Admiral Sushil Kumar, the Chief of Naval Staff reviewed a naval parade on the occasion of the Naval Investiture Ceremony held in Delhi. The gallantry awards included two Nao Sena Medals awarded posthumously to Lt DS Sihag and Petty Mahavir Singh, both marine commandos who showed acts of exceptional bravery in the face of great danger and in total disregard to their own personal safety during operation Rakshak in J&K.

The Sabre killer Air Defence Regiment celebrated its 49th Raising Day somewhere in the Western sector. The raising day celebrations began with mandir and gurudwara programme. A basketball match was held between officers and Junior commissioned officers. The Commanding Officer of the Regiment, Col Deepak Das took the salute of the ceremonial guards in the Unit Quarter Guard.

Many retired Commanding Officers along with other officers and jawans participated in the special sainik sammelan. The first Commanding Officer of the Regiment, Col Gurcharan Singh and present Commanding officer Col Deepak Das addressed the sainik sammelan. Col Deepak Das said that the regiment is well trained and ready to take any responsibility entrusted to it. Special awards were also presented to outstanding personnel of the regiment for their contribution.

A pagal gymkhana held on the occasion was a memorable event. barakhana was followed by a cultural programme.

The golden jubilee celebrations of the Military Hospital (MH), Jodhpur ended with a Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminar on "Trauma Management and Science Exhibition".

The celebrations began with an invocation song by Nursing Officers followed by the welcome address by Brig GS Rawat, Commandant of the hospital. The chief guest, Lt Gen MA Gurbaxani, Desert Corps Commander lit the lamp and inaugurated the seminar. Brig PK Tiwari, Deputy Director Medical Services of Desert Corps released the CME handout.

The chief guest, in his inaugural speech, said that this hospital had a glorious past with a history of patient care and patient satisfaction. The medical seminar would give the hospital a chance to show its work and contribution to the medical world while interacting with civilian doctors and medical experts, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Brig GS Rawat said that the hospital has kept pace with the developments in the field of medical science. Papers on management of severe trauma, head injuries, spinal injuries, blunt injury and abdomen by Vijay Kumary, Dr N Bhargava, Dr Sunil Garg and Lt Col Sudhir Saxena were presented. Papers on surgeon and ballistics by Maj S Kulkarni, ear trauma by Maj V Bhalla and blunt eye injury by Lt Col Atul Sood were also presented.

Papers on management of stroke and prevention of alcohol abused were presented. In the last part of the seminar, papers on pitfalls and problems of laproscopic surgery and hospital waste management were presented.

Lt Col S Sharma, Organising Secretary, conveyed vote of thanks. A get-together was also organised in the Army Medical Corps Officers Mess.

Leh, the headquarters of Ladakh division of Jammu & Kashmir emerged on the rail map of India with the inauguration of the PRS (passenger reservation system) terminal by Lt Gen Aryan Ray, the Corps Commander and Mr RK Dhoopal, Member Traffic.

The Army dedicated the computer based PRS at Leh to the indomitable spirit of the jawan. PRS Leh is directly connected to Delhi and it would facilitate the advance rail reservation.

The Army has embarked upon a unique defence backed project to set up PRS terminals at remote locations in Jammu & Kashmir. The Northern Railways has been collaborating in this venture to alleviate the rail travel related problems of the jawan. The first PRS commenced functioning at Badamibagh Cantt, Srinagar on May 10, 1998, followed by PRS at Udhampur on September 26, 2000. Very shortly, Rajouri will come up on the rail PRS network.

The Defence Research Laboratory, Jodhpur organised a two-day seminar on new developments in science and technology. The chief guest of the seminar was Mr Gurdeep Singh, Divisional Railway Manager and the special guest was Mrs Pramila Khanna from National Language Organisation, Delhi. The seminar was presided by Dr Ramgopal, the Director of Defence Laboratory.

The chief guest in his speech laid emphasis on the importance of understanding science and technology through national language.

On the first day of seminar, three sessions were organised. The first session was on technology, second on information technology and third was on radiation. Mr Pradeep Kumar Khatri, Dr Sudarshan Kumar and Dr Madhukar P Chacharkar presided on this day. On the second day of the seminar, four sessions were organised in which papers on botany, agriculture, ayurveda, environment and water and eradication of malaria were
presented.

A paper on personality development presented by Mr Sanjeev Poddar was very informative. Dr Ramgopal gave a guest lecture on national water technology.

—Maj (Dr) AK Janardhanan
from Jodhpur

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis attended the special memorial service organised at Air Force Station, Bhuj to pay homage to Air Force personnel, their family members and civilians killed in the devastating earthquake. Air Marshal Vinod Bhatia, AOC-in-C, South Western Air Command and Air Marshal DC Dhayani, Air Officer in-charge Administration at Air HQrs were also present. A memorial has been built at Air Force Station, Bhuj in memory of the personnel and their family members killed. More than one lakh fifty thousand Air Force personnel spread over five hundred units simultaneously attended similar memorial services organised at all Air Force bases to pay homage.

The Air Chief, while addressing the personnel, said that the reconstruction of the air base must take the highest priority and all personnel should work with a single-minded objective of rebuilding a model Air Force Station.

The Air Chief announced a special financial package for the affected personnel at Air Force Station, Bhuj costing approximately rupees four crores. He said that the children orphaned and those who had lost one parent will get a monthly grant of Rs 2000 to Rs 6270 for their education, till they attain the age of 21 years. The money will be paid from special corpus fund being created for this purpose. A lumpsum of rupees three lakh will be paid to every child on attaining the age of 21 years. Similarly, a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 60,000 will be paid to the personnel injured depending upon the degree of disability, Rs 20,000 to Rs 90,000 for loss of property, Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh for injuries suffered by family members and ex-gratia payment to the surviving widows. He said that these benefits would be in addition to the normal benefits given in case of death. He also announced a corpus fund of Rs 20 lakh for various welfare schemes for the Air Force personnel at Bhuj

The Vajra Corps, Jalandhar established a Sainik Institute for the welfare of other ranks and an Asha School for disabled children of serving personnel, ex-servicemen and the civilians on the occasion of its raising day.

Lt Gen Kamal Davar, GOC, Vajra Corps while inaugurating the institute at Jalandhar Cantt, lauded the efforts of officers, JCOs and other ranks of the Corps bringing up the institute in a short span of time. "It will provide an opportunity to JCOs and other ranks posted in the garrison to improve their quality of life, enhance their awareness in all spheres and encourage them to have a greater social interaction with their colleagues in other arms and services, he added.

The institute is equipped with an audio-visual room, multi-gym, video games parlour indoor games, STD/PCO booths, digital centre, cafeteria, reading room and other amenties.

The aim of Asha School is to combine and coordinate the use of medical services alongwith social, educational and vocational, and measures for treatment and training of challenged children. The Asha School will be run by Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), Vajra Corps. It will have a rehabilitation centre for the care and welfare of physically and mentally handicapped children of the service personnel from HQ Vajra Corps Zone. Mrs Madhu Davar, President AWWA, HQ Vajra Corps is the patron of Asha School.

The Station Health Organisation of the Southern Air Command Unit, Akkulam organised a Health Education Programme at SNCO's Mess, Pulayanarkotta. Air Marshal Manjit S Sekhon, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command inaugurated the seminar.

The exhibition, organised as a part of the programme by pharmaceutical companies and Air Force Health Unit, was opened by Mrs Pariminder Sekhon. Dr Girish K, a clinical psychologist and Dr Amar S Fettle paediatrician led the demonstration-cum-lecture session. Wg Cdr AS Yadav, Commanding Officer, SAC(U) and Sqn Ldr Sanjay Sharma, Senior Medical Officer, SAC also addressed the gathering.

Mr BG Verghese has been appointed as the Information Consultant to Defence Minister.

Maj Gen Manmohan Singh has taken over as the 40th Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Signals.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy, the General Officer is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He has also attended National Defence College at New Delhi and Higher Command Course at College of Combat, Mhow. He holds a Master Degree in Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers. Maj Manmohan Singh is the recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.

Appointments

Air Vice Marhsal VK Tiwari assumed the charge of the Senior Maintenance Staff Officer at HQrs, Central Air Command, Bamroully. He is the senior most maintenance officer at HQrs, CAC directing all the maintenance activities of all the units under HQrs, CAC.

Air Vice Marshal Tiwari is a post- graduate in electronics from Lucknow University. He was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in 1966 and has worked in Signals Unit, ADGES Communication Unit and as a Senior Technical Officer in the Fighter Squadron. He later commanded a signal unit and also the Air Force Liaison Cell at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Lucknow.

The Air Marshal was awarded commendation by Chief of Air Staff in 1991 for exemplary work in setting up overhaul facilities for fighter aircraft at Base Repair Depot. He was also the Director of Engineering of the Fighter Fleet at Air HQrs, New Delhi before assuming this appointment.

Lt Gen Hari Prasad took over as new Desert Corps Commander from Lt Gen MA Gurbaxani somewhere in the Western Sector. Lt Gen Gurbaxani moved to Pune to take over the appointment of Chief of Staff, Southern Command.

Lt Gen Hari Prasad, an alumnus of the King Georges School, Bangalore, National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun was commissioned on August 2, 1964 into the Maratha Light Infantry. He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College and has also attended the Higher Command Course at the College of Combat, Mhow.

In his long service extending 37 years, Lt Gen Prasad has held varied command, staff and instructional appointments..

A two—day workshop on laparoscopic surgery was inaugurated by Lt Gen RK Jetley, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services at Base Hospital Delhi Cantt.

Immediately after the inauguration, the first laparoscopic surgery was performed by Prof Roger Motson. With live demonstration facilities, more than two hundred surgeons and para-medical staff attending the workshop were benefited from the professional skills of the renowned experts in this field. Other eminent surgeons who shared their experiences included Dr PK Chowbey, consultant surgeon at Gangaram Hospital and Dr Pradeep Kumar of Apollo Hospital. Dr Chowbey holds a Guinness Book record for the maximum number of gallbladder operations done by this new method.

In laparoscopic surgery, very small holes are made on the abdominal wall through which telescopes and long instruments are passed into the abdomen. The telescopic camera is connected to a television monitor and operations are done under high magnification. The laparoscopic surgery costs less and reduces the recovery time of the patient.

The new office complex of Air Force Station, Thiruvananthapuram at Shanghumugham Beach was inaugurated by Air Marshal Manjit S Sekhon, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command.

The Air Force Station Thiruvananthapuram was established in 1984 and was functioning from hired buildings. The new office complex is established at old Aquarium Complex of University of Kerala. The complex has eight buildings in 7.1 acre area.

Air Marshal MS Sekhon said that all the buildings would be renovated to house various establishments of the Air Force Station. This complex will enhance the operational viability of the Air Force Station beside the savings on rent expenditure of the Air Force, Wg Cdr Yogesh Jain, Commanding Officer, Air Force Station welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries.

Air Vice Marshal PA Harimohan, Air Commodores PK Kuruvila and SS Nesargi, Air Port Authority Director, Mr DR Virmani and senior defence and civil dignitaries attended the function.

With the opening of an ATM centre of the ICICI Bank at the Air Force Station, Chandigarh it has become the first Air Force base in the country to have such facility.

Inaugurating the ATM centre, Air Officer Commanding, 12 Wing, Air Cmde VS Govindarajan said that it was a proud moment for the station to have the modern banking service.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Anand Kumar, Vice President and Regional Head of ICICI Bank, Chandigarh region said that with the launching of this 464th ATM centre of the bank in the country, banking would be a pleasure for the AF personnel who were always on the move. He hoped other AF stations too would have this facility. Mr Anand Kumar also added that the bank would waive the minimum balance criterion and would not be charging draft commission within stipulated limits.

The President, Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Local), Mrs Geetha Govindarajan expressed her gratitude to the bank for contributing an amount of Rs 21,000 for the welfare of airmen and their families who were affected by earthquake in Gujarat.

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen Surjit Singh laid the foundation stone of the Shivalik Officers Institute in Chandimandir Cantonment. The Chief of Staff, Lt Gen HRS Mann and other senior officers of Headquarters Western Command were present on the occasion.

Constructed by Chief Engineer, Chandimandir Zone (MES) at a cost of Rs 127 lakh, the building would be completed in a years time . It has been designed by the senior architect of the Chief Engineer, Western Command.

The building would fulfill the requirements of both the serving and retired Defence Service officers and their families.

The annual garden and flower show was recently organised by the Army in Chandimandir Cantonment. The show concluded with a display of plants and flowers. Prize distribution was organised at the Manekshaw Auditorium. The prizes were given away by Lt Gen Surjit Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command.

Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen Surjit Singh called upon all ranks and their families living in Chandimandir Cantonment to maintain and improve the environment of the military station by keeping their surrounding clean. The panel of judges included Mrs Geeta Singh, Mrs Bipanjit Sidhu, Col P K Tikoo, Col G S Bindra and Lt Col Karnail Singh. In all, 240 participants competed in various categories of the show.

The wreckage of a small aircraft that was reported by the fishing boat Hansantony off the Kollam (Quilon) Coast was retrieved at the Shaktikulangara Beach. Naval experts from INS Garuda identified the wreckage as that of a Vought F4U Corsair aircraft. This aircraft is a
War II vintage presumably dumped at sea by the Royal Navy. Naval experts are of the opinion that many more catches of this nature could be expected off the Kochi coast in years to come. The oleos of the aircraft are still intact on the wreckage. Also intact are two steel hooks used for launching the aircraft from an aircraft carrier.

The Vought F4U Corsair aircraft of the Royal Navy was manufactured by the United Aircraft Corporation of USA and operated from the Royal Navy's Aircraft HMS Ilustrous in 1944. They formed a part of a consignment that was brought to HMS Kalugu Kochi for disposal at sea.

The wreckage is a testimony to the glorious heritage of naval aviation which dates back to second World War. With the fall of Singapore in February 1942 and subsequent air strikes by the Japanese on Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in April 1942, the British launched a massive programme for creating facilities for naval aviation in India. The main Royal Naval Air Stations were established at Peelamedu (Coimbatore), Tambaram (Chennai) and Kochi.

A comprehensive medical care-cum cancer detection camp for women was organised at the Station Sick-quarters of Headquarters, Maintenance Command, IAF, Nagpur.

Organised in consultation with the Sant Tukdoji Cancer Hospital, the camp was inaugurated by Mrs Kusum Gupta, President, Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA) Regional, HQ MC IAF.

Conducted under the guidance of Air Cmde R N Diwan, Principal Medical Officer at HQ MC and Mr B H Singh, Executive Officer of Tukdoji Hospital, the camp aimed to provide all major specialist services to the ladies residing at Vayu Sena Nagar

—Wg Cdr S N Mukerjee
from Nagpur

The Headquarters Central Command bagged four coveted running trophies and shields at the annual flower show of the UP Government which concluded at the lawns of the Governor House. The Governor, Mr Vishnukant Shastri inaugurated the show and the prizes to the winners were distributed by the Minister for Horticulture, Mr Dhanraj Yadav.

The running trophy of M/S Bharat and Co. for cut dahlia flowers, Challengeship Flower Show Running Shield for winter potted flowers, Late Chowdhary Bhagwan Singh Running Shield for dahlia potted flowers and M/S Iqabana Running Shield for 2000 square-metre compound were won by the Headquarters Central Command.

M/S Shyam Nursery Running Shield for 500 square-metre garden was bagged by the Command House of Lt Gen PS Joshi, the Central Army Commander.

—Dhirendra Ojha