The 40th Raising Day of the Central Command was celebrated with great fervour at Headquarters in Lucknow Cantonment.

At a solemn ceremony held at "Smritika" war memorial Maj Gen AK Mehra, MG Administration, Central Command, laid a wreath on behalf of the Central Army Commander, Lt Gen DS Chauhan and other officers. Sub Maj Deep Singh Shekhawat, the senior-most JCO, also laid a wreath on behalf of JCOs and other ranks.

Maj Gen AK Mehra also read out a message from Lt Gen DS Chauhan, GOC-in-C, Central Command.

Earlier, Brig PS Bhatnagar, Brigadier Education Headquarters Central Command, highlighted achievements of Central Command since its inception in 1963 and revealed that there are 22 Regimental Centres in the jurisdiction of Central Command area which impart initial military training to soldiers from all parts of the country.

Army Ordnance Corps Centre, Secunderabad celebrated its 228th Corps day. On this occasion Brig AK Jyoti, Commandant, AOC Centre laid a wreath and paid homage at the AOC Centre war memorial.

Brig Jyoti addressed a special sainik sammelan at the Ordnance Hall. He exhorted all ranks of the centre to continue to strive for excellence and reminded everyone of the glorious past. He said that the Corps has played an important role during Operation Parakram by providing the ordnance support, which was highly appreciated.

Brig AK Jyoti honoured the outstanding personnel of Army Ordnance Corps and also the sportsmen by presenting cash awards.

Chief Engineer Lucknow Zone CELZ of the Military Engineering Service (MES) has been awarded ISO 9001: 2000. The Director General of Standardisation Testing and Quality Control (STQC), Dr SL Sarnot presented the ISO Certificate to Brig Pradeep Kapoor, the Chief Engineer Lucknow Zone, at Lucknow Cantonment.

Lt Gen Hari Uniyal, Engineer-in-Chief, Army Headquarters and Senior Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Engineers was the chief guest on the occasion.

While presenting the ISO,
Dr Sarnot said that he was impressed with the working of the CELZ and expressed the hope that the certification would go a long way in achieving the desired results.

Maj Gen Utpal Bhattacharya, Chief Engineer Central Command in his address informed that all other zones under Central Command were in the process of getting ISO Certification.

Col AK Singh, Addl Chief Engineer Lucknow Zone in his vote of thanks gave the credit for getting ISO certificate to the hard work being put in by all ranks and their civilian counterparts in the CELZ.

Bison Sainik Institute (BSI) was inaugurated by Maj Gen KS Shiv Kumar, General Officer Commanding of Bison Division at Lake Lines in Secunderabad cantonment. This is the first of such institutes being established by the Bison Division, to provide educational, sports and community facilities to Junior Commissioned Officers, Jawans and their families.

The institute has a variety of sports facilities, modern gymnasium, integrated health centre, library, cafeteria, playpen for small children, children's park, home theatre, computer centre with internet facility and vocational training centre. Vocational training programmes for the wives and dependents of soldiers are in the offing.

A mela was organised on the occasion where variety of games and food stalls were set up and a number of competitions and entertainment programmes were held.

Air Vice Marshal SK Banerjee, Senior Office incharge, Administration and the Chairman of Official Language Implementation Committee (OLIC) of HQ, SWAC, IAF Gandhinagar, released the eleventh issue of SWAC Hindi magazine "Abhivyakti" in the quarterly meeting of OLIC.

Air Vice Marshal Banerjee congratulated the editorial board and all those who contributed to bring out this issue. He told that the publication of such a magazine exhibits the hidden talents of our personnel.

Army troops near the Line of Control in north Kashmir organised Polio immunisation campaign for the Kashmiri children.

In order to facilitate the implementation of nation wide anti-polio campaign, troops administered polio drops to the children residing in far-flung areas which are presently not approachable due to heavy snow.

Troops of 42 Rashtriya Rifles at Hayan (Trehgam) collected 20 polio vials from PHC Karalpura and administered the same to approximately 600 children under the supervision of Dr BC Netaji.

The 18 Jak Rifle Battalion carried out the pulse polio drive at Rangwar, Gundi, Zum Reshi, Tumha, Khanbal bowl and Bod Nambal, all villages near Chowkibal.

Similarly, troops of 1/4 Gorkha Rifles also administered polio drops to approximately 480 children. Mr Lal Singh, Minister of Health and Family Welfare J&K state, has commended the good job done by the troops and has sent a note of appreciation to the General Officer Commanding.

A book exhibition was organised in Sand Model Room of HQ 11 Infantry Division for the defence personnel. The exhibition was inaugurated by Maj Gen N Thamburaj, GOC Headquarters 11 Infantry Division and was opened for the troops and their families residing in Ahmedabad Cantonment.

A large number of books were displayed for all category of readers. The exhibition was kept open for Officers, JCOs, ORs and their families who showed keen interest in the collection and were benefited by the variety of books displayed.

Gunners of Air Defence Artillery, (AD) launched an operation "AD, Afforestation Drive" at Srinagar and planted 250 saplings of fruit trees.

The oldest AD Regiment, launched afforestation drive at old Air Field Srinagar. A total of 12 Officers, 20 JCOs and 216 ORs took part in drive and planted almonds, walnut, apricot, pear and apple saplings. Speaking on the occasion, Col YS Rana, Commandant said,"each sapling has been assigned to two Jawans who will ensure its survival and at the end of every year prizes will be given to those whose saplings will be adjudged the best".

A day-long medicare camp for the benefit of ex-servicemen, war widows and next of kin of the battle casualties was held at MEG & Centre in Bangalore. A number of special stalls to help the ex-servicemen and their dependents to resolve problems relating to pension, medicare and other schemes of the central and state governments had been set up.

All ex-servicemen can avail various facilities under the newly launched Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS). Col AS Chand officiating Commandant of MEG & Centre said, the ECHS provides comprehensive medical care to all ex-servicemen, their families and dependents. Col Chand said the facilities under the scheme are available at 104 military and 123 non military stations in the country including Bangalore, Belgaum, Karwar, Medikeri, Bijapur, Dharwar, Mangalore and Mysore in Karnataka.

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To enable families of all ranks and staff of AMC Centre and School get their essential daily household requirements within their reach, a new shopping complex has been created. This complex has a vegetable shop, gift shop, condiment shop, ladies’ beauty parlour, Chinese fast food, AMC boutique, footwear shop and a south Indian restaurant. The renovated shopping complex of AMC Centre and School was inaugurated by Lt Gen SP Kalra, Commandant, AMC Centre and School.

2 Guards (1 Grenadiers) inaugurated a mobile library for its officers, JCOs and ORs and their families. The benefits of the mobile library will also be extended to Sural village of Gurdaspur district, which has been adopted by Black Arrow Brigade.

Aim of this mobile library will be to extend the riches of the Battalion Library at the door steps of unit personnel.

The mobile library was inaugurated by Mrs Abhilasha Kumari, President AWWA Black Arrow Brigade. On this occasion Commanding Officer of the unit, officers, JCOs, ORs and families were also present.

A seminar on child health and environment was organised by Military Hospital, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Lectures pertaining to environment and child health on different themes were delivered by Maj RK Srivastava and Capt (Mrs) Monika Gupta.

140 children from various schools and approximately 94 families of different local units attended the seminar. Poster and essay competition was also organised for children on environment and child health. Prizes were distributed by Principal Kendriya Vidyalaya, Palampur.

A passing out parade of 165 All Through Course was held at Medical Training Centre (MTC), AF. Nineteen trainees of Medical Assistant trade successfully completed their training and passed out from this centre as airmen. Air Vice Marshal PK Sarkar, Commandant, Command Hospital, Air Force Bangalore reviewed the parade and gave away the trophies and prizes to the outstanding trainees. LAC Bhuwan Chandra Upadhyay was awarded the trophy for the best All Rounder. Wg Cdr D Bhattacharya, Commanding Officer, MTC AF read out the course report.

A medical camp was organised in Bagga, Udhampur District (J&K) by 4 Kumaon, to provide free medical cover to locals from remote villages in the area under Operation Sadbhavana.

The medical camp was inaugurated by Brig Narendra Singh, Commander 87 Mountain Brigade.

Medical cover was provided by a team consisting of three medical officers, one lady medical officer of the Army and three Assistant Surgeons and one lady dental surgeon from PHC Mahore. Approximately 785 people benefited from the medical aid and dental check up. Free medicines were distributed and many new cases were registered.

A one week course on food preservation techniques was organised at 629 Transport Company ASC AWWA Food Preservation Centre under the aegis of AWWA HQ Delhi Area. A large number of families attended the course. All the participants were given a certificate on successful completion of the course by Food and Nutrition Board, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), a clinic was inaugurated at Hamirpur by Brig DS Kullar, Commander 55 (I) Mechanised Brigade. Brig Kullar highlighted that the ECHS is designed to provide a comprehensive medical cover to the ex-servicemen and their dependent family members who are in receipt of pension including disability pension and family pension with no restriction on the type of ailment or the age of the beneficiary.

A healthy baby competition was organised by HQ 55 (I) Mechanised Brigade wherein children of JCOs, and ORs participated. The competition had 2 categories, 3 months to 1 year old children in the first category and 1 to 3 years old children in second category.

The height to weight ratio and general health of the child was checked by a paediatrician. A questionnaire was also given to the mothers of the participating babies to judge their general awareness and manner in which they were bringing up their children.

Maharashtra & Gujarat (M & G) Area riding team won M & G Area (eight goals) trophy by 5 goals to 4½ goals in a well fought encounter with Amateur Riders Club (ARC) at Mahalaxmi Race Course. The event was organised as part of ongoing 58th Annual Horse Show and Polo Tournament.

Maj Atul Gupta and Maj Tarun Sirohi of M & G Area team were the star performers who scored all the 5 goals effectively alongwith their team members. For ARC Lt Akhil Sirohi scored two goals while Harish Piramal and DD Madon got one goal each.

In the Tent Pegging event Lt Ravi Rathore of 61 Cavalry Clinched the top spot whereas Yusuf Ali Khan of ARC was second. Capt NS Sandhu of NDA was adjudged the winner and Cadet S Raghuvanshi also of NDA claimed the second spot.

Maj Gen TK Kaul General Officer Commanding Maharashtra & Gujarat Area was the Chief Guest and gave away prizes to the winner.

Madras Engineer Group & Centre, Bangalore won the overall Army Sports Championship Trophy for the sixth consecutive time.

At a glittering function held at New Delhi the Chief of the Army staff General NC Vij presented the trophy to Brig JJ Manavalan, Commandant of MEG & Centre, Bangalore. In all 14 sports disciplines are involved in the Chief of the Army Staff overall Sports Championship.

The soldiers of MEG have always excelled in sports and have so far produced 11 Olympians, 8 Arjuna Awardees and many national and international level sportsmen.

Air Marshal Jain was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in October, 1965 in the fighter stream. He is an alumnus of the National Defence College and a Fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India. Besides being the Flight Commander and Squadron Commander of fighter squadrons, he had commanded two frontline IAF bases. He is also a qualified flying instructor and a production test pilot.

Air Marshal Jain was the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operational Concepts & Doctrine) at Air HQ before he took over as the SASO, TC.

Mr KU Limaye took over as Director of Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, Bangalore.

Mr Limaye, an engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Science received MTech degree from IIT Kharagpur. He has served as Director of Microwave Tube Research and Development Centre and held charge of the Centre for Airborne Systems, Bangalore. He is the recipient of DRDO Scientist of the year, IETE-IRSI Award and JC Bose Memorial Award.

Air Marshal BK Pandey took over as the AOC-in-C, Training Command.

An Alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pune, Air Marshal BK Pandey was commissioned in the IAF on December 25, 1964 as a Transport Pilot. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington and National Defence College of Delhi. A Qualified Flying Instructor of considerable experience, he served with the Republic of Singapore Air Force and also as Air Attache at the Embassy of India, Kabul. For his distinguished service, he has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.