Deepak Parekh, HDFC joins BAE Systems India Advisory board

01 Jul 2010: BAE Systems has appointed Deepak Parekh, Chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), India’s first and largest mortgage company, to its India Advisory Board.  Mr Parekh joins two other highly accomplished leaders from the worlds of business and diplomacy, Ravi Bhargava and Naresh Chandra, who were appointed to the India Advisory Board in September last year.  These appointments further reflect the increasing strategic importance of India to BAE Systems as one of the company’s seven home markets. 

In Parekh’s 30 years at HDFC it has become one of India’s premier financial institutions with 30 million customers.  A renowned Indian business personality and a specialist in the world of finance, Mr Parekh has also been a member of various committees of the Government of India, including the Investment Commission set up to analyse FDI policies.  Mr. Parekh has also won several awards including Businessman of the Year and he was dubbed a 'Star of Asia' by Business Week.

Andrew Gallagher, Chief Executive and Managing Director BAE Systems India, said, “Deepak is one of the foremost business leaders of his generation and his energy and enthusiasm are boundless.  As BAE Systems strives to develop a long term domestic Indian business, strategic advice of the quality we get from Messrs Chandra, Bhargava, and now Parekh, is invaluable.  It’s a very strong team, and we are rightly proud to have attracted people of such calibre.” 

Mr Parekh has a number of roles in different organisations. He is on the board of Mahindra and Mahindra and at Hindustan Unilever, as well as being non-executive Chairman of the Indian operations of both GSK and Siemens.   

The advisory board enhances the company’s ability to execute its home market strategy in India, building on the company’s long and successful history of working in India.  BAE Systems has identified independent advisory board members to advise the company, drawing on their exceptional insight, experience and understanding of national and regional issues. BAE Systems is honoured to have now appointed Deepak Parekh to the India Advisory Board, joining Ravi Bhargava, formerly CEO, and now Chairman, of Maruti Suzuki; and Naresh Chandra, formerly Ambassador of India to the United States, Cabinet Secretary, Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Governor of Gujarat.

Negotiations, led by industrial partner Hindustan Aeronautics, continue for a follow-on order of between 50 and 60 new Hawk advanced jet trainers, to be assembled under license in Bangalore and the company is actively supporting its partner EADS on the positioning of Typhoon to meet India’s multi role combat aircraft requirement.

A new joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra, is now fully operational and pursuing several substantial business opportunities in the land sector, specifically for an indigenous mine protected vehicle and artillery systems.  Activity to evaluate the potential for security and maritime sector capabilities to help support India’s defence modernisation and security programme are also underway.

Air Marshal Ganguly takes over as Chief of Air Force Medical Services

11 June2010 8ak/PIB: In a recent development, Air Marshal Dipankar Ganguly has taken over as Director General Medical Services (Air). Commissioned on 22 May 1973, Air Marshal Ganguly did his MBBS from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune in 1972 and specialized in Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1989. 

He had been posted to prestigious medical units like Military Hospital, Cardiothoracic Centre MH(CTC), Pune as Clinical Specialist and as Senior Advisor and Consultant at Army Hospital (Research & Referral). He also served as Deputy Commandant at Army Hospital (Research & Referral) and as Commandant, Command Hospital (Northern Command) and subsequently as DCIDS (Med) at HQ Integrated Defence Services (IDS).

For his distinguished service, Air Marshal Ganguly has been awarded Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) twice by the President of India.

When the Government Becomes an Adversary of its Ex-servicemen

10 Jun 2010 Maj Gen Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhD: The growing adversarial relationship between the Government and ex-servicemen is a matter of grave concern. For the last few years, an impression is gaining ground that the Government is becoming increasingly intolerant and biased against ex-servicemen and is treating them unfairly. The military is an instrument of the Government. How can a Government let itself be seen as an adversary of its own constituent? More so when the affected constituent consists of retired soldiers who have given the best part of their lives to the nation and now, in the twilight of their lives, look up to the Government for support to be able to lead a respectable life. They do not seek favour or pity but ask for compassion, understanding and equity. They want their Government to acknowledge the severity of their service conditions and their contribution to nation safeguarding.

The vindictiveness and wickedness with which the Government is contesting court orders given in favour of the ex-servicemen has shocked even die-hard supporters of the Government.  Three sets of recent cases are recalled hereunder to show Government’s intransigence and obduracy. 

Grant of Rank Pay

The 4th Pay Commission had granted Rank Pay in addition to basic pay for officers up to the rank of Brigadier. There was no ambiguity at all. However, while fixing pay in the integrated scale, an amount equal to the Rank Pay was deceitfully deducted by the concerned bureaucrats from the total dues, thereby causing heavy financial loss to the officers. It was an act of betrayal of the trust of the armed forces. No other country in the world is known to have conspired and connived so blatantly to deprive its own soldiers of their rightful dues. Even DA, pension, gratuity and other related entitlements of the affected officers were adversely impacted. With one clever stroke, the Government had nullified the recommendations of the Pay Commission. 

As all equivalence of appointments in the Government is based on pay scales, bureaucracy employed this stratagem to keep the comparative status of officers down.  All pleas to the Government fell on deaf ears. Major Dhanapalan approached Kerala High Court for justice in 1996. The Hon’ble Court ruled in favour of the petitioner and directed the Government to refix his basic pay with effect from 01 January 1986. Instead of accepting its mistake gracefully and ordering refixation of pay of all eligible officers, the Government appealed against the award to a larger Bench of the same court. The appeal was dismissed. 

However, the Government was not done as yet and brazenly filed an SLP in the Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court found no merit in the appeal and dismissed it. MoD grudgingly refixed the pay of Major Dhanapalan and sanctioned payment of arrears. Although the issue had wider application, the Government failed to show required magnanimity to extend the same dispensation to other affected officers under the specious plea that the Court orders pertained to the applicant only. Dismayed by the apathetic attitude of the Government, many officers knocked at the doors of various courts in the country. The Hon’ble Supreme Court admitted a petition for transfer of all the writ petitions pending before the various High Courts in 2007. The matter was heard and finally disposed of by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 08 Mar 2010. The Apex Court held that the judgment of the Hon’ble Kerala High Court was correct and reasonable and as such the benefit of this judgment be extended to all eligible officers of the Armed Forces. Additionally, the Hon’ble Apex Court awarded 6% interest on the amount due to the officers. 

The level to which the Government can stoop can be gauged from the fact that it has recently moved an application in the Apex Court for directions seeking modification/directions/recall of the said order of 08 March 2010. It is obsessively resisting grant of overdue arrears to its officers despite clear-cut court directions. 

Fixation of Pension 

In the case of Union of India and Major General Vains and Others, the Hon’ble Supreme Court had, vide its judgement of 09 September 2009, directed that the pay of all pensioners in the rank of Major General and its equivalent rank in the two other Wings of the Defence Services be notionally fixed at the rate given to similar officers of the same rank after the revision of pay scales with effect from 01 January 1996. The Apex Court ruled that similarly placed officers of the same rank should be given the same pension irrespective of the date of retirement and that no defence personnel senior in rank can get less pension than his junior irrespective of the date of retirement. Thus, principles governing fixation of pension were unambiguously laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court. 

LT Gen HL Kakria is the new Director General of Medical Services, Army

1 Jun 2010 PIB: Lt Gen HL Kakria has taken over as new Director General of Medical Services (Army) from Lt Gen SR Mehta who has retired. Lieutenant General HL Kakria, recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva medal did his MBBS from GSVM Medical College, Kanpur and joined the Army Medical Corps on February 14, 1972. He did his MS (General Surgery) in 1980 and MS (Orthopaedics) in 1989 from Pune University and stood first in the University. He is an undergraduate and Post Graduate Teacher and Examiner of MS (Orthopaedics), Pune University as well as Teacher and Examiner, DNB (Orthopaedics) National Board of Examination, New Delhi. He has published numerous research papers on Orthopaedics in different National and International journals. He was awarded Major General Amir Chand award in 1990, for the best research work done in Orthopaedics on Knee joint injuries and his work has been appreciated the world over. He is an Executive Member of Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) 2000-2010.

Indian National Defence University plan finally gets rolling

13 May 2010 8ak: An empowered group of ministers, while reviewing the report of a committee that examined the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan, had also reviewed the entire spectrum of defence and security management and recommended in 2000 the setting up of the INDU. The aim was to bring various defence colleges under one umbrella and also increase the co-ordination between the civil administration and defence management. The committee had recommended that the INDU President to be a serving three-star officer from the armed services. The Vice-President of the INDU is expected to be an officer from the Foreign Service. 

Times of India now reports that the Union Cabinet on Thursday will take up the proposal to set up INDU, as a fully-autonomous institution to be created by an Act of Parliament, decades after it was first mooted. INDU aims to integrate all defence colleges, like the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College etc, which are affiliated to different universities as of now. In the future also all defence academic institutions will come under INDU. Incidentally, India will only be the third country in the world to have a dedicated defence university after China and America. 

The university will conduct courses for the Military, Para-military and Civil administration and work towards building recognition and harmony by awarding degrees, short-term diploma's and credits for courses the officers undertake. The university will be setup at village Binola near Gurgaon in Haryana with the initial investment of Rs 230 crores and would take nearly three years to come up.

War Heroes: Captain Vikram Batra “Yeh Dil Maange More”

08 May 2010 8ak: Born on 09 September 1974 to Mr G.L. Batra and Mrs Jai Kamal Batra, Vikram Batra joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in 1996 and was commissioned in to the 13 battalion of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles after passing out from the IMA in December 1997. 

The tales of his gallantry is one of the many, which helped India, regain the lost territory during the Kargil war. Vikram Batra played a key role in the in capture of Point 5140, also known as Tiger hill, which was at an altitude of 17,000 feet. It was also a critical peak from the point of view that it overlooked the Srinagar-Leh highway, which was important for logistics and supply of reinforcements for the Indian army. 

Upon reaching Point 5140, leading a company of troops, he encountered the commander of the Pakistani-backed terrorists on radio. The enemy commander challenged him by saying, “Why have you come Shershah (his nick name), you will not go back.” To which Captain Batra replied, “We shall see within one hour, who remains on the top.” In a short while Captain Batra and his company of troops killed eight enemy soldiers and more importantly captured a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun, neutralising the advantageous peak. It was after the capture of Point 5140, that he radioed his commanding officer and said, “Yeh Dil Maange More.” The words later went on to become a motivational slogan during the war and are used even now at various occasions like the Vijay Diwas.  

After the historic victory that changed the course of the Kargil war, Captain Batra proceeded to capture Point 4750 and hoisted the national flag. However, it was in the third crucial operation, the capture of Point 4875, that the young Vikram Batra was martyred. He attacked the peak along with his company and another led by Captain Anuj Nayyar, MVC. They gave the enemy a tough time, killed a number of enemy troops and re-captured the peak on 05 July 1999. The enemy counter-attacked the peak on 07 July 1999, but Captain Batra retaliated the counter-attack with vigour.In the heat of the battle, one of his junior officers (Lieutenant Naveen) was seriously injured and Captain Batra immediately went to his rescue. Destiny however had something else in store for Captain Batra and during the rescue, he was hit by a bullet in the chest. With the words Jai Mata Di on his lips, the brave Captain fell down and was hit again in the waist by an artillery splinter. Before succumbing to his grievous injuries, this brave son of the motherland and a true lion of Bharat Mata killed another five enemy soldiers. 

For his actions, which went beyond the call of duty, the brave son of the soil was awarded the nations highest gallantry award, Param Vir Chakra. His father received the award from the late President K.R. Narayanan. In recognition of his bravery, Point 4750 has been renamed as Vikram Batra top.