The Ordnance Depot, Avadi has the unique distinction of being the only depot to handle 'A' and 'B' vehicles and also the entire range of ordnance inventory. Raised on October 9, 1944 it was then known as Central Vehicle Depot. In 1987, the additional role of ordnance depot was entrusted to it. In 1997, it assumed the transitory role for tanks as it was co-located with Heavy Vehicle Factory.

The depot caters to the requirements of all types of ordnance stores except ammunition for regular units, NCC units, R & D organisations and also certain items for Navy and Air Force units located in the southern states and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Keeping pace with modern trends, the depot has computerised its inventory and the demands are processed automatically. A Local Area Network (LAN) is also functional connecting the sub-depots and main offices.

— V Sankaran 

Dr Kanwal Vilku of Central Government Health Scheme has the distinction of being the first Indian woman as well as the first lady doctor to spend almost 16 months in the Antarctica. This is the longest stay in the icy continent by any Indian woman. She has achieved it at the age of 52. She was the only woman in the team and also the oldest among them. So far, 13 Indian women have been to the Antarctica as part of expeditions, but all except Dr Vilku had stayed for brief summer period of about two months.

The Indian scientific expeditions have been conducting research work in the Antarctica since 1981. Dr Vilku was selected as a Medical Officer to participate in the 19th Indian Antarctic Scientific Expedition which was launched on December 7, 1999. The expedition returned to India on March 22, last after staying there for 16 months.

The Institute of Armament Technology (IAT), Pune under Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully designed and developed a high power transverse excited atmospheric (TEA) carbon dioxide laser using double discharge UV preionisation. It involves the use of trigger discharges to generate a uniform ionisation layer near the cathode before the onset of the main discharge. The electrons produced by the UV photoemission at the cathode are released into the laser volume, resulting in a fast change of discharge impedance. By this, the required pre-ionisation density for a stable glow discharge is met with.

The IAT, Pune is also in the process of developing a system to incorporate gas recycling system and to increase the pulse repetition frequency. Experiments are being carried out for improvement and optimisation of the laser performance for varying gas mixture ratio. With the present efforts, the system would be useful for tactical range finding, photochemistry and laser isotope separation for separating C-13 isotope using Freon-22 (CHCLF).

The Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro-Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bangalore has recently installed a gas chromatography-mass spectro- photometry (GC-MS) facility for the analysis of complex mixtures of chemicals and other matrices. It is one of the most sensitive equipment for the structural identification of compounds and concurrent determination of their molecular weights.

The applications of GC-MS in the areas of physical, chemical and life sciences are innumerable. Being a valuable analytical tool it is widely used in several industries including petrochemical, paint, polymer, agricultural and food industries. Besides, this facility is also used for routine biochemical analysis, pollution analysis, forensic studies and ambient air analysis.

One hundred and sixty Pakistani fishermen and nine fishing boats which were apprehended by the Coast Guard were released by the Indian authorities.

The fishermen and the boats were taken by the Indian Coast Guard ship Veera from Okha to the Indo-Pak boundary line and were handed over to the Pakistani MSA ship Rahamat. The decision to tow these boats instead of escorting them was taken after evaluating the sea conditions, poor operational status of boats and the presence of a large number of human lives on board the fishing vessels.

The Indian Coast Guard ship Veera and Pak MSA ship Rahmat met in the international waters and exchanged the ceremonials. The traditional exchange of sea caps and ship's crest was also followed.

In a reciprocal gesture, the Pakistani authorities released 157 Indian fishermen and 25 boats. The Indian fishermen were escorted by the Coast Guard ship Veera from Indo-Pak boundary line to Okha.

Mr M Kumaraswami, a 1965 batch officer of the Indian Defence Accounts Services has taken over as the Controller General of Defence Accounts. Besides holding several assignments in the Defence Accounts Department,
Mr Kumaraswami has held many important posts including Deputy Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Director in the Ministry of Petroleumn and Natural Gas and Financial Adviser in the Indian Council of Medical Research under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. An alumnus of National Defence College, he pioneered the quality movement and introduction of ISO System in the Defence Accounts Department.