Indian armed forces counted among the best in the world: Army chief

Indian armed forces are highly professional and counted among the best in the world due to the indomitable courage of the veterans and their sacrifices, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande said on Saturday (January 14).

Addressing a gathering of ex-servicemen on the seventh Armed Forces Veterans Day celebrations in New Delhi, he said that all three services of the armed forces were “ready to face any challenge”.

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari and Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar shared the dais with the Army chief during the celebrations at the Manekshaw Centre.

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A large number of veterans from the three wings of the armed forces also attended.

“Today, our armed forces are counted among the best and highly professional forces in the world. This identity is a result of your sacrifices, indomitable courage and hard labour,” Genera Pande said.

“Inspired by it, all the three services of the armed forces, as a formidable instrument, are ready to face any challenge.”

Navy salutes veterans

The Navy chief said the armed forces today were a product of the efforts, visionary leadership, aspirations and selfless efforts put in by “each one of our veterans”.

“It is an honour for me to be present here and interact with you all. Today is also an occasion to remember and pay homage to our valiant warriors who dedicated their lives to the nation,” Admiral Kumar said.

He said the Navy will leave no stone unturned in carrying forward the legacy of the veterans.

Agniveers for future-proof Navy

The commissioning of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, stealth destroyer INS Mormugao and a host of other advanced platforms were a small step in that direction, he said.

“We have also inducted the first batch of Agniveers, which also includes women, and that is a bold, transformative step and which will contribute to making the Navy future-proof,” he added.

The IAF chief said: “From its humble origins, the IAF has carved out a reputation of being a formidable aerospace in the region today. This has been made possible only through the vision, hard work and selfless service rendered by our veterans over the years.”

Pension issues

Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari also said that 156 SPARSH service centres have been made operational across the commands of the IAF.

The System for Pension Administration (Raksha) or SPARSH is a web-based system for processing pension claims and crediting the pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without any external intermediary.

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The IAF has taken up the case for obtaining approvals for policy amendments for grant of liberalised family pensions in flying accident cases between January 1996 and September 2009, under the clause of battle inoculation training exercises, he said.

So far, pension payment orders have been issued for 67 such cases, and the air force was determined to issue PPOs for all other cases very soon, he added.

“We would like to reassure our air veterans that the Indian Air Force is fully committed to your wellbeing. The old adage, serving those who will serve, will always be the cornerstone of our endeavours.”

Veterans Day

Representatives of various ex-servicemen’s organisations attended the event.

The Armed Forces Veterans Day is celebrated on January 14, the day in 1953 that the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army — Field Marshal K M Cariappa — formally retired.

This year, Veterans Day was celebrated at nine locations: Juhunjhunu, Jalandhar, Panagarh, New Delhi, Dehradun, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar and Mumbai.

The Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare Department, Defence Ministry, Vijoy Kumar Singh, also attended the event.

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“The government has announced a long-pending demand regarding One Rank One Pension (OROP) for the armed forces veterans, and that had to be revised. But there were certain issues, so there were delays. It has been approved by the government in December and the payment of the arrears and other things will start very soon,” he said outside the event.

In his address on Saturday, Vijoy Kumar Singh said for resettlement, the government has a “long-term plan” and that veterans have an opportunity, in areas where there is a lack of workforce.

Efforts are on to get SPARSH data and do geospatial mapping in areas where projects like dedicated corridors and laying of power lines were being undertaken, he said.

Magazines

The celebrations also witnessed the release of “Samman” magazine, a yearly journal published by Directorate of Indian Army Veterans covering informative articles and various topics of interest to the veteran community.

The Indian Air Force released the “Vayu Semvedna” magazine on the occasion.

(With Agency inputs)