Air Cmde Sunil Kumar Sinha took over the command of Air Force Station, Manauri recently as the new Air Officer Commanding from Air Cmde Vipin Kumar who proceeded on retirement. The 24 Equipment Depot located at the Air Force Station, Manauri is one of the important depots of the Air Force which handles provisioning, storage and a specific range of IAF stores. An impressive ceremonial parade was organised by the officers and airmen of the station on the occasion where the parade commander offered Air Cmde Sinha the first salute.

Air Cmde Sinha was commissioned in June 1970 in the Logistics branch of the Air Force. During his long illustrious career with the Indian Air Force, he held many important staff and command appointments. He also held the distinction of serving with the Air Attache of India in Moscow. He is an alumnus of the country’s prestigious National Defence College. Air Cmde Sinha is a keen adventurist. He has done the basic and advance mountaineering course from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. He also undertook many mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayan ranges.

Mrs Karuna Sinha simultaneously took over the charge as President of the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Local). She has been a dedicated member of the Association for a long time and has had a rich experience in undertaking social and welfare projects.

Air Marshal SP Tyagi, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Air Command, visited Air Force Station, Bakshi-ka-Talab, near Lucknow. He was accompanied by Mrs Vandana Tyagi, President, Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional).

On arrival, Air Marshal Tyagi and Mrs Tyagi were received by Gp Capt NL Khan, Station Commander and Mrs Susan Lloyd, President, Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Local).

Addressing officers, airmen and civilians of the station on the occasion, Air Marshal Tyagi stressed the need of maintaining vigil all the time in the prevalent security scenario. He
asked all personnel to adapt themselves to the changing times. During the inspection, Air Marshal Tyagi interacted with the Air Force officials.

Mrs Vandana Tyagi presided over an AFWWA meeting and informed the ladies about various welfare activities undertaken by the AFWWA (Central) towards rehabilitation of dependents of Kargil martyrs and Gujrat earthquake victims. During a visit to the Station Medicare Centre, Mrs Tyagi planted a sapling and presented gifts to patients.

Air Marshal MB Madon, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, visited Headquarters and units of the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam. He called on Vice Admiral Raman Puri, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief at the Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command. Both the Commanders-in-Chief discussed matters pertaining to joint exercises with participation of operational units of Navy and Air Force in the Eastern Theatre. They also discussed the training and operational facilities available in their Commands which could be mutually extended for honing the professional skills of the personnel of the two Services.

During his visit, the Air Marshal visited a destroyer class ship of the Eastern Fleet, capable of meeting multidimensional challenges at sea. He later visited a submarine where he was briefed on capabilities of the silent sentinel on the eastern seaboard. Air Marshal MB Madon also visited the Kursura Submarine Museum on the beach front in the city .

Mrs Yasmin Madon, President Air Force Wives Welfare Association of the Eastern Air Command interacted with the members of the Naval Wives Welfare Association at Visakhapatnam and visited Sankalp, a dedicated centre for the mentally challenged children and Balwadi, a school for the children of domestic help, both run by NWWA, Vizag.

Education can make or mar an entire civilization, as it gives shape to the destiny of the nation. Only through a meaningful education, future citizens of the country can be groomed and only then a nation can develop and prosper. Keeping this in mind, a workshop for teachers was organised at Air Force School, Bamrauli under the aegis of AFWWA (Regional) of Central Air Command. Teachers and principals from Air Force schools at Bareilly, Agra, Gwalior, Gorakhpur and Bamrauli participated in the workshop. Mrs Leena Kapoor, an eminent educationist from Delhi, was invited to conduct this workshop.

Air Vice Marshal HV Hariharan, Senior Officer-in-Charge (Admini-stration) at Headquarters, Central Air Command, Bamrauli inaugurated the workshop. Speaking on the occasion, Air Vice Marshal Hariharan cautioned that students of today are to be groomed and taught in the most appropriate way so that they get into the right direction and achieve their goals. He stressed that teachers' role in nation-building is of utmost importance. Hence, teachers of today have to live and teach through personal examples.

During the workshop, teachers and prinicipals of Air Force Schools learnt about leadership, child psychology, motivation, communication, classroom management, use of teaching aids and career counselling. The participants interacted with one another to make teaching simple and fast in an age of competition. The main aim of the workshop was to acquaint secondary and senior secondary teachers with current trends of teaching methodology and new developments in the field of education.

Ms Shruti Chaturvedi and Ms Akansha, both from the Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute, Subroto Park had a clean sweep at the national declamation contest organised by
Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWW A) at Air Force Auditorium.

While Ms Shruti Chaturvedi speaking on "Fundamental Rights vs. Fundamental Duties" won the first prize in the English section, Ms Akansha got the first prize in the Hindi section for her views on "Contribution of the Youth towards World Peace". The runners-up in the Hindi and English sections were Ms Tanu Srivastava from Central Air Command, Allahabad and Vikram Chaterjee of Air Force Bal Bharati School respectively.

Mrs Harveen Krishnaswamy, President, AFWWA gave away the prizes to the winners.

The Adventure Cell of Western Air Command (WAC) conducted a motorcycle expedition from New Delhi to Thoise. The 12-member expedition team was flagged off by Air Marshal S Bhojwani. Air Marshal AR Ghandhi, AOC-in-C, WAC received the expedition members at Air Force Station, Sirsa en route.

The expedition, after covering a distance of 2700 kms through the deserts of Rajasthan, plains of Haryana and Punjab and rugged terrain of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir reached Air Force Station, Thoise. En route, the expedition members crossed the Khardungla Pass (18850 ft), the highest motorable pass in the world. In addition, the expedition crossed several other high mountain passes including Taglangla Pass, Baralachla Pass, Lachungla Pass and Darchula Pass. The expedition was warmly received at all Air Force and Army units en route.

With an objective of encouraging quality writing on subjects like national security and air power, two awards were instituted by Air Chief Marshal (Retd) OP Mehra in 1994, under the aegis of Om Satya Mehra Public Charitable Trust.

At a simple ceremony held at Air Headquarters, the awards for last year were presented by Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy to Gp Capt AK Sharma and Sqn Ldr V Pathak for their work on impact of revolution in military application in future wars and anti- insurgency operations.

Air Chief Marshal (Retd) OP Mehra was also present at the award ceremony alongwith senior Air Force officials at Air HQ. The awards carry citation and a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.

Anju Pandey of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gandhinagar and Prashant Yadav of Air Force School, Jamnagar emerged as winners in the annual Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA) Regional Declamation Contest held at HQ South Western Air Command (SWAC), Gandhinagar.

This annual competition amongst the schoolchildren of all units under SWAC featured 19 children from 9 Air Force Schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas. The children were asked to prepare on five topics and the final topic was selected by a draw of lots. Speaking on ‘Stress amongst Students’, Prashant stood first in the English group while Anju topped the Hindi group, speaking on ‘kaisa Shasan Bina Anushasan’.

The President, AFWWA (Regional) Mrs Linda McMahon gave away the trophies, certificates and cash awards to the winners and the participants. Speaking on the occasion, she commended the children for their high oratory capability and active participation. She was especially impressed by the in-depth knowledge, flow of ideas and command over language of the students. She hoped that such competitions would encourage the students to improve their creative mind and make them confident in the art of public speaking.