Lt Col Robert T.A. and Sapper Sapala Shanmukha Rao of the Indian Army lost their lives in an avalanche in the mountainous Lugnak La region of north Sikkim, officials said. The two personnel were part of an 18-member group which came under the avalanche, they said. “A patrolling-cum-snow clearance party came under an avalanche in North Sikkim on 14 May,” a senior Army official said. “In spite of the best efforts of the rescue team and local formation an officer Lt Col Robert TA and sapper Sapala Shanmukha Rao who were trapped under the ice lost their lives,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert T A joined the Indian Army in June 2000 and after 4 years of training was commissioned as Lieutenant in June 2004. He was the eldest son of Thoiba Angelus from Maram Centre. He studied at the College of Military Engineering, Pune and earned his B-Tech Civil Engineering degree from JNU Delhi. The officer along with his team members competed in the prestigious Army Adventure Challenge Cup 2008 and emerged as Winner. For this act, he was awarded the Vice-Chief of the Army Staff Commendation.
In a significant move, the Indian Army is considering a proposal under which personnel from paramilitary forces would be allowed to serve in the force for a short duration. “The Indian Army is considering a proposal called ‘Inverse Induction Model’ under which there may be an opportunity for personnel from central paramilitary forces to serve in the Army for a short duration,” Indian Army sources told ANI.
The sources said the Army Headquarters is also mulling terms of engagement to be attractive to individuals from the paramilitary forces as well as the force. A number of proposals are being considered by the Army Headquarters for improving its pool of human resources.
The Army is also considering a proposal to give a three-year tour of duty to common citizens in the service who want to work for a brief period for the force in places where they can be of great use to the service. This would also help the force to attract the best of talent from across the country and help it in a big way.
Sources told ANI that the top brass in the Army is also reviewing the Short Service Commission to make it more attractive for the youth. Initially, the Short Service Commission was started with five years minimum service but later it was extended to 10 years.
An Army jawan infected with coronavirus was on Tuesday found hanging from a tree at the premises of a hospital here where he was being treated, police said. The 31-year-old jawan was suffering from lung cancer. He was being treated at the military-run Base Hospital here. His sample was taken for COVID-19 test and the results came as positive, they said.
The jawan, a native of Maharashtra, was posted at Itarana Cantt in Alwar district of Rajasthan, police said. The police said they received information about the incident at around 4 am at Naraina Police Station. On visiting the spot, the jawan was found hanging with a nylon rope from a tree behind the COVID-19 ward of the hospital, Deepak Purohit, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) said.
No suicide note was found at the spot, he said. He was suffering from lung cancer and was under treatment at the Base Hospital since May 5. He also tested positive for coronavirus, the official said. The jawan was last seen at around 1 am on Tuesday when he went to the washroom situated behind the COVID-19 ward, he added.
The body has been shifted to the mortuary of the hospital, police said. Family members of the deceased living in Alwar have been informed about the incident, they said, adding postmortem will be conducted in the presence of his family.
Hello, all defence aspirants! My name is Harmanjot Singh from Bathinda, Punjab. I recently got recommended from 17 SSB, Bangalore for IMA(DE)-149 course in my 8th attempt. It was since childhood that I had an inclination towards the defence forces. The first thing that inspired me to join the forces was a daily soap “SAARA AAKASH”. My journey started in august,2014 when I reported for NDA-133 at 21 SSB, Bhopal. Not confident enough and with bookish knowledge got conferenced out.2nd attempt was again for NDA-135 at 1 AFSB, Dehradun again trying to be an ideal fit for the forces I got conferenced out. In this attempt, I failed in CPSS and was declared unfit for flying. I decided to go for the army now but was out of attempts for NDA so took admission in an engineering college. Again my journey took pace with IMA-146 cleared the written, reported at 17 SSB Bangalore and got screened out. For the next 3 attempts ( 2 tech entries and IMA 147) got screened out and for IMA 148 I got conference out from Kapurthala. I was heartbroken but decided to give it one more shot.
Got the call letter for IMA-149. Reported at 17 SSB, Bangalore on 8th Feb, 2020. A total of 55 candidates reported. Saw a lot of old faces from my last SSB batch of Kapurthala. Done with the form filling and documentation I was allotted chest no. 48. As I had a lot of friends there so we are all having fun and cracking jokes.
Screening- OIR was easy, was able to attempt all the questions and even recheck my answers. OIR is very important in your screening, kindly don’t take it lightly. Next was the PP&DT, it was a clear picture of some people sitting and discussing something. As I had organised several events during my graduation so instantly that came to my mind and I made up a story on organising a farewell party. The narration was never a problem for me and it went very smooth. For the discussion, our group was divided into two halves. It was a complete fish market situation but I made sure that I contributed 3-4 times in the discussion. Be alert, whenever you get a chance put out point constructively and withdraw.
Results were announced and 26 got screened in. I was allotted chest no. 22.
Psychological Tests – A night before all others were studying and making there SD’s and blank story but I was all chilled out as I had already made up my mind that I’ll be very spontaneous this time.
TAT wrote all the stories related to my day to day activities. I didn’t introduce any problem in any of the stories. Most of my stories were related to trips, organising events, my job (IELTS trainer), helping my sister in her studies etc. In the blank story, I observed the slide for a complete 30 seconds and a story came to my mind which I wrote. Tip- In TAT, observe the picture for 30 seconds carefully, note even the minute details and mention it in the story and try to express your feelings freely.
In WAT, I attempted all the 60 WAT and gave instant and natural responses without beautifying them. Most of the responses were related to my life and the things I used to do. Tip- just write the first thought that comes into your mind without giving a second thought.
In SRT, I was able to do only 33. Again just be natural and write in the response what you’ll actually do in that situation. I took time, imagined myself in the situation and wrote detailed responses. There was a situation where during a hockey match the opponent team members start hitting your team members, i wrote that I will also start hitting them with a hockey stick and also ask my team members to hit them. This is what I would have actually done.
For SD, I just wrote the truth about everything. Either it’s being emotional, short-tempered or my parents thinking of me as very lazy and overusing mobile phone.TIP- just write the truth and trust me it will automatically match with the responses of other 3 tests.
Interview-The NCO will inform you about the
timings of your interview. Dress smart,beconfident with a smile on your face
and be stress free because you are what you are,you cannot change your personality
while sitting in the waiting room.So just chill and answer all the questions
honestly with confidence and a smile.I used a lot of hand gestures in my
interview and behaved naturally(I was sweating so i even asked the president to
switch on the AC 😛 ).When he asked about how i have prepared this time i said
that i did nothing and i am showing my natural personality.All the other
questions were related to my education,my friends,my job,the activities i have
done and also the SD i wrote.. My interview went very smooth and i was able to
answer all the questions.And yes,do have a backup plan,do not say that you will
continue coming back for ssb and not do anything in your life except that.
Tip- Be confident,be natural,be honest and don’t
try to pretend anything that you are not.
GTO-You will get divided into groups for
gto tasks. I got a great group(5 got recommended from a group of 9). Gto 1
started with the GD’S and the GPE. Just be patient,natural and try to contribute
and give constructive points in the GD’s.In GPE try to complete the written
part and give detailed plan(i was not able to complete it).In the discussion
part again try to take the group ahead,if people are agruing on same point,finalize
it and take the group ahead.After the nominated candidate gave the group story
the GTO asked if anybody wants to change anything so i raised my hand and gave
my point.There is no harm in doing this(unless you are not a person who point
out things which you think are wrong).
Then came the PGT,our group was very
supportive.I was mostly standing on the start line and gave only 3-4 ideas but
coorporated with the group.If one guy gets the idea just go with it,do not try
to impose your idea or do not try to find out flaws in his idea afterall you
have to cross the obstacle as a team.Be a sport.Same goes for the HGT and FGT,was
able to give ideas where my team got struck.
In the snake race,again be a team
member,show your three J’s (Josh,Jazba and Junoon) but also keep in mind the
color rule and do not break it.Just enjoy this task.
For the lecturatte,does not matter which
topic you choose(my friend spoke on his favorite sport and he got recommended) ,try
to give good points,organize your thoughts,make a structure,try to include
current affairs if you can.
Next comes the command task.The gto takes a
mini interview here,again just be natural and confident.I was given a very easy
command task,just had to insert the Phatta and cross the obstacle but i wasted
a lot of time in the end over a silly thing.I was just giving instructions to
my subordinates,i did not pick up the phatta myself.Brief the subordinates in
detail and also thank them after the task.
In the IO,i was able to do only 8.Try to
find out a sequence in the obstacles which would score you maximum marks while
covering minimum distance.Does not matter where you start(i started with the barrel
jump) but i was able to make a very good sequence.
Conference- Be calm,you have already done
everything and you cannot change it.For most of the candidates the decision is
already made(except the borderliners).I was made to wait for about 15 minutes outside
the room where i was singing songs. After 15 minutes the bell rang,i took a deep
breathe and went inside with a huge smile.
VP- What were you doing outside Harman?
Me- I was singing sir.
VP- How often do you do that?
Me- Whenever I am free Either i am singing
or dancing or listening to music (All of them started laughing)
VP- Life maze mein chal rahi hai phir toh
Me- yes sir (:p)
Then he gave me a situation where i had to
prepare a team for a dance competition and i did not have enough members and the
time was decreasing.He was rejecting all my answers and inducing stress but i
was smiling and giving other responses.
VP- Harman nobody is left in your company who
could dance. Your boss is coming again and again and asking you about it. Only
two days are left.
Me- (I laughed before giving the answer)
sir i will ask my boss to dance with me (:p)
Everybody burst into laughter
In there it went for another 15-20 minutes.
At last he asked me to rate my performance
out of 10 which I rated 8.5 giving exact reasons.Analyse your 5 days performance
beforehand and know where you did not do well.
After sometime the results were announced,7
out of 26 got recommended ,all hardcore repeaters. When my chest no. was called
out for a moment everything went blank and i remebered all of my previous
attempts. Standing there all of us were having tears in our eyes.
Finally, I have it in me and I am going to be the first army officer in my family.
On 08 May 20, one MiG-29 aircraft airborne on a training mission from an Air Force base near Jalandhar met with an accident. The aircraft had developed a technical snag and the pilot ejected safely as he was unable to control the aircraft. The pilot has been rescued by a helicopter. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident.
In a major success for India, security forces have eliminated Hizbul Mujahideen’s top leader and Jammu and Kashmir commander Riyaz Naikoo. He was active in the Valley for almost eight years. Top officials involved in the operation claim that after eliminating Naikoo, south Kashmir is almost free from terrorism. Naikoo was eliminated in the hours-long operation carried out by Indian Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Beighpora area in Pulwama. At least two more terrorists were also killed by security forces in the encounter in Sharshali Khrew area of Awantipora.
The operation started late night on Tuesday after the forces got a tip-off about Naikoo hiding in the area. The security forces kept a larger base of “target” so that he couldn’t escape. When the operation was about to end, Jammu and Kashmir Police asked all forces to stop convoy movements with immediate effect. The police said that all vehicles should be restricted across the Valley, adding that the movement of isolated vehicles should be avoided.
Cops also advised that the movement of Army and CRPF vehicles should not be allowed in the interiors, inter-district and intra-district. Naikoo had 12 lakh rupees bounty on his head and was in the hit list of security forces. He was the brain behind major terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and was a high-value target for Indian forces after he took charge of Hizbul Mujahideen.
“Contact established in the third operation at Beighpor in Awantipur. Top terrorist commander is trapped. Exchange of fire on. Details shall follow,” Jammu and Kashmir Police had tweeted when operations were going on. According to sources, Riyaz Naikoo was also involved in killings of jawans and planned attack on security forces and was the successor of Zakir Musa, who was eliminated by security forces in May last year.
“He planned massive activities in Kashmir during Ramzan so that he can raise more terrorists from local villages. In a conversation, which was recorded by security forces, a terrorist had said that Naikoo will be doing some operations directly, which became first tip-off of his location,” a senior intelligence officer told ANI.
Naikoo, a teacher by profession during his old days, was also famous for doing things on the ground as well as off ground. According to a senior police officer of the Union Territory, Naikoo also planned anti-India campaigns after abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. “He used youths in spreading lies on social media to disturb law and order situation in the valley,” the source said.
Naikoo also started a campaign to promote terrorists killed in operations. He tried to make commander Zakir Musa famous in South Kashmir and started gun salutes to terrorists killed by security forces. Forces are claiming that after his death, Hizbul has no face or leader left in Jammu and Kashmir and it is unlikely to get a commander due to fraction after a new terror outfit, called The Resistance Front (TRF), was launched by Pakistan.
Jammu and Kashmir: One terrorist neutralised in Handwara, after terrorists attack CRPF patrol party near Qaziabad area. 3 CRPF personnel have lost their lives, 7 injured in a terrorist attack in Handwara(J&K), sources CRPF officials. More detailed awaited.
On 2 May 2020, Indian Army lost 5 brave soldiers including Col Ashutosh Sharma, SM(BAR), CO of 21 RR, Major Anuj Sood, Lance Naik Dinesh Singh, Naik Rajesh Kumar and JnK police Sub Inspector Shakeel Qazi. All brave men sacrificed their lives while saving local civilians who were trapped inside a house in Handwara. Major Anuj Sood was a brave young officer who followed his commander until his last breath and led from the front. Here are some inspiring facts about Major Anju Sood that will motivate generations to come.
1. Major Anuj Sood was a second-generation officer and always motivated to join the armed forces. He joined the NDA Alpha Sqn 120 course and got commissioned in Brigade Of The Guards from Indian Military Academy IMA 130 course. He was the alumni of PPS Nabha and was selected to join IIT but preferred to join NDA. He topped all classes in PPS Nabha. He was the NDA torch holder for all the six terms which is a unique distinction. Being an infantryman he has a done his M.Tech from IISc Bangalore and topped with distinction.
2. Major Anuj was an excellent student, EX-NDA(120/A), meritorious officer, JC did 2 years ago. Did extremely well in courses. He also got Best student award in one of the courses. He also did ADC tenure in Dehradoon.
3. “He has made a supreme sacrifice. It was part of his duty&what he was trained for. I feel sad for his wife as he got posted 3-4 months after marriage. He was meant to save lives: “Rtd Brig Chandrakant Sood, father of late Major Anuj Sood, who lost his life in an encounter in Handwara.
4. The 30-year-old wrote this in a recent social media post to describe the “life of a soldier”.”When you are older, you will realise the only thing that matters… that you had courage and honour. Lose those things and you won’t die any quicker, but you will be less than the dirt on your boots. you will still be dust, but you will have wasted your short time in the light #lifeofasoldier”.
5. Col Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj knew each other since IMA days! When on battalion trip to J&K in 2011, Col Ashutosh (then Major) was the officer in charge to brief the whole trip, from then only they had kind of bond between them, fortunately, Major Anuj was commissioned into the same battalion from which Col Ashutosh belongs! An excellent student, EX-NDA(120/A), meritorious officer, JC done 2 years ago, is no more with us. Finally, both left this world in the highest tradition of army together!
Indian army young officer Major Anuj Sood sacrificed his life in the Handwara operation on 02 May 2020. Major Anuj Sood led the operation along with his CO Col Ashutosh Sharma and bravely fought the terrorists to save the civilians trapped inside a house. Highly reliable official sources told that after an initial fierce firefight, there was a lull following which five security men—a Colonel namely Ashutosh Sharma, a Major namely Anuj Sood and two soldiers of 21 Rashtriya Rifles besides a Sub Inspector namely Mohammad Sagier Qazi of J-K Police’s Special Operation Group —moved close to a cowshed near the house where the terrorists had taken refuge after escaping from nearby Rajwara forests on Friday afternoon. However, there was a standoff between them and terrorists amid inclement weather. The five army men lost contact with colleagues on ‘tour of duty’.
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Major Anuj Sood was a second-generation officer and always motivated to join the armed forces. He joined the NDA Alpha Sqn 120 course and got commissioned in Brigade Of The Guards from Indian Military Academy IMA 130 course. He was the alumni of PPS Nabha and was selected to join IIT but preferred to join NDA. He topped all classes in PPS Nabha. He was the NDA torch holder for all the six terms which is a unique distinction. Being an infantryman he has a done his M.Tech from IISc Bangalore and topped with distinction.
Major Anuj was an excellent student, EX-NDA(120/A), meritorious officer, JC did 2 years ago. Did extremely well in courses. He also got Best student award in one of the courses. He also did ADC tenure in Dehradoon.
“He has made a supreme sacrifice. It was part of his duty&what he was trained for. I feel sad for his wife as he got posted 3-4 months after marriage. He was meant to save lives: “Rtd Brig Chandrakant Sood, father of late Major Anuj Sood, who lost his life in an encounter in Handwara.
The 30-year-old wrote this in a recent social media post to describe the “life of a soldier”.”When you are older, you will realise the only thing that matters… that you had courage and honour. Lose those things and you won’t die any quicker, but you will be less than the dirt on your boots. you will still be dust, but you will have wasted your short time in the light #lifeofasoldier”.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/B_t59m_ANXh/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_te96QglDY/
5. Col Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj knew each other since IMA days! When on battalion trip to J&K in 2011, Col Ashutosh (then Major) was the officer in charge to brief the whole trip, from then only they had kind of bond between them, fortunately, Major Anuj was commissioned into the same battalion from which Col Ashutosh belongs! An excellent student, EX-NDA(120/A), meritorious officer, JC done 2 years ago, is no more with us. Finally, both left this world in the highest tradition of army together!
The name of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles Commanding Officer, who lost his life in the Handwara operation, is Colonel Ashutosh Sharma. He had been part of several successful counter-terrorist operations in the past: Indian Army officials. The Commanding Officer who led from the front and made the supreme sacrifice, Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, was decorated with Sena Medal (Gallantry) twice. He made supreme sacrifice. Army Spokesperson on Handwara Operation in Jammu & Kashmir — Based on the intelligence input that terrorists were taking the civilian inmates of a house in Changimulla, Handwara of Kupwara district hostage, a joint operation was launched by Army and JK Police. Army Spokesperson — During the process, team was subjected to a heavy volume of fire by terrorists. In the ensuing firefight, 2 terrorists were eliminated&team of 5 Army& JK personnel comprising of 2 Army officers,2 Army soldiers& 1JK Police Sub Inspector attained martyrdom. Major Anuj Sood also lost his life in this operation.
