President Droupadi Murmu has approved gallantry awards to 93 armed forces personnel, including two Kirti Chakras and 14 Shaurya Chakras, on the eve of Republic Day. The Kirti Chakras, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, have been awarded to Major Manjit from 22 Rashtriya Rifles and posthumously to Naik Dilwar Khan, 28 Rashtriya Rifles. The president also approved 305 defense decorations to Armed Forces and other personnel.
President Droupadi Murmu has approved 76 gallantry awards, including four Kirti Chakras posthumously and 11 Shaurya Chakras to personnel of the security forces, on the eve of the 77th Independence Day, officials said.
Col Singh was a combat veteran and was awarded Sena Medal during his tenure as second-in-command of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Babu Ram and Constable Altaf Hussain Bhat of Jammu and Kashmir Police were on Saturday posthumously conferred with the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra awards respectively on the eve of the 75th Independence Day. While the Ashoka Chakra is India's highest peacetime gallantry honour, Kirti Chakra is the second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.
The memorial pays tribute to soldiers who laid down their lives defending the nation.
Thirty-one army personnel too have been awarded the Sena (gallantry) medal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid homage to the fallen soldiers at the newly-built National War Memorial in the nation's capital on the Republic Day for the first time instead of the Amar Jawan Jyoti beneath the India Gate arch.
Wing Commander Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer, though shaken and injured, managed to open the rear door of the aircraft and shouted for Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the passengers in the forward cabin to exit in haste since they suspected that fire would engulf the aircraft.
The IAF received a total of 13 awards including five Yudh Seva Medals and seven Vayu Sena Medal.
Corporal Nirala, disregarding personal safety and displaying indomitable courage, retaliated with effective lethal fire and gunned down two category A terrorists and injured two others.
The NWM pays tribute to soldiers who laid down their lives defending the nation during India-China war in 1962, Indo-Pak wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Srilanka and in the Kargil conflict of 1999.
The PM will pay homage to fallen soldiers at the newly-built National War Memorial in New Delhi on the Republic Day instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti beneath the India Gate arch.
The President has approved award of 398 gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces personnel and others on the eve of the 68th Republic Day Celebrations.
The award was received by Corporal Nirala's wife Sushmanand and his mother Malti Devi at the majestic Rajpath.
Claude Arpi reveals how Wing Commander Jag Mohan Nath won a second Maha Vir Chakra in the 1965 War.
The No. 51 Squadron is to be retired by the end of September, "as per the plan", the defence sources said.
Fifty-six months on, the government's record in implementing these schemes and projects has been mixed, report Arup Roychoudhury and Indivjal Dhasmana.
Eight personnel of the 21 Para Regiment, which had undertaken a daring operation just inside Myanmar territory following the Manipur ambush, were among 67 for whom President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday approved Gallantry awards.
Bhopal (South) superintendent of police Anshuman Singh said the police had not received any complaint in this regard.
Air Commodore Nitin Sathe discovers how the IAF trained Pakistani air force pilots, during the 1971 War, which led to the birth of the Bangladesh air force.
The retreating Pakistani troops were heading towards Dacca and they had to be stopped at all costs. The Eastern Army Commander, in his orders to General Sagat Singh, had reiterated that he did not want the troops of 4 Corps to cross the Meghna river. But General Sagat had other plans to threaten Dacca and ensure that the pressure would make the Pakistani commanders capitulate. This is where the IAF helicopters came in.
'Why isn't the story of the valiant 13th Kumaon a part of every child's textbooks?' 'Why have we let these brave men die unwept, unmourned, and unsung?' asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
'If you put colour-coded internal security maps of India in May 2014 and now, the picture won't be flattering to Modi.' 'Failures on internal security are now piling up and can break Modi's momentum,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam lists the major operational takeaways from the 1971 War in his new book 'India's Wars, A Military History, 1947-1971'.
'We were firing at Patton tanks that were moving towards India.' 'Fighter aircraft are the biggest menace for tanks because they come at great speed, attack from a height and their rockets are lethal.' 'The Hunter travels at 400, 420 knots. One knot is 1.6 times a km, so it was at a speed of 700, 800 km/hr.' 'You come at great speed and when you see the tanks, you pull up because attacks are always done in a dive.' 'You go up to 3,000 to 4,000 feet and then dive on to the target and let off your rockets...'
'As the IAF kicks off another round of myth-making -- launching a year-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1965 India-Pakistan war -- it is worth remembering how little there was to celebrate in those September days when the underdog PAF got the better of the IAF in raid after raid, dogfight after dogfight.'
'General J S Aurora, the commander of the Indian forces in the East, asked General Sagat Singh to withdraw his troops who were on the move to Dacca -- but he refused.' 'He said, "Jaggi, over my dead body".' 'Therefore, I say the creator of Bangladesh was General Sagat Singh.'
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