INDO PAK - 1965 WAR WHY INDIA QUIT?

An awesome response from a seasoned Veteran in response my earlier forward – couldn't resist sharing it.

Pradhan's account should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nowhere in the world are war accounts written by bureaucrats - except India. Refer WW1, WW2 & Korean war that preceded 1965 'War'. The authoritative accounts are by Commanders who participated - German & Allied alike. Chaudhary had commanded the Armoured division & knew Armour capabilities. Loose statements like 'he became Chief because of affluence & connections & luck' amounts to trashing the Indian Army.  I served in the Armoured Div in 1971 (it did not take part in Battle) & any soldier will tell you it was ill equipped for battle - Sub standard Vijanta tanks, L60 AD guns, antique Artillery. India's inflation after 1965 war was 26% & food was supplemented by the disgraceful PL480 from USA. Equipping the Army was the farthest thing from the mind of bureaucrats & politicians.

CHORBAT LA - THE LOST OPERATION

The 'Lost' Operation Against Pakistan in Chorbat La

After Kargil, India secured an important peak and outwitted Pakistan. But officially, this operation never happened

Posted by

 Lt Gen H S Panag

 | Sep 14, 2016 in First Person | 2 Comments

When the Line of Control was demarcated after the Shimla Agreement, it was done with a "thick pen" on a small scale map – 1/4 inch to a mile or one centimetre to 2.5 kilometre scale. Once interpreted on a large scale map – one inch to a mile or one centimetre to 500 meters – the differences become glaring, with claims and counter claims by both sides on the ground. This problem came to the fore post-Kargil War as most of the area that was being secured now,  was earlier not physically held by both sides.

DRESDAN - REDUCED TO RUBBLE

Why did the Allies reduce Dresden to rubble?

 
As is so often the case of the history we are taught in schools, the books tell a tale differently than what we can learn from first-hand accounts of those who actually lived through the experience. It is from the memories of common people who survived the Dresden Bombing of February 13-14, 1945, that we can understand why somewhere between 130,000 and 300,000 common people had to die.

BEAUTIFUL STORY

Beautiful Story



I do not think I ever had the opportunity of forwarding an e mail like this.
"..be encouraged for they walk amongst us..!"

What do you think of this guy?
Please read this and salute this man.




A young man in his thirties used to stand on the footpath opposite the
famous Tata Cancer Hospital at Mumbai and stare at the crowd in front-
fear plainly written upon the faces of the patients standing at
death's door; their  relatives with equally grim faces running
around.. These sights disturbed him greatly..

INSPIRATIONAL PARK

THE INSPIRATIONAL PARK

                        By Col P Ganesan VSM (Retd)

            Readers may be aware of my  service at  the world's bottom most corner SOUTH POLE.  

When I was finally cleared of to be leader and station commander of Indian Antarctic research station Dakshin Gangotri, I went to my native place SANNANALLUR, Tiruvarur District and took a handfull of mother earth from my birth place.

WHAT IT TAKES TO DEFEAT PAKISTAN

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO DEFEAT PAKISTAN  

An excellent article analysed beautifully with the right conclusion , ie ,  we have to help Pakistan to  self-destruct .
       http://swarajyamag.com/politics/to-win-jandk-we-have-to-out-think-pak-army-heres-what-they-could-do-next
   Ashali Varma
   A 23 West End,    New Delhi 110021,    Ph 9818386619,   01146039619
  ashi.varma@gmail.com
   http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/no-free-lunch/

 POLITICS
 To Win J&K, We Have To Out-Think Pak Army; Here's What They Could Do Next
   R Jagannathan - September 07, 2016, 10:55 am
   
SNAPSHOT

The best thing to come out of the all-party delegation that went to Jammu & Kashmir a few days ago is that it had egg on its face.

 

J&K -- SPLIT IT ?

LETTER TO PM
   Sir-Jee,
  

 I have only just a wee-bit microscopic wisdom.   But that is enough to realise that I am neither a constitutional expert, political commentator nor an economist, just a silly smiling happily aging veteran. I have enough itsy-bitsy wisdom to realise that I should leave all these subjects to you, and others who  know better.

   Like everyone else in India, I have been following the rising level of anarchy and violence in J&K, with equal 'rate of climb' of my hypertension.   I have noted that venerable Rajnath-Jee recently took an 'All Party' delegation of seasoned politicals (left right left, like the marching band) to go find a solution. But it is being reported that they are no wiser or seems equally clueless as I, to find a political solution in J&K.

THE NAVAL MUTINY - 1946

NAVAL AND ARMY MUTINY OF 1946

 by   Maj Gen VK Singh, veteran

 

I find a lot of articles highlighting the role of the Naval Mutiny in 1946. Someone even advised Shri Parrikar and Shri Jaitley to read up everything about the Naval Mutiny in 1946. What about the Army Mutiny at STC Jabalpur at almost the same time? Unfortunately it has not been well publicized and most people are unaware of its repercussions. At that time the Navy was a minuscule force and had almost no role in maintaining the security of India. But an Army mutiny really shocked the British.

In 2007-08, I did a research project under the aegis of the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research, which is part of the United Service Institution of India. At end of the project, a book titled CONTRIBUTION OF THE ARMED FORCES TO THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT IN INDIA was published in 2009, by KW Publishers, New Delhi. This covers all the mutinies in India, starting from the Vellore mutiny of 1806 up to Independence. I am giving below extracts from chapter 11 (The Soldier's Contribution to Indian Independence). References are given in brackets after the relevant paragraph/sentence. If anyone is interested in reading the entire chapter, you can see it on my blogveekay's history book: veekay-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/. I have also posted chapters dealing with all the three mutinies – in the Navy, Army and RIAF.

HAZI PIR PASS - 1965

WHY DID WE RETURN HAZI PIR PASS AFTER 1965 WAR

                               BY Maj Gen Pradyot Mallick

 

I     n last couple of days I found some articles on 65 war specially on why did we return Hazi Pir Pass.  One of these is available at : http://www.rediff.com/news/special/why-did-india-give-back-the-haji-pir-pass-to-pakistan/20150923.htm?sc_cid=fbshare

 

3.  In one of those Face Book pages where these were reproduced I wrote the following :

          "We need to read Military History in an objective manner. We are a mature democracy, mature army. If we had committed mistakes we should learn from it and vow not to repeat that again".

 

MOTHER'S DREAM

A heart-warming story that should make every Indian proud.

 

The write up below show not only the best of soldiering - but also the camaraderie, the  self-sacrifice and traditions which make the Armed Forces so special. Do remember that  the selfless efforts put in by all the course-mates of 2/Lt Joseph to make life memorable for his family have been voluntary and self motivated! And, a special thanks to Indigo Airlines which rose to the occasion.

 

 How would you feel if you were a Mother who loses her only son at his prime age of 21, and then be unable to be present for his last rites and never be able to visit her son's grave for a lifetime? Some pains can be forgotten, some forgiven, but for Mrs. Thressiamma Joseph from Kerala, this one riled her for over 25 years.

Unknown to this pain, a course of Army Officers get together to celebrate their 25 years of passing out from the Indian Military Academy. Their plans to meet up in Dehradun are being worked out. Will it be possible to gather all the mates after a gap of 25 years? How many will turn up finally?

THE FOLLY OF AHIMSHA

BRILLITANT ARTICLE: LALA LAJPAT RAI'S COMMENT ON THE FOLLY OF AHIMSHA
http://indiafacts.org/cow-protection-mahatma-gandhi-appeasing-muslims-bullying-dalits/

Gandhi proclaims the cow to be more of a mother to a Hindu than his biological mother, that cow-slaughter is equivalent to man-slaughter, yet he wants the Hindu to merely supplicate to save the mother-cow from slaughter. This, then, was the essence of his Ahimsa – enervating of the Hindus. The absurdity of the Gandhian Ahimsa, or any other form of ahimsa taken to an extreme, has been best articulated by Lala Lajpat Rai, who had himself hailed from a Jain family (Jainism upheld Ahimsa as its very essence):

EMPIRE FAITH AND WAR

"Empire, Faith & War" <efw@ukpha.org> wrote:
Redefining women's role: How Punjabi women broke the mould 100 years ago          


A woman's place... 

In the west, the two world wars led to women moving away from traditional roles as mothers and housewives into the workforce to help the war effort and so forging new identities and expectations.

This week's Citizen Historian case study features a husband and wife duo whose story reveals how one Sikh woman also not only coped but thrived in her husband's absence a century ago in rural Punjab. Developing new skills and expanding her role, she ultimately helped build the foundations of their family's future...

FUTURE PREDICTIONS

  FUTURE PREDICTIONS:

  In 1998, Kodak had 170,000 employees and sold 85% of all photo paper worldwide.  Within just a few years, their business model disappeared and they went bankrupt. What happened to Kodak will happen in a lot of industries in the next 10 years - and most people don't see it coming. Did you think in 1998 that 3 years later you would never take pictures on paper film again? Yet digital cameras were invented in 1975. The first ones only had 10,000 pixels, but followed Moore's law. So as with all exponential technologies, it was a disappointment for a long time, before it became way superior and got mainstream in only a few short years. It will now happen with Artificial Intelligence, health, autonomous and electric cars, education, 3D printing, agriculture and jobs. Welcome to the 4th Industrial Revolution. Welcome to the Exponential Age.

Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years.

STORY WITH MORAL

A great story with a moral

But the pear would not go down my throat.... Author unknown.... It was the summer of 67 I was all of sixteen years old, had just finished my schooling from a prestigious boarding school and was on a sabbatical working out what to do with my life. My father was a colonel in the army and had a year to go before retirement. We were living in a comfortable government bungalow in Ajmer but as far as material luxuries go, we didn't have much; no car, no scooter and no refrigerator either – the status symbols of those days. Television had not yet spread its wings in the country and a small transistor radio was our means of keeping in touch with the rest of the world. We however, felt no sense of deprivation and the lack of amenities perhaps spurred our innate abilities to keep ourselves occupied in more meaningful ways.

US ARMY..

 No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years,

risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 40% of their pay on retirement. While Politicians hold their political positions, in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full-pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

VETERANS & ORG BONDAGE

Veterans And Organisational Bonding:

A Unique Blessing

Maj Gen Mrinal Suman

The day we joined the academy, we were told to take pride in the fact that we had opted for the noblest profession in the world – the profession of arms that ensures security of our country. We were also counselled that soldiering was a package deal with its minuses and pluses. The minuses exist due to the exigencies of service (threat to life, hardships, frequent transfers, separations and so on) and these have to be endured. However, the pluses outweigh the minuses by a huge margin: organisational cohesion being the most crucial one as it facilitates development of life-long bonds, both social and emotional.

 

RAIN PAINTINGS

Wonderful! Make sure you keep this open a minute or so... And forward on so that you can see the rain in the paintings. The Rain - by Thomas Kinkade Stop at the picture for a second, and watch the Rain...   Then read on...

SAM'S DRIVER

Interview of F M SAM MANEKSHAW'S driver !!

Nitin Gokhale recalls an encounter with a driver who drove one of India's most-loved soldiers, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, for 22 years. 
   
      On April 3, 2013, Field Marshal S H F J 'Sam' Manekshaw would have turned 100. He passed away five years before his centenary.

But in Wellington, the quaintly beautiful cantonment town in the Nilgiris, where the field marshal retired to, his memories live on.

Each year when I go for my annual lecture to the student officers at the Defence Services Staff College located in Wellington not very far from Coonoor and Ooty, at least one anecdote about Sam Bahadur the Legend gets added to my stock. In 2012 I garnered more than my usual quota because I came twice in close succession!

Nothing prepared me for my trip this time though!

   

BUREAUCRACY OR BULLY

BUREAURECRACY OR BULLY?
Why PM Modi should create a defence department run by military   
Lt.General P.C. Katoch (retd)

http://www.firstpost.com/india/bureaucracy-or-bully-why-pm-modi-should-create-a-defence-department-run-by-military-2988238.html

           As reported in the media recently, the Chief Justice of Meghalaya "passed orders" on the eve of his retirement that 'Z' security cover for him should continue. So far one thought that security cover of any category and reviewing it is the job of the Centre. But who can question the judiciary where even RTI is taboo. How many such Lordships are enjoying security cover post retirement is not known albeit their numbers may be small given the paucity of judges.
Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry, however, singled out another category of lordships – our bureaucracy.

The 7th Central Pay Commission notwithstanding, best perks for these lordships came during rule of Manmohan Singh (himself a bureaucrat), who institutionalised that all political office bearers and bureaucrats or their spouse could go abroad for medical treatment with one attendant – all expenses (attendant included) of travel, stay, treatment borne by government exchequer.

_*एक सुंदर कविता

  *-हरिवंशराय बच्चन की*    _*एक सुंदर कविता ...👌*_

*खवाहिश  नही  मुझे  मशहुर  होने  की।*
*आप  मुझे  पहचानते  हो  बस  इतना  ही  काफी  है।*

*अच्छे  ने  अच्छा  और  बुरे  ने  बुरा  जाना  मुझे।*
*क्यों  की  जीसकी  जीतनी  जरुरत  थी  उसने  उतना  ही  पहचाना  मुझे।*

*ज़िन्दगी  का  फ़लसफ़ा  भी   कितना  अजीब  है*
*शामें  कटती  नहीं,  और  साल  गुज़रते  चले  जा  रहे  हैं....!!*

*एक  अजीब  सी  दौड़  है  ये  ज़िन्दगी,*
*जीत  जाओ  तो  कई  अपने  पीछे  छूट  जाते  हैं,*
*और  हार  जाओ  तो  अपने  ही  पीछे  छोड़  जाते  हैं।*

*बैठ जाता हूं मिट्टी पे अक्सर...*
*क्योंकि मुझे अपनी औकात अच्छी लगती है..*

*मैंने समंदर से सीखा है जीने का सलीक़ा,*
*चुपचाप से बहना और अपनी मौज में रहना ।।*

*ऐसा नहीं है कि मुझमें कोई ऐब नहीं है पर सच कहता हूँ मुझमे कोई फरेब नहीं है*

AKHAND BHARAT

Akhand Bhaarat: India-Pakistan utopian unification possible?

            There is total ignorance in so many educated Hindus who are basically ignorant about the partition of Bhaarat and are sold to the ideology of traitors like Gandhi-Nehru

Bangladesh breaking itself free from the shackles of Pakistan is evident of the fact that Muhammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory was dubious.

MOHENJO DARO.

FACTS ABOUT MOHINJO DARO

• 
  
  "Take it with a pinch of salt!", is what historian Anita Rane-Kothare, head of the department of Ancient Indian Culture and Archaeology at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, told us, when we asked about whether Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro would do justice to the historical story of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation.

  From showing jumping crocodiles to women wearing feathery headgear, Gowariker is facing flak for showing distorted facts about the 5000-year-old civilisation. "The name itself is wrong as it's not a name, but a term used to describe the civilisation", informs Dr Anita Rane-Kothare.

  Let's brush up our history and try to understand some facts about the fascinating civilisation which was way ahead of its time.

  1. Mohenjo Daro is not the real name of the 5000-year-old city.

  In fact, nobody has deciphered the original name yet

INDO PAK PARTITION

ARBITRARY DIVISION OF INDIA.

 India-Pakistan Partition

 Kuldip Nayar

 August 11, 2016

  

 The British had a reputation of leaving their colonies in a mess when

 they had to withdraw by force or otherwise. One method they adopted

 was to divide the country they had ruled. They did this in Ireland,

 Palestine-Israel and, of course, India.

 

 This is mid-August 2016 and I recall the conversation I had with Lord

 Radcliffe who drew the line to divide India into two countries, India

 and Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, picked him up from

 the British Bar and had him flown to India to divide the subcontinent

 into two countries.

UNIFIED PAYMENT INTERFACE

  *Unified Payments Interface goes live:*

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which will help move India towards a cashless economy, is all set to go live in next two to three working days with 21 banks. The UPI app will be available on the Google Play Store in next two to three working days for the customers to download and start using for 19 banks - Andhra Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bhartiya Mahila Bank, Canara Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, DCB Bank, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Karnataka Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, United Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, South Indian Bank, Vijaya Bank and YES Bank. IDBI Bank and RBL Bank will be issuers of UPI, which will enable customers to download any UPI enabled Apps mentioned above and link their account.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in India. According to Bankbazaar' CEO Adhil Shetty, "In the long run, UPI may replace the current NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS systems as they exist today."

INDIAN CURRENCY - 31 FACTS

  भारतीय मुद्रा (रुपया) से जुड़े 31 ग़ज़ब रोचक तथ्य

  1. भारत में करंसी का इतिहास2500 साल पुराना हैं। इसकी शुरूआत एक राजा द्वारा की गई थी।
2. अगर आपके पास आधे से ज्यादा (51 फीसदी) फटा हुआ नोट है तो भी आप बैंक में जाकर उसे बदल सकते हैं।
3. बात सन् 1917 की हैं, जब 1₹ रुपया 13$ डाॅलर के बराबर हुआ करता था। फिर 1947 में भारत आजाद हुआ, 1₹ = 1$ कर दिया गया. फिर धीरे-धीरे भारत पर कर्ज बढ़ने लगा तो इंदिरा गांधी ने कर्ज चुकाने के लिए रूपये की कीमत कम करने का फैसला लिया उसके बाद आज तक रूपये की कीमत घटती आ रही हैं।
4. अगर अंग्रेजों का बस चलता तो आज भारत की करंसी पाउंड होती. लेकिन रुपए की मजबूती के कारण ऐसा संभव नही हुआ।
5. इस समय भारत में 400 करोड़ रूपए के नकली नोट हैं।
6. सुरक्षा कारणों की वजह से आपको नोट के सीरियल नंबर में I, J, O, X, Y, Z अक्षर नही मिलेंगे।
7. हर भारतीय नोट पर किसी न किसी चीज की फोटो छपी होती हैं जैसे- 20 रुपए के नोट पर अंडमान आइलैंड की तस्वीर है। वहीं, 10 रुपए के नोट पर हाथी, गैंडा और शेर छपा हुआ है, जबकि 100 रुपए के नोट पर पहाड़ और बादल की तस्वीर है। इसके अलावा 500 रुपए के नोट पर आजादी के आंदोलन से जुड़ी 11 मूर्ति की तस्वीर छपी हैं।

KRISHNA - Uddhava Geetha

UDDHAVA GEETHA - Too lengthy but A MUST READ

👉Why did Krishna not save the Pandavas when they played dice with Duryadhana & Shakuni?

Wonderful explanation by Krishna himself:

From his childhood, Uddhava had been with Krishna, charioting him and serving him in many ways. He never asked for any wish or boon from Sri Krishna.

When Krishna was at the verge of completing His Avatar, he called Uddhava and said,
'Dear Uddhava, in this avatar of mine, many people have asked and received boons from me; but you never asked me anything. Why don't you ask something now? I will give you. Let me complete this avatar with the satisfaction of doing something good for you also'.

Even though Uddhava did not ask anything for himself, he had been observing Krishna from his childhood. He had always wondered about the apparent disconnect between Krishna's teachings and actions, and wanted to understand the reasons for the same.

He asked Krishna,