also organised to foster espirit-de-corps amongst the troops and their superiors.

The Twelve Jak LI of Batalik sector celebrated its 53rd raising day. The battalion was raised at Hamirpur Sidhar in Jammu & Kashmir in the year 1948.

The battalion, popularly known as the Terrors, has the distinction of participating in all the operations since its raising. This battalion proved its mettle in operation Meghdoot and repulsed six well-coordinated attacks by the Pak Army during its stint on the Northern Glacier at the highest battlefield of the world.

The battalion was launched during operation Vijay in the Batalik Sector to push back Pakistan’s attack and capture points 4812 and 5203. The unit was given `Unit Citation' by the COAS and it earned a string of gallantry awards including one Maha Vir Chakra to Capt Clifford Nongrum (posthumous) and four Vir Chakra to Capt Amol Kalia (posthumous), Sub Bahadur Singh (posthumous), Rfn Gh Mohd Khan (posthumous) and Hav Satish Chander. The unit has earned a total of 105 gallantry awards till date.

A computer education centre was inaugurated at the Institute of Engineers (India), Shillong by Mr T H Rangad, Minister of Home and Information Technology in the presence of Maj Gen I J S Bora, GOC 101 Area and Brig Praveen Kapur, Chief Engineer (Shillong Zone) and Chairman of the IEL, Shillong. The computer education centre aimed at providing professional computer training would serve as a platform to the students to avail the latest knowledge in the computer field.

The Institute of Engineers is the pioneer body to introduce non-formal engineering education programmes. These programmes are recognised by the Government of India, State Government, the Union Public Service Commission and public/private sector organisations for higher studies as also for employment in government departments.

The World Red Cross Day on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the founder of the Red Cross Movement, Sir Jean Henry Dunant, was celebrated at the Shivam Auditorium of the Command Hospital, Central Command in Lucknow Cantonment.

Maj Gen Vijay Joshi, Deputy Director Medical Services, Central Command was the chief guest on the occasion. He called upon those present to re-dedicate themselves to the spirit of Red Cross. Earlier, he lighted the lamp to mark the occasion. Volunteers of the Red Cross Society presented a skit.

Amongst those present on the occasion included Maj Gen Rishi K Gupta, Commandant of the Central Command Hospital and Mr S B Lal, Vice President, State Red Cross Society.

The Territory Manager of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Mr K V Bhaskar Rao, donated a cordless telephone apparatus to the Red Cross Department of the Command Hospital for the benefit of the invalid patients.

In her vote of thanks, Ms Shikha Singh, the Red Cross Welfare Officer with the Command Hospital, gave an account of the Red Cross activities in the Command Hospital. A fund raising campaign for the year was also inaugurated on the occasion by pinning Red Cross membership badges and flags to the chief guest and others present on the occasion.

The INS Tabar, the third frigate of the Talwar class was launched at Petersberg in the presence of the Defence Secretary, Mr Yogendra Narain.

Like her sister ships, INS Tabar is a multi-purpose frigate equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors including the deadly klub type cruise missiles. These ships are designed to carry and operate one heavy duty helicopter.

The first two ships INS Talwar and INS Trishul are expected to join the Indian Navy by next year.

The Navy Signal School, a premier professional training institution for Naval communications and electronic warfare, celebrated its 43rd anniversary. It had its humble beginning in Mumbai in 1919 as the School of Signalling to train Royal Indian marine and mercantile officers. The school was established on its present location at Kochi on March 8, 1958.

As a prelude to its anniversary celebrations, the school extended its assistance to the Centre for Physically and Mentally Handicapped Children run by Missionaries of Charity at Kochi and Sainik Ashram at Ernakulam contributing food and clothing.

The anniversary celebrations included a wreath-laying at Khukri Memorial by Capt A K Jhulka, the Officer-in-Charge. Commendations, meritorious medals and proficiency awards were presented to the staff during the ceremonial parade. A radio telephony-cum-language lab was inaugurated and the school's magazine `Callsign 2001' was released on the occasion. The school's raising day coincided with International Women's Day. Mrs Meena Harinder Singh, President NWWA, Kochi and other ladies planted saplings on the school premises to commemorate the occasion. Personnel and their families participated in the sports events. Retired officers and sailors of the Communication Branch also attended a get-together.

The 51st Defence Pension Adalat was held at Kochi. Earlier, two such Adalats at Thiruvananthapuram and one at Kochi had been successful as they registered the largest number of participants and the highest rate of settlements of grievances and claims.

The 51st Adalat was the largest one with 1524 applications received from Defence pensioners across the state. Of these, the CDA Chennai could settle about 1200 in a record time of three months after the cell was constituted. Mr N Gopalan, Controller General of Defence Accounts inaugurated the Adalat. Vice Admiral Harinder Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command and Mr Y S Negi, Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), Allahabad, were also present. Mr PK Das, CDA Chennai welcomed the participants. The Adalat was organised by CDA Chennai.

The 38th raising day anniversary of the Central Command was celebrated at Headquarters in Lucknow Cantonment.

At a solemn ceremony held at "Smritika", Lt Gen P S Joshi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command, laid a wreath on behalf of officers in homage to those who gave the supreme sacrifice and brought glory to the nation. Sub Maj Deep Singh Shekhawat, the seniormost JCO also laid a wreath on behalf of JCOs and Other Ranks.

Earlier, history of the Central Command was read out. A cake was also cut by Capt (Ms) Vrindaba Gohil and Capt (Ms) Dipali Chauhan. A social evening also formed part of the celebrations.

The Southern Naval Command played host to a large number of ships of foreign navies. These included HMS Gloucestor of the Royal Navy, FNS Jeanne d Arc and George Leygues both belonging to the Training Squadron and Lieutenant de Vaisseau Le Henaff, all of the French Navy, RSS Vengeance, Daring and Courageous of the Republic of Singapore Navy, Kri Tongkol of the Indonesian Navy, SAS Drakensberg of South African Navy and K D Laksamana Tan Pusmah and K D Jebat of the Malaysian Navy. The school-children in traditional attire and the Naval Band welcomed these ships. The Naval Officer-in-Charge (Kerala and Lakshadweep) received these ships at Kochi on their arrival.

During their stay in harbour, the ships personnel interacted with the Indian Navy, visited various training schools at the naval base and participated in sports events. The Singapore Naval ships also participated in anti-submarine warfare exercises with the Indian Navy. A press conference was also held on board.

The Royal British Legion comprising war veterans visited Kohima to pay homage to their near and dear ones who lost their lives while fighting Japanese forces during the second world war.

A 20-member team led by Mr Ann L Hubble from the Pilgrimage Travel Department of the Legion held a service at the war cemetry and also visited the major battle areas of Kohima.

The team included Mr Arthur Storey who had fought the Japanese forces in Kohima. Mr Storey, now 83, narrated his experiences, He as a private in the British Army fought the Japanese forces 57 years back. Having received orders to "attach, don't retreat", his troops formed a human base around Kohima to prevent the Japanese from entering the city. He said the only thing he had in mind was to chase away the enemies. Mr Storey broke down when he recalled how his friend Capt Rendall, with grenades tied around his waist, threw himself over a Japanese who was constantly firing upon the Britishers with a machine-gun near the tennis court. Capt Rendall blew himself. A grand dinner was hosted for the visiting team by 29 Assam Rifles.

A two-day workshop on modern concepts of planning and design of energy efficient buildings was organised by the Chief Engineer, Chandigarh Zone recently.

In his inaugural address, the Chief Engineer, Western Command, Maj Gen Madhav Arren emphasised the need to design and construct energy efficient buildings to conserve scarce power and other precious natural resources. He said larger government construction agencies like MES, CPWD and Railways can take a lead in this direction and contribute to research in this field.

Maj Gen Arren called for the use of passive solar architecture, recycling of building materials, proper orientation and shading of buildings to reduce energy requirements. Provision of water bodies, air flow, natural lighting, vegetation and arboriculture would result in energy efficient buildings, he added.

The workshop was attended by representatives of Engineer-in-Chief's Branch, Army Headquarters and various Zonal Chief Engineers of Military Engineering Services (MES) from Delhi, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Chandigarh. A display of various items of solar energy systems was also organised on the occasion in the premises of Chief Engineer, Chandigarh Zone.

The 68 Armoured Regiment of the Indian Army celebrated its 34th raising day somewhere in the Western Sector. Lt Gen GS Kler (Retd), Col Surinder Singh (Retd), Maj Gen S Varma (Retd), Maj Gen M S Sandhu (Retd), Colonel of the Regiment, Brig P Goswami, Brig Omit Sarkar and Col S Saberwal, the present Commandant addressed the regiment during the sainik sammelan.

The regiment was raised on March 1, 1968 at Ahmednagar by Lt Col R N Thumby (later Brig). The regiment had the privilege of serving in operations Cactus Lilly in 1971, Trident in 1987 and Rakshak in 1991. In 1985, the regiment received T-72M tanks. During operation Vijay, the regiment was deployed in the Western Sector where it performed creditably.

Since raising, the regiment has been honoured with one Mahavir Chakra, one Ati Visisht Seva Medal, one Seva Medal, three Visisht Seva Medals, three Mentioned-in-Despaches, three COAS Commendation Cards and nine General Officer Commanding-in-Chief commendation cards.

The 16th passenger railway reservation counter has been opened at Fort William, Kolkata.

The counter was inaugurated by Rfn Durga Bahadur Chetri and his wife Mrs Saraswati Chetri. Mr A K Dutta, Chief Commercial Manager Eastern Railway and senior Army Officers were present on the occasion.

The reservation system will provide better facilities to the defence personnel and the civilians. All passengers including civilians will have access to Fort William computerised reservation counter to purchase tickets. This counter will remain open on all days except Sundays.

For the troops of the Eastern Command, eight more computerised reservation counters are proposed to be opened in Dinjan, Rangapahar, Narangi, Rangiya, Jorhat, Tonga, Along and Dhupguri located in the far flung areas of North East.

Army Ordnance Corps, earlier known as `Board of Ordnance' came into existence on April 8, 1775. Army Ordnance Corps has been giving logistic support to the troops located both in field and peace areas. The Corps celebrated its 226 anniversary recently. Ordnance Depot, Fort, Allahabad, one of the oldest ordnance installations, caters ordnance stores for units located in Central Command.

Col S K Mohan, Commandant, OD Fort, Allahabad unfurled the ordnance flag and inaugurated the celebrations. The corps day celebrations were spread over two weeks in which both the civilian and military personnel of the depot took active participation. Mrs Manju Mohan gave away prizes to the winners of various games and sports activities during pagal gymkhana. A badakhana was organised with various entertainment programmes in which families also joined the troops.

The Officer's Mess function was organised with `Rang Mahal' as the backdrop, a specimen architecture by Mughals. A grand light and sound show left the participants spell-bound. The function began with the cutting of cake by Brig (Retd) O P Astana, Brig (Retd) Shukla and Col (Retd) M K Srivastava, senior Ordnance officers. All the serving and retired Ordnance officers of the station joined the celebrations. Air Marshal S P Tyagi SASO, Central Air Command Bamrauli Air Force Station, Maj Gen Satbir Singh, Commander, Service Selection Centre, Allahabad, Brig R S Rana, Commander Allahabad Sub Area were also present on the occasion.

The Governor of Meghalaya, Mr M M Jacob inaugurated the three-day Air Force Mela organised by the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional) at the Garrison Ground, Shillong. Speaking on the occasion, the Governor lauded the efforts of the AFWWA in the North-Eastern region towards promoting better quality of life for a cohesive society. He further added that the adoption of villages for providing free medical care and schooling for the underprivileged by all major Air Force bases in Eastern Air Command has earned enormous goodwill.

Earlier, the Governor was received by Mrs Deena Inamdar, President AFWWA (R), who declared the event open by lighting the traditional lamp and unfurled the AFWWA flag as a helicopter showered petals from the air. Later, a cultural programme was presented by the Air Force ladies and children from Kendriya Vidyalaya and Air Force schools of Upper Shillong. The programme was attended by Air Marshal S G Inamdar, AOC-in-C, EAC, IAF, DG Assam Rifles and other senior officers from Army and Air Force and other civilians. An aero-modelling display also kept the audience enthralled.

It may be mentioned that this year 52 stalls from various Air Force bases of the Eastern Air Command sold items at affordable rates.

The 50 Light A D Regiment (Composite) has won the championship in cross country and Air Craft Recognition (ACR). This was the third consecutive championship victory as the regiment has already won the hockey championship of the brigade.

In the ACR competition, the regiment achieved a clear victory with a score of 2209 out of 2250. Four participants of the regiment BHM(ADA) Gunasekharan, L/Nk (OFC) M D Khan, L/Nk (ADA) Ajayan, and Hav (ADA) Thomas shared individual prizes for first position. Prize for the highest score among individual officers was won by Capt Puneet Raina and prize for JCO was won by Nb/Sub Lakshmi Narayana, both from 50 Light AD Regiment (Composite).

The cross-country championship was won by 50 Light AD Regiment with 210 points while 322 AD Regiment stood second with 215 points. The prizes to the winners were given away by Brig Ram Pratap, the Brigade Commander. The Commanding Officer, Col P S Jaggi received the prizes on behalf of the victorious team.

`Roaring Fifty' has also won the second position in the garden competition earlier. The prize for the competition was distributed by Lt Gen Surjit Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command.

As part of Continuing Medical Education Programme (CMEP), two symposia and a series of lectures on tropical diseases were organised by the Western Command Hospital in Chandimandir.

Inaugurating the CME programme, the Deputy Director Medical Services, HQ, Western Command, Maj Gen S C Sharma said tropical diseases have constantly posed challenges in managing patients. ‘‘We still face large incidences of malaria, leprosy and gastrointestinal infections despite institutions for various control programme’’, he added.

Welcoming the guest speakers and delegates, Maj Gen P Dayal, Commandant of the Hospital said that since all fields of medicine were witnessing a rapid upsurge of knowledge, organising such updates on regular basis was valuable for medical officers and specialists.

Various topics covered during the CME programme included dengue fever, gastroenteritis in children, microcytic anaemia in tropics, kala azar, tuberculosis, atherosclerosis and infection, chronic amoebiasis, snake bites and AIDS.