Thums Up brings to you a beautiful story of a soldier – A Tribute To The Real Heroes Of India. So come explore this beautiful journey from the North to the South of India.
Indian Army is mandated to safeguard national interests from external aggression, threats and internal subversion. What does it mean? This means that our border must be protected against invaders; take action against insurgencies happening inside India, assist civil population during natural calamities such as floods or earthquakes.
The role can be divided into Primary and Secondary roles. The primary role of Indian army is to ensure national security and safeguard sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of India. The secondary roles include providing humanitarian support and aid to civil authority during calamities and natural disasters.
For all those who have zero clues about who Lt. Ummer Fayaz is, he was an officer in the Indian Army who belonged to Kashmir. He was just like another braveheart in the forces except he was kidnapped and murdered in his hometown by a group of terrorists. The ruthless act left the entire country in shock and the young officer left behind an inconsolable mother, his sisters who doted on him and his relatives. None of them, for a long time, could process what had happened to their beloved ‘sahib Ji’; as his grandfather used to lovingly call him. After overcoming the shock of this valiant officer’s death, the bestselling author Ms Bhaavna Arora decided to write a book about his struggles and his life. The patriot in her worked hard as she spent two years researching and looking for information about our brave lieutenant; travelling to Kashmir, Mhow and other places that held significance in Lt. Ummer’s life. Her hard work culminated in the book, Undaunted Lt Ummer Fayaz of Kashmir. The young officer has epitomized Kashmiriyat in its truest sense, who pursued his dream against all odds. After I finished reading the book along with a box of tissues (it is an extremely emotional memoir), I decided to do what I do best, write about it. Lt Ummer may not be with us, but his memories, his courage, kindness and philosophy of life will stay with us forever. Through this article, I want to talk about the lessons we can learn from this braveheart and his journey.
You are your only limit.
Even as a young child Ummer was privy to the situation in the Valley and people’s perception of the Indian Army. Despite all that, ever since the age of twelve, he dreamt of donning the olive green uniform. Regardless of all the obstacles, he only dreamt of having those stars on his shoulders instead of a million stars in the sky. Even as his friends discouraged him and poked fun at the organization that protects our nation, his intentions did not deter. After four years of rigorous training at the NDA and the IMA; he fulfilled his dream of becoming an army officer with flying colours.
Hard work pays off. Every time.
Ummer was a bright student who was consistent with his studies and persevered to shine out in the class. Every teacher adored him, not because he was good in studies but was an all-rounder. Whether it was sports or academics, he took part in everything with diligence. He had to travel for an entire day to submit his NDA form due to the internet shutdown in the Kashmir valley. The NDA has the reputation of being one of the six toughest colleges to get into worldwide. Yet despite the lack of good schools, coaching centres and frequent lockdowns, he was able to clear his NDA exam. He had always believed there isn’t any substitute for hard work and proved it.
Be fearless in the pursuit of what you truly desire.
It was common knowledge to Lt. Ummer that people in his native place disliked the defence forces and were always in a tiff with them. The attitude people had was radical enough for Lt. Ummer to not disclose his dream to a lot of people for a long time. He knew they wouldn’t approve of his dream to join the Indian Army. Yet, he did not give up on his dreams worked hard day and night. No matter what his friends or the taunts of people said; he remained determined and emerged victorious.
Your perception shapes your life.
As a child, our brave lieutenant had a rough interaction with an Army troop who had slapped him for not cooperating and just then an officer arrived at the scene and dealt with Ummer. He realized the amount of respect the officer got and the control he had over his people. He was inspired by the officer and asked him how he could become like him; the officer told him to join the National Defence Academy. Since then Ummer didn’t look back and began preparing himself for the prestigious academy. A known militant, Burhan Wani had a similar encounter as a child, but he used that incident to become a terrorist. Ummer chose to see this incident as an inspiration to set a goal for himself and achieve something in life. He always saw the half glass full, no matter the situation; which led him to amass the success he so desired.
Be open to change.
As a young student, young Ummer had to switch schools due to a lack of facilities in his old school and due to the frequent lockdowns. Even though the class as a whole was shifted to the new place, many of his classmates were apprehensive about the type of teachers they’ll get, the school mates and whether they would be able to adapt to the change. Fourteen-year-old Ummer felt none of that. He told his classmates and friends to not be afraid; instead, embrace the change; view it as a new opportunity and a bundle of possibilities. He emerged as calm during the storm; one of his many attractive qualities. Naturally, everyone there loved him and enjoyed his company.
Religion becomes disruptive only if you make it.
Since a young age, children are taught about religion and values. Sadly, a lot of Kashmiri families are conditioned into thinking they need to ‘protect’ their religion, which has over the years led to communist ideologies. As for Lt. Fayaz, even as a child he respected all religions and kept an open mind towards the various communities that coexisted in India. When he went to the National Defence Academy, he celebrated all the festivals with his coursemates with vigour. He was the first-ever cadet to request the reading of daily namaz at the academy mosque whilst maintaining the proper discipline that is expected of him. Even while he was fasting for Ramadan, he participated in the cross country run for the spirit of his squadron. He believed in the true purpose; which is to guide mankind.
He was a true gentleman and had qualities that not only made him an exemplary officer but also a socially responsible citizen. His story is truly saddening and tragic. The way students have explained their thought processes to the author reflects the sad reality of the Valley that is supposed to be heaven on earth. Lt. Fayaz was one of the few who dared to dream differently in a world that was surrounded by radical ideologies. His death not only a loss to his family but also a loss to India for we lost a brave son and a great officer on the 10th of May. May his story inspire many young citizens and may his soul rest in peace.
Vice Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar, AVSM, VSM has assumed charge as Director General Naval Operations today, on 07 Jun 21. An alumnus of the National Defense Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, he was commissioned into the Indian Navy in Jan 1987. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Naval War College, Karanja, and Naval Command College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
The Flag Officer is a specialist in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and has served on frontline warships of the Navy as ASW Officer and later as the Executive Officer and Principal Warfare Officer of Guided Destroyer INS Mysore
He has commanded the missile corvette INS Kora, the missile frigate INS Shivalik and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat. He has held important staff appointments in IHQ MoD (Navy) in the Directorate of Staff Requirements, Directorate of Personnel, and the Directorate of Net-Centric Operations.
On promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral in Feb 2016, he was appointed as the Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Int – A) at HQ IDS, New Delhi, and subsequently as the Chief Staff Officer (Operations) in Headquarters, Western Naval Command, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area and Flag Officer Sea Training.
Vice Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar is a recipient of the AtiVishishtSeva Medal and VishishtSeva Medal for distinguished service.
The Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun is one of the premier Institutions training Gentlemen Cadets (GCs) for commission into the Indian Army. The Academy is known for its glorious history and valiant traditions which are not only an integral part of the Nation‟s proud heritage, but also form an indispensable sheet anchor of independent India‟s national security.
Through the portals of the IMA, with the Credo „Veerta Aur Vivek‟ pass out the future Army officers of the Indian Army. The path of military leaders is paved with a challenging, exciting and exacting service. The Academy is no soft option to glitz and glamour. It is an austere institution imparting rigorous training in leadership, self-discipline, and the art of war. The hallowed portals of this great institution boast of having bred the majority of the officer cadre of today‟s Indian Army.
Founded in 1932 to fulfill the growing need for Indianisation, the IMA has grown from its first Course of 40 GCs to a planned capacity of 1200 GCs. Its professional fame places it alongside the finest, military training institutions of the world. The outstanding records of its alumni on battlefields around the world bear testimony to its fame as a cradle for future military leaders of the country.
One of the interesting features in the development of IMA is its expansion in January 1949 into Armed Forces Academy with an addition of Joint Services Wing at Clement Town, Dehradun, where Cadets of Army, Navy and Air Force were trained. On 1st January, 1950, the Armed Forces Academy in Dehradun was renamed as National Defence Academy.
In 1954, the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy moved from Dehradun to Khadakvasla, Pune and Military Wing, which stayed back in Dehradun was renamed as Military College. In 1960, the Military College was given back its original name “Indian Military Academy”.
The induction ceremony of ‘322 Dega Flight’ was held in the presence of Vice Adm Ajendra Bahadur Singh, AVSM, VSM Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) with three indigenously built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) MK III helicopters flying into Naval Air Station, INS Dega on 07 Jun 21.
With the induction of these Maritime Reconnaissance and Coastal Security (MRCS) helicopters, the ENC got a major boost towards enhancing the capabilities of the force, in pursuit of the maritime interests of the nation. These helicopters, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, are state-of-the-art flying machines and constitute a major step in our quest for “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.
ALH MK III helicopters feature an array of systems previously seen only on heavier, multi-role helicopters of the Indian Navy. These helicopters are fitted with modern surveillance radar and electro-optical equipment, which enable them to undertake the role of maritime reconnaissance in addition to providing long-range Search and Rescue, both by day and night.
In addition to special operations capabilities, ALH MK III is also fitted with a heavy machine gun to undertake constabulary missions. A removable Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) is also fitted on ALH MK III helicopters to airlift critically ill patients. The helicopter also has a host of advanced avionics, making it truly an all-weather aircraft.
The flight is being led by Cdr SS Dash as the first flight commander who is an experienced ALH Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) with extensive operational experience.
OTA Gaya Passing Out Parade June 2021 will be live on the Official Indian Army YouTube Channel. Gentlemen cadets from SCO-46 and TES-43 courses will pass out from the academy. Officers Training Academy (OTA) Gaya is a premier Pre-Commission Training Academy (PCTA) of the Indian Army; established in the erstwhile location of Army Service Corps (ASC) Centre (North). Gaya Military Station, in the pre-independence days, had a historical distinction of being the Operation Centre of Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of British India Army who steered the initial operations of the Burma Campaign from here. He later became the penultimate Viceroy of India.
Watch the Indian Military Academy passing out parade trailer and it will surely give you goosebumps. Indian Military Academy Dehradun Passing out parade will be held on 12 June 2021. 425 GCs, including 341 Indians and 84 from friendly foreign countries, will graduate from the academy. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian Military Academy (IMA) Dehradun will allow only limited guests of each gentleman cadet (GC) to attend the upcoming passing out parade on June 12.
SSBs, having selection ratio of less than 10% for the candidates getting screened-in and between 20–40% in the screening process making it lesser than 4% selection rate for the candidates qualifying the exam and even lesser than 0.1 % for the candidates appearing in the exams, are one of the toughest interview to crack. Since it is a test of personality and intelligence, there is no syllabus and, feedback/reason of rejection is never disclosed to the candidates, because of which it isn’t strange to see aspirants attempting the SSBs more than 10 times! The SSB boards never stop bragging about how flawless their system is, and usually people on all the digital platforms are seen discussing about what they did wrong in every attempt but we rarely see people talking about the flaws in the selection system. In this article I’d discuss some major flaws in the selection system which make it brutally unfair for the serious defense aspirants-
1) Non-sensical screening system: After qualifying the entrances, the candidates are called to the SSB centers and out of them generally 20–50 people are selected for the second phase depending on the ‘accommodation capacity’ of the center, irrespective of the number of candidates reporting to the center or the caliber of the remaining candidates. And all this happens on basis of a group discussion on a story you made on a given picture. Whether a story you made was good or bad depends on the sensibilities of the assessor since there is no sensible scientific method to determine whether the story was good or bad. Less than 1 minute of time is provided to the candidates for individual narrations and there is little to no moderation during the GDs. Sometimes the entire group is washed out because the group (or most of the people who spoke) didn’t behave gentlemanly. The screening system generally carries strong biases against the repeaters and therefore they are treated differently throughout the process. Usually the ratio and number of repeaters getting screened-in is lower than that of freshers hence making it more difficult for repeaters even to get screened in. It isn’t unnatural to see a candidate recommended previously getting screened out or a candidate getting screened out getting recommended in the next attempt clearly indicating that the entire process is pointless, and it indicates nothing. With so much uncertainty in the screening process the candidates are either expected to have 2 reservations for their return journey or figure it out by themselves.
Takeaway- Screening is full of uncertainty and even more for repeaters. Having a good luck would be as favorable as having all the OLQs. Screening is just a way of dealing with management problems like accommodation, finance etc.
2) Lack of Uniformity and Standardization– Like the screening process, Phase-2 also works on personal sensibilities of the assessors. There is no uniformity in the process. Different candidates could experience different kind of treatment and behavior in the same board. Similarly, same person might have totally different type of experience in different boards. Some interviewers might ask you extremely difficult GK questions whereas some might grill you on all the life choices you made in past. Some GTs would help you throughout the tasks but won’t recommend anyone in the end and some would insult you all the time and still recommend many. Different psychologists might have different opinions about same candidate. With lack of transparency and no feedbacks given, it would be candidates job to figure out what has he been doing wrong since last 10 attempts and which OLQs does he need to work upon. Also, the results from SSB process are not reproduceable i.e. a candidate recommended once might not get recommended again and vice versa, which clearly indicates that the process wasn’t correct in the first place, and the markers used to assess the candidates are not standardized. In my experience, the system is generally more favorable to mediocres.
Takeaway: SSBs lack uniformity and different candidates could be tested on different benchmarks. Getting recommended once doesn’t guarantee that you’d be recommended every time.
3) Unscientific Psych Testing: Psychological testing is just a projection of the kind of media you have been consuming since past few weeks. Maybe this system was effective in 20th Century, but right now it’s just as credible as horoscope. WATs &TATs are outdated tests and SRTs are meaningless unless taken with a Polygraph. Moreover, psychology isn’t completely scientific as subjectivity to some extend is always involved yet this test has the biggest say in the candidates selection.
4) Improper management of resources– If the candidate getting recommended after multiple attempts was correctly judged in his first attempt, the amount of cost and resources spent on him could have been utilized for assessing other candidates. Recommending a candidate after 10th conference shouldn’t be glorified since the system has wasted 45+ days of that candidate and resources worth 9 other candidates.
5) SSBs are organization centric– SSBs unlike the corporate interview are completely board centric and have very less to no regards for the time and money of the candidates. Going through a 5-day process with no access to work emails and other communications might have been a normal thing before 2010 but it isn’t now. Generally, all the rules inside the centers are as per the convenience of the boards and the convenience of the candidates is rarely taken into consideration.
6) Interpretations from recent SSB Scams- The recently exposed scam in Kapurthala center has shown how the officers who themselves went through the ‘Perfect Selection System’ have gone corrupt. Furthermore, the candidates who got in after paying bribe could comfortably survive the curriculum of the Academies and were doing fairly well in their jobs as an officer. This clearly indicates that anyone who goes into academy and completes the training can become a good officer, thus clearly indicating that SSB wasn’t even required in the first place. SSB is just another hurdle added since the number of jobs available is much lesser that the number of candidates applying.
7) Not Acknowledging the problem- The problem much bigger than all the previous ones is that the boards never accept that there is any problem in there selection . All we can see them doing is bragging about how perfect their selection system is. Although ‘De Novo SSB’, a new system for conducting a 3-day SSB, was announced in 2018 isn’t even in the pilot phase.
Although no system can be totally perfect, but attempts should be made to refine and update the systems. This isn’t a rant against the selection process but just an attempt to bring these issues into notice which have been overlooked since a long time. In my opinion it’s high time that some modification should be introduced in the selection process which make the process fair for everyone.
The author of this article is Om Pandey, he has made 6 SSB attempts so far. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s only.
Inter Squadron Drill competition marked the culmination of competitions in the schedule of training of Under-Trainee Officers and Flight Cadets of Air Force Academy, Hyderabad. Academy Commandant, Air Marshal IP Vipin presented the Commandant’s Banner to Brar Squadron.
Indian Army has published the notification for women military police 2021 – 2022 course. Eligible women aspirants can apply for this entry online. Applications are invited from eligible female candidates for recruitment of 100 Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police) in Indian Army. Online registration is mandatory and will be open from 06 Jun 2021 to 20 Jul 2021. Admit Cards for the rally will be sent through registered e-mail. Candidates should reach the venue on given date and time as mentioned in the Admit Card. Recruitment rallies are planned to be conducted at Ambala, Lucknow, Jabalpur, Belgaum, Pune and Shillong. Candidates will be allotted venue based on their home districts. Final location and date of the recruitment rally will be given on the admit card. Venues listed above may undergo a change.
Candidates will be screened as per Qualitative Requirements mentioned below.
# Upper Age limit will be relaxable upto 30 yrs of age (as on date of joining training) in respect of widows of Defence personnel who have died in harness.
Candidates will be tested as stated below:
Medical Standards:
(a) Fitness. To be deemed Fit, a candidate must be in good physical and mental health and free from any disability likely to interfere with the efficient performance of military duty in all weather and across all terrains. The selected candidates will have to appear for medical examination during the recruitment rally as per laid down medical standards. Unfit candidates will be referred to MH / CH / BH for specialist review. Candidates referred for specialist review should present themselves to the nominated MH / CH / BH within 14 days of the referral and report back to ARO for issue of Admit Card for CEE, in case declared FIT. (b) Gender. Any candidate if found to have predominantly masculine characteristics evidenced on external physical examination, will be rejected as UNFIT. Any candidate having undergone gender reassignment surgery will be declared UNFIT . (c) Pregnancy. Any female candidate, if found to be pregnant shall be disqualified and her candidature rejected. A candidate should not have conceived at the time of reporting or till conclusion of training at CMP Centre and School. A Medical Certificate from a Government Medical Doctor (with minimum MBBS qualifications) stating the no pregnant status of a candidate will be produced on reporting for the recruitment rally, and a fresh certificate again, when reporting to the Training Centre, failing which the individual will be rejected summarily. (d) At the time of the recruiting medical examination, all candidates will invariably be required to render a certificate that they do not suffer primary/secondary amenorrhoea, or menorrhagia (this will be explained in a language, and in terms that they understand). Candidates with the above mentioned conditions will be declared medically UNFIT. (e) If 180 days or more lapse between screening medical test at the rally and till despatch, medical will be done again and unfit candidates in this review will not be recruited. (f) Candidates are advised in their own interest to undergo medical exam before coming for selection especially with respect to flat foot, poor vision, deformities and physical measurements. All are advised to ensure that their ears are free of wax by getting it cleaned by a doctor prior to the rally. (g) Detailed medical standards required, have been put up on www.joinindianarmy.nic.in website.
Written Test through Common Entrance Examination (CEE)
Will be conducted for medically fit candidates at nominated venue. Location, Date and time of written test will be intimated at rally site and through Admit Cards.
Admit card for the CEE for the Review Fit cases will be issued after declaring medically fit by concerned specialists at Military Hospital/Base Hospital/ Command Hospitals.
Negative marking would be applicable in CEE.
Result of written examination will be declared on the official website joinindianarmy.nic.in. No separate letter will be sent to the candidate. It is the responsibility of the candidate to check his result and report to ARO for documentation.
BONUS MARKS IN CEE
Merit Preparation: Rallies are being held at six different locations. Each location is catering to candidates from a group of States based on the geographic proximity of the States to the rally venue. A separate merit list and reserve list will be prepared for each rally location.
