The Congress stalwart could not have asked for a better gift on his 75th birthday.
The Defence Ministry said his tenure will be remembered for the 'resolute reply' to the Northern adversary in Eastern Ladakh and for a determined push towards self-reliance in defence besides embracing niche and disruptive technologies to fight future wars.
'The UPA was never soft on Pakistan, terrorists and even China, but Sonia Gandhi's Congress rightly earned a "soft" image on issues of hard national interest, leaving the field open for Modi to take it and wrap it around with his implicit Hindutva,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The parade began after President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Ashoka Chakra -- India's highest peacetime gallantry award -- to Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a militant-turned-soldier who laid down his life fighting a group of terrorists in Shopian in Kashmir in November.
'General Sam Manekshaw looked from left to right and said, "Gentlemen, I have come to have a look at you. I am taking a good look at your faces. When I come back after the war is over, some faces may not be here".'
At this time, sixty years ago, Brigadier John Parshuram Dalvi and a majority of his men were captured as prisoners of war by the Chinese during the 1962 war. His son Michael Dalvi, 77, has preserved his father's memory and the story of the gallant men of the 7th Infantry Brigade with honour.
'...they were shocked to learn that just 352 Indian soldiers had made 3 brigadiers, 2 colonels, 170 officers, 290 JCOs and 8,000 troops surrender to the Indian Army.'
'The Battle of Jamalpur was a turning point in the 1971 War because a small battalion of 700 men broke the back of the Pakistanis.'
Naravane's appointment has been cleared at the highest level, adding the government has followed the principle of seniority in the appointment.
The residents of the village will not celebrate Diwali as a mark of tribute to the army soldier who was killed and mutilated by Pakistani terrorists.
The decision to renovate the memorial was taken by Rajnath Singh when he visited Leh in June 2021. Renovation commenced in mid-July and the complex was ready within three months for inauguration on the 59th anniversary of the battle.
'He destroyed many of our tanks, and finally, it was just the two of us left facing each other with our tanks just 200 m apart.' A tale of valour excerpted from Rachna Bisht Rawat's 1971: Charge Of The Gorkhas And Other Stories.
The Indian army said that while the infiltration bids were foiled, it has also inflicted heavy damage to several Pakistani posts across the Line of Control in Poonch sector.
With General Naravane taking charge, all three services chiefs, including navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, are now from the 56th course of the National Defence Academy.
He was the army commander who planned Operation Bluestar. As army chief he planned Operation Brasstacks which rattled the Pakistan army. General K Sundarji was brilliant, ambitious and controversial, remembers Rahul Bedi.
The Army on Monday gunned down two members of the banned United Liberation Front of Assom in an encounter inside the Ranglu Forest area in Arunachal Pradesh. Troops of the 11 Sikh Light Regiment gunned down senior ULFA cadres Nitul Sonowal and Muleswar Sonowal after a fierce gun battle, said sources. In a separate incident, 11 people were injured in a bomb blast at a fair in Dhansirimukh in Udalguri district of north Assam on Monday afternoon.
The Army has appointed Lt Gen NPS Hira as Deputy Chief of Army Staff with effect from March 14.
In a public appeal, the army said Captain Shikhar Deep, posted in Jammu and Kashmir with the 8 Sikh Light Infantry regiment, was travelling by Mahananda Express (15483) from Katihar to Delhi on February 6-7.
Four veterans of the Indian National Army, an all-women contingent of the 183-year-old Assam Rifles marching down Rajpath and an Indian Air Force aircraft flying using a mix of traditional and biofuel.
'If I talk about my parents' sacrifices, this conversation will never end,' says Lieutenant Loveneet Singh.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday unveiled a plaque at Ra'anana in northern Israel in the memory of Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the battle of Tabsor during World War I.
There have been other several instances where women have stood up and taken on eve teasers and molesters. Rediff.com lists a few such cases where the victims have fiercely fought back.
About 70 ex-servicemen on Tuesday sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the delay in implementation of the 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme even as the relay-hunger strike by retired soldiers on the issue entered its ninth day.
'it looks like India wants to follow Pakistan on the slippery slope of stupidity masquerading as religion.'
The public agitation launched for the demand of OROP on June 6 completes 100 days.
President Ram Nath Kovind presents the President's Colours to the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre today, August 21. These are normally presented to units that distinguish themselves consistently over decades. The Ladakh Scouts became a regular army regiment only in June 2001 after its stunning performance in the Kargil conflict, notes Ajai Shukla.
Singh is survived by his wife Jasbir Kaur, a daughter, two sons and elderly parents.
Lieutenant General Harbakhsh Singh, GOC, Western Command, disobeyed the then army chief and took on a superior Pakistani armoured column. The Indian Centurion tanks outgunned the more modern Pakistani Patton tanks in the battle at Khem Karan, that proved the turning point of the 1965 War. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) salutes the Soldiers' General.
The foundations of the army's own peculiar secularism are potentially being destabilised
Yet another case of indiscipline has hit the army, with a colonel of the National Cadet Corps being allegedly assaulted by jawans in Batala in Punjab, following which a court of inquiry has been ordered into the matter.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday approved a total of 112 gallantry awards for defence and paramilitary personnel for their sacrifices to the nation, the defence ministry said.
'Rezang La was a unique battle.' 'It was not a large scale battle like the Battle of Kohima which involved a large number of troops.' 'Here there was just a company that fought it out till the last man.'
'If Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen?'
Brigadier M P Bajwa (retd), commander of the troops that captured Tiger Hill, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how a band of young soldiers won the Kargil War's most famous battle with their blood and grit.
Lt Gen Naravane is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Army. In his 37 years of service, Lt Gen Naravane has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
Tawang wears its history -- and also its present -- with ease. The flourishing town, with restaurants selling everything from noodles to dosas and locals returning home to new business prospects, shows little sign of the tension building up at the border about 40 km away to the north.
An emotional farewell was given to the valiant army jawans who lost their lives in the Uri attack, as their last rites were performed in their respective native villages with full military and state honours.
This is the third incident of sniper attack by Pakistani troops along the LoC this month.
Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named a young and ethnically diverse cabinet, with a ministerial team that for the first time in the country's history is equally balanced between men and women.
'Perhaps the finest example is from the current avalanche itself.' 'The Commanding Officer of 19 Madras (the affected unit) is Colonel Um Bahadur Gurung, a Gurkha who joined the Madras Regiment.' 'He inspired this recovery operation at 19,500 feet, a unique feat by itself.' 'He knew that if it was delayed the chances of finding the mortal remains in the Saltoro's ice would be impossible.' 'He did not pass orders from his base at Kumar (15,000 feet) or gave directions; he simply went there himself, inspiring the multitude that followed.' Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who has served on the Siachen Glacier, salutes the incomparable spirit of the Indian Army.
