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Defence Notes

	May 19, 2008

IAF training aircraft crashes, woman pilot killed



An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft crashed during a routine training sortie near Hyderabad on May 12, killing a woman trainee pilot. According to an IAF spokesperson, the training aircraft HPT-32 crashed at around 3 p.m. at Medak, 50 km from Begumpet Air Force Academy in Hyderabad.



“The plane crashed near Medak in an open ground after it took off for the training mission. The pilot succumbed to fatal injuries,” IAF spokesman Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said.



“A court of inquiry has been ordered into the accident,” Upasani added.



The lady officer was receiving flying training on the HPT-32, on which IAF pilots are trained before graduating to the Surya Kiran training aircraft. “She had flying experience of 40 hours and this was her second solo mission,” a source said.



“Air Force officials rushed to the spot and doused the fire. However, the lady officer was already burnt to death,” the source said.



She was the second IAF woman officer to have been killed in a plane crash. In 1996, Flt. Lt. Harita Deol was killed in a plane crash in Chennai.





Army to host meet on handling insurgency emergencies



The Indian Army’s Northern Command is set to hold a medical conference on handling emergencies caused by counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been battling terror¬ism for the past 18 years.



The two-day conference will commence on May 24 at the Command Hospital at the Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur, over 65 km north of Jammu, an Army spokesperson said May 12.



“More than 200 delegates, civilian and Army doctors, are expected to take part in the deliberations,” he said.



Lt. Gen. P.C. Bhardwaj, General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Northern Command, and Lt. Gen. Yogendra Singh, Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Services, will also address the conference, the official added.



The Army has suffered more than 2,000 casualties in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, where terrorists have mounted a violent campaign since 1989. Over 40,000 people have been killed over the years.





Govt to look into Army batmen’s complaints



The government is viewing seriously complaints from soldiers serving as batmen for senior officers as part of a tradition begun during the British Raj.



The Army accounts for most of the nearly 35,000 soldiers who are attached to officers ostensibly for the upkeep of their service weapons and uniforms. In reality, however, they end up as domes¬tic orderlies. This, the soldiers and their families say, causes all the problems.



Called ‘sahayaks’ (assistants) in the Indian Army, they allege that they get poor quality uniform, their promotions are often delayed and that seniors often humiliate them.



The soldiers say that this offends their sense of dignity.



Although the Sixth Pay Commission has recommended the abolition of the sahayak system in the paramilitary forces, the Army finds these soldiers indispensable.



A hawaldar told a news agency on condition of anonymity: “Our problems are many. We put in long hours but still there is no dignity for us. The officers abuse us at times asking us to do household work. Also, the pay is low.”



“We also end up buying our uniforms from private dealers using our own money,” he said.



Said another soldier: “As long as the officer is a bachelor, the problems are not that serious. But once he marries and has a family, our problems multiply.



“At times, the wife may not be aware of the military traditions. Also, some wives become jealous because we act like virtual shadows of the officers. They think we are interfering in the lives of their husbands.





“We are also asked to polish the shoes of the children and do other household work.”



Defence Minister A.K. Antony appears to be aware of the problem.



On May 7, at the Defence Investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, when he was asked about the batmen, he replied that “many things” needed to be sorted out but that changes cannot come overnight. Antony also told the Army brass at the just-concluded combined conference of commanders that officers must respect the jawans.





Nine ITBP troopers injured in grenade explosion



In the second such incident within a fortnight, nine troopers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were injured when a grenade exploded during exercises at a firing range near Chandigarh on May 15.



The injured troopers were rushed to the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) for treatment.



ITBP officials said the grenade exploded while the troopers were conducting routine exercises at the ITBP training centre at Bhanu in Panchkula, 25 km from Chandigarh. This is the third incident of this kind here in just over two months.