NEWS
As India led 191 nations to mark the International Yoga Day, literally transforming Raj Path into Yog Path, India’s Armed Forces pitched in their effort to mark the day performing yoga in the most unexpected of locations and settings. From the highest battlefield in the world at ice-capped Siachen, to the warships sailing on the high seas as far as the South China Sea, Indian armed forces joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in military stations countrywide and in the capital, led by General Dalbir Singh, Admiral R K Dhowan and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, along with many other serving military personnel and National Cadet Corps cadets, who were part of the 36,000 yoga enthusiasts at Raj Path. The greatest feat was perhaps soldiers dressed in their special weather clothing doing yoga on mats placed over snow, 18,800 feet above sea level, at the Siachen Glacier. The Navy held yoga sessions across its installations and on board Indian Navy ships (INS) Ranvir, Satpura, Kamorta and Shakti in the South China region, as well as on board Indian Coast Guard, with the theme ‘Across the Oceans’. The Indian Air Force too had yoga sessions across the country which included not just the airmen but also their families.
PROBATIONARY NURSES COMMISSIONED INTO MILITARY NURSING SERVICE
14 nursing students of the 56th batch of probationary nurses of College of Nursing, Army Hospital were formally commissioned as Lieutenant into the Military Nursing Service (MNS), in a ceremony held at Ayurvigyan Auditorium of Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi Cantonment, on 18 June 2015. Lt Gen MK Unni, Commandant Army Hospital (R&R) graced the function as Chief Guest and addressed the newly commissioned nursing officers. In his address, Lt Gen Unni congratulated the lady officers and their proud parents. He emphasized to face the challenges ahead, work hard with dedication and try to be an asset to the organisation. He urged the newly commissioned nursing officers to nurture the ethics of MNS and work sincerely to maintain the glorious tradition of the service as well as to keep abreast with the latest developments in the field of medicine and nursing. Major General Sunita Kapoor, Additional Director General, MNS in her speech exhorted the new commissioned officers to perform their duties with utmost dedication by keeping the ethos of the Service in mind. At the outset, Major General Sushila Shahi, Principal Matron, Army Hospital (R&R) welcomed the dignitaries.
INDIAN NAVAL SHIPS LOOK EAST AND ACT EAST
In pursuit of India’s ‘Look East’ and ‘Act East’ policy, ships of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet commanded by Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, VSM, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF), were on a two month long operational deployment to South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean. Two of the Indian warships, INS Ranvir (a Guided Missile Destroyer) and INS Kamorta (an indigenously built Anti Submarine Corvette) entered Sihanoukville, Cambodia and the other two warships including INS Satpura, an indigenously built guided missile stealth frigate and INS Shakti, a sophisticated fleet tanker and support ship, entered Sattahip, Thailand today on four day visits respectively. The previous visit by an Indian Naval ship to Thailand was in Jun 10.
The visit, aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries as well as fostering inter-operability between the navies of these two friendly nations involved stay in harbour, official calls, professional interaction between personnel of both the navies, reception onboard and planning further ship visits. On departure from Sihanoukville, INS Ranvir & INS Kamorta exercised with the Cambodian Navy for enhancing interoperability in Maritime Operations including Search and Rescue. These ships also visited Singapore, Jakarta (Indonesia), Freemantle (Australia) and Kuantan (Malaysia) during the deployment and two warships also participated in the bilateral exercise SIMBEX- 15 with the Royal Singapore Navy from 20-26 May 15.
DR G. SATHEESH REDDY TAKES OVER AS 12th SA TO RM
Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Distinguished Scientist, DRDO took over as Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, (SA to RM) on 04 June 2015. Appointed to this post for a period of two years, the eminent missile scientist has made pioneering contributions to Navigation and Avionics technologies, steered many Defence Projects and Programmes as Director of Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and provided necessary thrust to the development of critical technologies.
Thanking the Government for assigning the new responsibility on him, said, “I will work to bring in synergy between Armed Forces, DRDO & Industries and identify the technologies and products which are being imported today and put all out efforts to get them ‘Made in India’. We have to create a conducive eco-system for strengthening manufacturing base in the country to enable industries to be potential long-term suppliers of defence equipment. It is high time that modalities are to be worked out for encouraging industries to invest in R&D and make them part of major national defence programmes”. He also said that there is a huge pool of talent and core expertise available in academic institutes of the country. “I will identify the competence and promote focused research in academic institutes and harness their potential to meet the technological challenges and also to come up with state-of-the-art technologies,” he added.
