The two-day seminar on Human Rights and Armed Forces was organised by Judge Advocate General Branch of Headquarters Central Command in Lucknow cantonment.

Speaking at the preliminary session, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri said that rights and duties are complementary. He applauded the discipline in the Armed Forces and suggested that military discipline should also be inculcated in civil life. He agreed that protection of Human Rights cannot be one sided and violation of Human Rights, if any, in insurgency-affected areas must be considered in that perspective.

In his welcome address, Lt Gen DS Chauhan, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command, asserted that the men of the Armed Forces in general do not violate Human Rights knowingly.

Justice Jaspal Singh (Retd), former Judge, Delhi High Court, while speaking on "Human Rights : A Prologue" stated that unemployment, intolerance and criminalisation of political system are some of the factors responsible for violation of human rights. Justice Vishnu Sahai, Judge, Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) spoke about constitutional provisions relating to Human Rights, which are available to the Armed Forces. Brig Gen Martin Rustsch (Retd), ICRC Regional Delegate for Armed Forces, South Asian Region, explained the ramifications of International Humanitarian laws vis a vis terrorism.

Justice VS Sirpurkar, Judge, Chennai High Court, said that Armed Forces who are doing a commendable job to protect the sovereignty of the nation should be given their due and their legitimate rights must be protected. Lt Col CK Agarwal, Assistant JAG, Headquarters Central Command, presented a paper on "Human Rights of Armed Forces personnel in National Scenario" and highlighted the aberrations in the existing system of dispensation of justice. He stressed that no prosecution of Armed Forces personnel acting in counter insurgency areas should be allowed without prior permission of the Government under Section 197(2) Cr. P.C.

Brig Anil Srivastava, Dy JAG, HQ Central Command presented a paper on futuristic trends in military law. He also gave the valedictory address.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence visited Southern Air Command (SAC) to review the performance of Southern Air Command HQ at Akkulam. Mr Ved Prakash Goyal chaired the committee meeting.

Those who attended the meeting include Mrs NP Durga, Mr Akbar Ali Khandoker, Mr Nikhilananda Sar,
Mr KE Krishnamurthy, Mr Nilotpal Basu, Mr Mudragada Padmanabhan, Mr PK Kyndiah, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Col (Retd) Sona Ram Choudhary, Mr Birabhadra Singh, Dr Dhani Ram Shandil.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence is a high-powered body of Parliamentarians who visit Defence installations periodically to oversee all defence and defence related projects. This committee has the authority to scrutinise all defence establishments of Army, Navy and Air Force and review their performance periodically.

The Corps of EME has provided logistic support to the Indian Scientific expedition for their ongoing scientific research and exploration at the Antarctic. The 23rd Indian Scientific expedition to Antarctica comprises an Army team of 15 members led by Maj JR Manerikar of Corps of EME. During the period of the expedition, all ranks will be on deputation to the Department of Ocean Development. The entire Army team stays at Antarctica for a duration of 16 months.

The half-yearly MES Zonal Chief Engineers' Conference concluded at Lucknow. Earlier, the conference was inaugurated by Lt Gen AS Jamwal, Chief of Staff, HQ Central Command.

Inaugurating the conference, Lt Gen Jamwal stressed that MES, being the largest construction agency in India, has a vital role to play in Military Services. He said that the user satisfaction through performance should be the judging scale for MES organisation.

Chief Engineers of Bareilly, Jabalpur, and Lucknow, Additional Chief Engineers, Directors and Staff Officers attended the conference.

The '7th national conference and award ceremony on e-governance' was held at Le Royal Meridien Hotel, Chennai. The Deputy Prime Minister Mr LK Advani inaugurated the conference and later presented awards to the winners. The conference was organised by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in association with the government of Tamil Nadu.

This award is given every year for exemplary contribution in the field of e-governance.

Twenty five state governments and a large number of organisations participated in this competition which included award for best website, best paper and exemplary implementation of e-governance initiative.

The Directorate of Standardisation, Ministry of Defence participated in
the website and e-governance categories and won awards in both. Col TPS Deol of the Directorate received the awards.

On December 16, last Noida paid homage to the martyrs who gave the supreme sacrifice while protecting the motherland. This day is celebrated as Vijay Divas all over the country.

A wreath-laying ceremony was organised by the residents of Noida at the Noida Shaheed Memorial to pay tribute to martyrs. Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal M McMohan was the chief guest at the ceremony. A large number of civil and military dignitaries, schoolchildren and family members of the martyrs were present on the occasion.

Noida Shaheed Memorial was raised in 2002. The idea of constructing the memorial came during the Kargil conflict, when bodies of martyrs were being received in various parts of the country including Noida. The residents of Noida were moved by the supreme sacrifices made at the borders by the soldiers. Sixteen brave soldiers of Noida lost their lives in different operations.

The state of Orissa faced unprecedented flood in August and September last year in the districts of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpura and Kendrapara. To cope up with the deteriorating situation, the civil administration sought Army help.

Seeing the gravity of situation, Maj GK Nischol, GOC, Madhya Bharat Area immediately moved three columns by road to Orissa. Additional two columns were flown from Allahabad and Jhansi. The troops worked day and night to provide relief to the people. They rescued 175 stranded people, provided medical aid to nearly ten thousand people, distributed rations, water and polythene rolls.

Later, Maj GK Nischol visited the flood-affected areas to assess the situation on ground and met the Governor and Chief Minister of Orissa who conveyed their deep appreciation for the assistance provided by the Army.

A Military Heritage Seminar was held under the aegis of Headquarter Madhya Bharat Area at Jabalpur. The GOC-in- C, Central Command, Lt Gen DS Chauhan and Patron-in-Chief of Central Command Ecology, Environment and Heritage Committee and Mrs Meera Chauhan, President AWWA, Central Zone were the chief guests. The COS, Central Command, Lt Gen AS Jamwal, and patron of Command Ecology, Environment and Heritage Committee was also present during the Seminar.

Maj Gen GK Nischol, GOC, Madhya Bharat Area and the Chairman of Madhya Bharat Ecology, Environment and Heritage Committee organised this seminar over a period of two days. A mass military band display followed by evolution of Bugle and Drums from Mahabharata were depicted through a fascinating show. This was followed by a captivating show of martial arts and cultural dances by the troops from various regimental centres of Madhya Bharat Area.

Apart from this, an audio visual show on the military heritage assets within Central Command was screened. It was followed by a workshop, in which presentations and discussions were held on the management and preservation of military heritage assets, identification and grading parameters, legal aspects and automation of data bank with respect to all types of heritage assets. Eminent speakers from INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), Dr Ranjit Bhargava and Dr Ishwar Das spoke on the occasion. The speakers from Army suggested action plans on the management of various types of heritage assets including military museums and archives.

AIDS awareness campaign and workshops were held with the active participation of the local Armed Forces schools, convent schools and the NCC Directorate at Ambala cantonment. Station Health Organisation, Ambala cantonment organised health exhibition, lectures, cycle rally, poster competition, seminars, debate, health quiz, drawing and painting competition.

Brig Pruthwiraj Rao, DDMS of Kharga Corps, addressing all the participants emphasised that imparting health education to the schoolchildren was most important in the present scenario as most of the HIV positive individuals are young adults. The campaign was basically to promote the adoption of a healthy lifestyle and for reducing the burden of illness from the society due to HIV/AIDS.

Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 4, Ambala Cantonment was declared winner for all events and Springfield Public School was declared runners-up. A symposium-cum-workshop on HIV/AIDS was also organised by MH Ambala Cantonment. Several eminent and distinguished speakers from all over the country attended the deliberations.

Sqn Ldr DS Shekhawat of IAF completed his M. Tech in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. His M. Tech thesis entitled Synthesis and Characterisation of In-situ AI-TiB2 Metal Matrix Composites has been selected as the best M. Tech thesis in the country. The composites developed by him have displayed higher tensile strength, significant improvement in wear resistance and better stress corrosion resistance than the base alloys. For this, he was awarded Dr AK Bose Gold Medal. The medal was presented to him by Mr BK Tripathy, Minister of State for Steel, at Science City, Kolkata.

Maj Gen Ravinder Singh, Officiating General-Officer-Commanding, 3 Corps accompanied by Mrs Ranoo Singh, President, Army Wives Welfare Association, 3 Corps, were at Leimakhong on a three-day visit to 59 Mountain Brigade.

The General was received by Brig VK Batura, Commander, 59 Mountain Brigade and was briefed on the prevailing operational situation in Manipur. The General visited the units at Nunei and Tamenglong and took a first hand account of the prevailing situation. A special Ladies Meet was organised in honour of Mrs Ranoo Singh. She was also shown various family welfare projects being implemented at the station.

No 1 Air Force Dental Centre (AFDC) Palam, organised a Continuing Dental Health Education Programme. Air Cmde KD Singh inaugurated the programme. Gp Capt K Ravishankar CO 1AFDC Palam highlighted the aim of this programme and read out the activities being launched through this programme. Dental Officers of 1AFDC addressed children from various schools and members of AFWWA (L) who took part in the programme.

The Station Health Organisation, Jalandhar Cantonment under the aegis of Vajra Corps, organised a HIV/AIDS awareness quiz at the Vajra Sainik Institute. The quiz was open to girl students from standards 9-12. A team of two girls represented each school. Students from various schools in Jalandhar Contonment, APS Beas and Army School, Kapurthala participated in the event.

Army Public School, Beas emerged as winners, beating APS Jalandhar, whereas KV No III and APS Kapurthala were the other two finalists. The winners were awarded cash prizes and mementos. Certificates were given to all participants.

Physically challenged persons belonging to the Defence establishments and their dependents were given a helping hand at a function organised by Rail Head Petroleum Depot (RHPD), Pathankot. A team from the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment visited RHPD, Pathonkot for the second time during the current year. Brig RK Sharma, Commander, 21 Sub Area expressed his happiness for the support provided by NIVH.

Brig Sharma and Mr Sham Sunder of NIVH team, distributed 40 tricycles, 20 wheel-chairs, 60 pairs of crutches, 15 pairs of walking sticks, 50 hearing aids and other essential items to the physically challenged persons present during the function.

Lt Gen DS Chauhan, GOC-in-C, HQ Central Command inaugurated Deputy Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Library in HQ Central Command Complex in Lucknow Cantonment.

Lt Gen AS Jamwal, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Central Command, Maj Gen MC Bhandari, MGGS, HQ Central Command, Maj Utpal Bhattacharyya, Chief Enginner, HQ Central Command and other senior officers were present on the occasion.

Brig AK Srivastava, Dy Judge Advocate General who is the head of legal branch told that the Deputy JAG's Library has unique collection of over 7000 books on military law, constitution, evidence, penal laws, arbitration, pleadings, medical jurisprudence and contract. The library possesses certain antique books of over hundred years.

The President of Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional), Mrs Kanak Nigam inaugurated a blood donation camp organised at Station Medicare Centre, Vayusena Nagar, Nagpur. The camp was organised under the aegis of AFWWA in association with Jeevan Jyothi Blood Bank Centre.

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Kanak Nigam outlined the importance of blood donation and appreciated the efforts put in by Air Cmde RN Diwan to make the camp a big success.

The Central Command Adventure Cup was organised by Army White Water Adventures Sport (AWWAS), Nodal Centre Raiwala.

Maj Gen PK Mahajan, General Officer Commanding of Garud Division was the chief guest on the occasion. The prizes were distributed to the winners by Maj Gen Mahajan.

Organised for the first time, the event included long distance mountain cycling, hill-running and river rafting. The tournament was conducted along river Ganges between Shivpuri and Rishikesh in which nine teams participated.

All India Open Sea Swimming Competition-2003 was held at Naval Sailing Club, Colaba. In all, 227 men and women participated in this competition, which was organised by Headquarters, Western Naval Command. Urvashi Sarang, a 16-year old from Gujrat won in the girls’ category and Anshul Kothari won in the boys’ category.

Vice Admiral LA Lowe, Director General Naval Project Mumbai was the chief guest and gave away prizes to the winners.

The first Sea Swimming Competition was organised by the Indian Navy in 1995. The enthusiasm generated by the event in all quarters resulted in its finding a permanent place in the annual Navy Week Celebrations. In 2000, two new categories for boys and girls under sixteen years of age were introduced. In 2002, the veterans category for fifty years and above was introduced. Some of the participants this year, as has been the trend in previous years, were those of international repute.

Air Vice Marshal S Radhakrishnan is an alumnus of National Defence Academy. He has around 4000 hours of flying to his credit on various fighter variants. The Air Officer has commanded a frontline fighter squadron in the sensitive Rajasthan sector. He was Air Officer Commanding of a Fighter Station in eastern sector and has also held several other important staff and command appointments.

The Air Officer was awarded Ati Vishisht Medal for meritorious service. Prior to assuming charge as Senior Officer-in-Charge Administration, Training Command, he was the Principal Director of Offensive Operations at Air HQ, New Delhi.