Indian Army General News And Updates

In what way is the infantry lacking?
Well we are comparing with nato militaries. Their infantry is being modernised but presently hey don't use sights for their service rifles similar to ours. Their special forces are not similar to the organisation style of JSOC. Even their spec ops unit don't use quad nvg's or decked out rifles like their nato counterparts do. This is a more surface level comparison which is visible.
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First you can observe a lack of standardisation in some other photos you will see lack of kneepads or elbow pads. The plate carriers are also of older gens. Small stuff. Lack of comms will also be visible this is not one this pics. But they have modernised quite a bit but compared to Nato militaries they are still behind in terms of investment on a soldier.
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This is one of US army soldier in some exercise. The difference is quite visible. They have jammers, dual nvg,tactical headsets in this pic But still this is from a green beret unit. A more realistic picture of both armies in combat would look like this.
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It's the U.N mission in sudan of the PLA and they are equipped more like what the U.S army was equipped in 2010's. The Armour coverage is better but I assume it will result in limited movement. The plate carriers are also not as modern
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This is a US army infantry section in some exercise. The soldiers rifles have acog sights, laser illuminators, proper headset comms, go pros. Push to talk radio sets. The plate carriers are more modern and lighter.

Now taking into account there training and the joint exercises they go to you can see how far behind they are compared to Nato militaries. Indian infantry is coming on par of the pla though but training is better
 

Proposal to Army: Cut ceremonies, canteen for better use of resources


A slew of measures proposed to streamline utilisation of manpower as well as financial and material resources has been received well, but is creating ripples in Army circles. Because the proposals include doing away with Army Day and Territorial Army Day parades in New Delhi, cutting down on ceremonial practices such as brass bands and quarter guards, individual officers’ mess and CSD canteen for units in peace stations.

These proposed measures are part of a report circulated after an internal review of existing practices. Titled ‘Optimisation of Manpower and Resources: Review of Practices and Facilities in Indian Army’, the exercise was conducted earlier this year. Several suggestions were circulated among major establishments, command headquarters and major directorates of the Army — and received broad concurrence.

The Sunday Express has learnt that the proposed measures include discontinuing the Army Day parade on January 15 and Territorial Army Day parade on October 9.


The number of Army bands and pipes and drums ensembles that participate in the Republic Day parade and Beating Retreat ceremony are proposed to be brought down from 30 (15 bands and 15 pipes and drums) to 18 (10 bands and 8 pipes and drums). The rationale: while in the past the number of marching contingents in the Republic Day parade had been brought down from 12 to 6, there had not been any corresponding decrease in the number of bands.

The proposals also state that Vijay Divas and Kargil Vijay Divas events should be held with least “fanfare”, and that while the aim is to motivate troops, “non-military aims” should not be part of the events with large manpower committed to these. Instead of colour presentation ceremonies, held at various locations across the country, to various regiments, this event is now proposed to be held only once a year at Rashtrapati Bhavan and will be attended by representatives of the units to be awarded along with their Colonel of the Regiment.

Similarly, one investiture ceremony will be held in Delhi for awardees of Army HQs and other units based in Delhi. This will be presided upon by the Vice Chief of Army Staff or the GOC-in-C, Western Command. At the command level too, there will be only one investiture ceremony a year.

The number of residential guards of Generals are proposed to be restricted to only 4 (One NCO and three other ranks) and these too shall be authorised only to Lt Generals and above as per entitlement. While visiting other stations, only the Chief of Army Staff, Vice Chief of Army Staff and Army Commanders will be provided residential guards if the stay is overnight.

Multiple officers’ mess of permanently located units in peace stations are proposed to be amalgamated to form one station mess. However, units which move from peace to field tenures would be able to retain their officers’ mess. A board of officers is proposed to be set up to prepare a phased plan for establishing station officers’ mess.

Military police outriders and escorts for Generals are to be stopped and restricted only to a few ceremonial events. The Corps of Military Police is to focus on maintaining discipline among troops and for traffic control as also to “hone their policing skills”. No military police vehicle or outriders are proposed to escort any VIP within military stations too.

The Motorcycle Rider Display Teams of the Army Service Corps Centre and College, CMP Centre and School and the 1 Signal Training Centre are proposed to be merged into one team at the Signal Training Centre by 2022 and the rest of the teams are to be disbanded by 2025.

Another proposal mooted is to do away with unit ‘quarter guards’ which house a large complement of manpower. A ceremonial guard may be mounted there once a month, and for the rest of the time, tactical guard should be used.

The cultural and dance troupe, traditional martial arts teams and jazz bands of units will cease to exist. They could continue to be used as ‘hobby’, their activities restricted to the unit.

Also, a unit can decide whether it wants to celebrate Battle Honour Day or Raising Day in the year — both will not be held. Raising Day events would also be curtailed and no gifts or memento are proposed to be exchanged.

Like officers’ mess, there is a proposal to do away with individual unit CSD canteens in one station, and combine the many canteens into one in peace stations, keeping accessibility in mind.

Under the new scheme of things, it will not be mandatory for units to maintain a pipe and drum band. As of now, almost all infantry and mechanised infantry units have a medical platoon whose members are trained as band members.

The recommendations state that there is considerable scope to optimise the number of pipes and drums as several of them are often found in one station. A board of officers is proposed to be convened to identify bands for disbandment. Some infantry battalions which are not authorised bands but have them out of tradition will not have to discontinue the practice.

Lesser attachments of jawans from units to higher headquarters, outsourcing of Diwali Melas, and discarding archaic office practices are some of the other measures proposed.

A senior officer in Army HQs said most responses have been positive, endorsing the proposals. “A final call on the proposals will be taken at the Army Commanders Conference which is scheduled to be held later this month in New Delhi,” the officer said.
 

The Indian Army’s near complete dependence on imported high-altitude clothing and associated mountaineering equipment for nearly four decades will be highlighted yet again when its troops deploy against the irredentist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh during winter.


After mid-August, when the PLA’s pullback from the occupied Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) appeared doubtful, the frantic and costly procurement of special clothing and mountaineering equipment (SCME) began. It was done to equip the over 40,000 troops positioned at heights between 12,000 and 18,000 feet to prevent further PLA ingress. Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Army officials fanned out across Europe, Australia, Canada and the US to procure assorted high-altitude gear under ‘emergency purchase’ procedures in times of massive financial indigence of kit that can easily be sourced locally.


The Army’s Vice-Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General SK Saini, stressed as much recently when he lamented the fact that the force continued importing SCME due to lack of ‘viable indigenous solutions’. Speaking at a webinar earlier this month, Lieutenant-General Saini reiterated the need for collaborative efforts under the Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India initiative to meet critical SCME requirements, which have astonishingly endured since 1984, after the Army took control of the 17,000-foot high Siachen glacier.


Despite India being one of the world’s largest garment and footwear producers, it had failed miserably in making clothing items like Down jackets, insulated trousers, gloves, socks, mittens, caps or even triple-lined snow boots for its soldiers to combat temperatures averaging minus 20 degree Celsius. These drop precipitously further to minus 40 degree in the upper Himalayan reaches, accentuated brutally by the merciless wind chill factor.


The Army was also wholly dependent on imported Arctic tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, ice-picks and associated rudimentary mountaineering survival equipment, essential for survival at those vertiginous heights. The limited Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)-made extreme cold climate clothing and equipment (ECCCE) supplied to the Army, like jackets, trousers and boots, were not only ill-fitting and operationally restrictive, but also inadequate against the cold even at heights far less than that of Siachen or the LAC.


Sporadic attempts over the decades to indigenously source SCME through a handful of collaborative ventures had come to nought. Deposing before the parliamentary standing committee on Defence in late 2019, an Army representative declared that some 80 per cent of the essential three-layered special clothing with thermal insulation and other items essential for soldiers at climatically murderous heights continue to be imported. Attempts to domestically acquire such kit, he regretted, had not met with the Army’s ‘acceptable standards’.


The officer was merely echoing what the MoD and the state-owned OFB responsible for equipping the Indian military with weapons and materials, too, told the committee of their inability to kit out the Army in such a testing environment. Thirty-six years after the Army had installed itself permanently at Siachen, the MoD and OFB said technical collaborative efforts with technical institutions were still under way to develop electrically heated vests, but little had emerged.


The experience of a senior MoD official, who travelled to some European countries a decade ago to inspect the manufacturing and testing facilities for SCME, ahead of finalising contracts for these items for the Army, are instructive. He said a Swiss vendor, who was a regular SCME supplier to the Indian Army, told him that he had advised the MoD that most of the high-altitude gear it imported recurrently could easily be made indigenously. He indicated his willingness to collaborate in a venture to domestically kickstart winter clothing units after visiting a potentially capable manufacturing unit near Agra during one of his India trips.


Thereafter, he said that the MoD continually prevaricated on the project, before eventually letting the proposal lapse. But in a telling and somewhat embarrassing comment, the Swiss dealer candidly told the visiting MoD official that the putative collaborative project had not evoked interest as its success would have obviated the need for visits by Indian officials to European countries to source SCME. He was dead right as several years later, high-altitude clothing procurement missions continue their overseas travel uninterruptedly, even more assiduously in recent months to meet the Army’s requirements for its pan-winter deployment along the LAC till April 2021.


Desultory endeavours to locally source SCME were repeatedly rejected by the Army, which sounds somewhat incredulous as manufacturing winter clothing involves no advanced technology or knowhow. Besides, it’s a goal not impossible to achieve for the Army’s much-feted Directorate of Indigenisation, mandated over a decade ago to propagate product import substitution. Moreover, it further stretches disbelief that India, which designs and manufactures long-range nuclear and other missiles, nuclear submarines, fighter aircraft, helicopters and tanks, simply cannot make SCME.


Around 2006-07, the Army instituted buffer stocks of certain SCME items, but puzzlingly, a suggestion to recycle hugely expensive down feathers from discarded clothing into locally manufactured high-altitude clothing was rejected on specious grounds. In short, such tactics only ensured the continuation of overseas visits by the MoD and Army personnel for expensive SCME purchases which, surprisingly, were also recently revealed to be in short supply.


In February this year, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) censured the Army for enduring shortages of essential SCME that had persisted for four years till 2018 and included snow goggles and multi-purpose boots. The national auditor disclosed that the paucity of snow goggles ranged from 62-98 per cent, whilst those of multi-use snow boots had compelled soldiers on Siachen to use ‘recycled’ footwear.


The CAG further castigated the Army for purchasing 31,779 ‘substandard’ sleeping bags at inflated rates, in addition to acquiring ‘inferior’ backpacks that had failed to meet stipulated specifications. Army personnel, the CAG added, had to make do with ‘older versions’ of essential items like face masks and jackets, instead of the better and more modern varieties at high altitudes.


Let’s hope that with a bit of luck, perspicacity, and possibly hindsight, such circumstances will not be perpetuated in the ongoing LAC deployment



Is the PM of this country who has been in power for more than 6 years, so *censored*ing blind to the blatant corruption among the bureaucrats? Muh modi so pure, muh Modi is the besht. This painting best describes the MoD and military:

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Even Ladakh not spared, construction scams force Indian Army to rope in CBI

Exasperated by a series of alleged scams involving construction projects led by the Military Engineer Services (MES), including a massive fake bill racket uncovered in Ladakh during the current standoff, the Indian Army has decided to rope in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate and fix responsibility.

To kick things off, the Army has handed over a case involving an infamous Army Married Accommodation Project (MAP) in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh to the CBI, and is making a list of several other MES-handled constructions and activities that it wants the central agency to probe as part of a deep dive into the perceived construction rot.

The Meerut project involves faulty construction which has led to a situation where buildings have to be demolished.

Other cases that will likely be handed over to the CBI include a fake bill reported during departmental inquiries into MES construction projects in Leh, Bengaluru, Guwahati and Ahmednagar.

The Army's decision to attempt an aggressive crackdown on deep-rooted incompetence and corruption in construction activity was triggered by a September letter written by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat to the three armed forces chiefs.

In the letter, written after a meeting with the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), General Rawat highlighted "wrong practices", "delays in payments" and "wrongdoings in MES procedures", declaring that it was "extremely embarrassing" to have had to face questions from CVC on these accounts.

Apart from the Meerut project, General Rawat also highlighted other examples of rot, including Army buildings in Kolkata which had begun to tilt owing to shoddy construction, and, notably, a married accommodation project in Delhi's Salaria Officers' Enclave which he describes as a "warzone" in which "not a soul has been punished despite a detailed inquiry".

Weeks after General Rawat's scathing letter, in which he urges the three chiefs to "pinpoint and take to task" those found guilty in inquiries, the Army had to write off a Rs 125 crore ammunition storage depot constructed by the MES in Kanasar near Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Recently, the Court of Inquiry had found that "gross negligence, poor workmanship, poor quality material, has resulted in total loss of the project" and ordered a complete demolition. Accountability is yet to be assigned on individuals for the disastrous execution of a crucial project and loss of valuable resources.

India Today TV has learnt that the Army is formulating a list of activities that it wants to be investigated till the root. These include the rampant tailoring of tenders by the MES, suspicious customisations of requirements to suit certain parties, fudged bills and invoices and favouritism.

While construction controversies ailing the MES is one major aspect of the Army's concern, the other continues to be the land on which these construction projects are being built.

The MoD, and organisations under it, own the largest tracts of land in the country, and acquiring such 'defence land' for public works projects like highways and metros has been a complex process leading to delays and meandering bureaucracy. While the erstwhile rules mandated that departments or states acquiring defence land needed to reimburse the MoD with land of equal value (EVL), new rules announced last week pave the way for a new model where the MoD or armed forces can be repaid with equal value infrastructure (EVI), where the buying entity will fund infrastructure construction of equal value on defence land for the selling entity.

While the new policy ostensibly solves a perceived problem and creates opportunities for the Army to monetise its enormous land holdings, there are concerns in sections of the Army over whether this could actually lessen the Army's leverage over its land. For instance, while the Army does have huge landholdings, it still lives with a deficiency of 1.4 lakh acres of 'A1' category land, which is earmarked for Army units. So far, 2100 acres of A1 land (1,500 acres of which are in Maharashtra), valued at Rs 22,000 crore, has already been acquired by state governments for development projects, with no reimbursement (even under the EVL provision) in sight.

In another small but important example cited by sources, the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai doesn't have a proper firing range, since the land that could have been used for one has been taken over by the Tamil Nadu government under earlier provisions, but no land has been provided as compensation to the armed forces.

While the Army has made no formal objections to the new EVI provisions, an internal debate is understood to have been stirred up over whether the new mechanism will be airtight to political whims and scams.
 
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Reactions: Sathya and Gautam
The question that needs to be first looked at is
" How many new officers joining the Army are from military families "
What's that got to do with the article? Apart from sainik families a good number of them come from sainik schools which act as a feeder to the armed forces.
 

11 fake army personnel nabbed near Guwahati airport, probe is on​


During interrogation, it was found that one of the accused had given others fake appointment letters to provide security at the airport.​

INDIA Updated: Nov 17, 2020, 15:48 IST
Utpal Parashar  | Edited by Abhinav Sahay

Utpal Parashar | Edited by Abhinav Sahay
Hindustan Times, Guwahati
The accused persons following their arrest.
The accused persons following their arrest.(HT Photo)

Eleven persons dressed in army uniform but not in possession of any valid identification have been arrested by Assam police near Guwahati international airport on Monday night when moving around suspiciously.
The persons were nabbed by police from Azara station in Guwahati, where they were found moving around suspiciously near the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
“A police party on patrolling duty detained four persons wearing army uniforms from near the airport on Monday night. On verification, it was found that they were not authorised to wear the uniform and had ulterior motives,” said a police statement issued on Tuesday.
Based on information provided by the four arrested men, police arrested seven other persons who were wearing army uniforms without valid documents and were moving around suspiciously near the airport.
Also Read: Fire at Assam’s Baghjan gas well finally doused after more than five months
“During interrogation, it was found that one Dhriman Goswami had given them fake appointment letters to provide security at the airport. Goswami has been arrested with the 10 others. Search of the houses of the arrested persons has led to recovery of some documents, ID cards etc,” the statement said.
A case under various sections of IPC for impersonating army personnel, criminal conspiracy, counterfeiting government stamps, forgery etc. has been lodged and further investigation is underway.
The accused persons have been identified as Dhriman Krishna Goswami, Kaushik Bhuyan, Jhenendra Das, Ganesh Das, Nayan Jyoti Gautam, Joymoni Sharma, Bijoymoni Sharma, Dwijen Sarma, Rupam Sharma, Saurav Sarma and Ripunjoy Goswami.


1) How did they get Fake army fatigues - with so similar pattern to official ones? + fake ids and documents

2) WTF moment here is the arrest took place near a sensitive area -????

3) (Conspiracy Hat on ) - Is this part of a larger picture (i.e. probing security establishments for vulnerabilities and there are other cell doing the same in other parts of the country)

or one off (i.e. fake job racket?)
 
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General SawhEINSTIEN telling us why he Quit the Army
In other news, he frequently sought peace time postings plus rumours of some scandal resulting in his departure. Frankly, if non conformist means stupid views then the IA shouldn't be praised for giving him the boot but grilled for the procedures which allowed an *censored* like him entry into the IA in the first place.