Hi-tech Navy plans to have only BTech officers

April 23, 2012
HI_TECH

New Delhi, April 23: Slowly but surely emerging as a powerful three-dimensional "blue-water'' force to protect India's geo-strategic interests stretching from Hormuz Strait to Malacca Strait, the Navy is now also focusing on creating high-tech "sea warriors''.

The force, in fact, is steaming ahead with plans to ensure all its new officers have BTech degrees because of the unprecedented expansion in warship technology. "The advanced platforms we are inducting, with their state-of-art weapons and other systems, will require all officers to have cutting-edge technical knowledge,'' said Navy's assistant chief of personnel (HRD) Rear Admiral P Ajit Kumar.

"We already have a large number of MTechs, including in areas like nuclear technology. Moreover, we are also looking to send eight officers abroad every year for MTechs in niche areas. Our training pattern is in line with where the First World navies are headed,'' he added.

Navy's ongoing warship, submarine and maritime aircraft acquisition programmes as well as proposed projects in the pipeline will together cost well over Rs 3,00,000 crore over the next 15 years, as was first reported by TOI earlier.

With the "maritime capability perspective plan for 2012-2027'' pegging the number of major warships required at about 150, there are already 44 warships and six submarines on order. Moreover, contracts for another 45 warships, including six new submarines and seven stealth frigates, are in the pipeline.

All this will require a strong sea-warrior cadre. "The government has given us lot of manpower sanctions. We have to step up inductions as well as ensure quality manpower comes in,'' said Rear Admiral Kumar.

In tune with this, the first direct-entry batch of 70 BTech officers will pass out of the Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala (Kerala) in June 2013. Plans are also afoot to get the existing BSc degree curriculum converted to a BTech one for naval cadets at the tri-Service National Defence Academy (NDA) in Kadakwasla (Pune).

"Naval cadets, who come to INA for their 7th and 8th semesters after passing out from NDA, get MSc (Tech) degrees as of now. But they will also get BTech degrees in the near future,'' he added.

Concurrently, INA is also set for a major expansion at a cost of around Rs 340 crore. From an existing annual capacity of 750 trainees, INA will begin training 1,200 cadets from 2015 onwards. Similarly, the "annual training load'' at INS Chilka will be enhanced to well over 4,500 sailors.

Overall, Navy plans to take the strength of its officer cadre from the existing 8,200 to over 11,000. Similarly, the number of sailors will be enhanced from the current 48,000 to over 60,000 by 2015 or so.

To cater for this, the Navy is also upgrading its selection infrastructure. There are plans for a new selection center at Vizag, with three SSBs (services selection boards), to add to the ones at Bhopal, Bangalore and Coimbatore. There will also be an additional SSB at Diamond Harbour at Kolkata by mid-2013.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Kanpur, Jan 18: Kanpur has witnessed an Unnao-like incident as the out on bail accused in rape case attack the family members of the victim. The mother of the victim, who later died in the hospital, was brutally attacked by the accused. The accused reportedly attacked the victim's mother and her aunt on January 8.

The actual rape case goes back to 2018 when a group of men abducted a minor girl from her own society. The accused had reportedly raped her and also beaten up her mother.

A video of mother being beaten up reportedly went viral soon after.

The mother of the victim had reportedly filed a complaint against one of the accused for abducting and molesting her daughter two years ago at a tannery falling under jurisdiction of Chakeri police station. The main accused along with five others was booked under section 354 of the IPC (sexual assault of children) and sent to jail. Around two weeks ago, the accused got bail and on January 9 they attacked the deceased and her sister.

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Agencies
June 14,2020

New Delhi, Jun 14: Petrol price on Sunday was hiked by a record 62 paise per litre and that of diesel by 64 paise as oil companies for the eighth day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with cost since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.78 per litre from Rs 75.16 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 74.03 a litre from Rs 73.39, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The 62 paise a litre increase in petrol and 64 paise hike in diesel price is the highest surge in rates since the daily price revision was started in June 2017.

This is the eighth daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In eight hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 4.52 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.64 -- a record increase in rates in any eight days since the daily price revision was introduced.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of international oil prices falling to two-decade lows.

The government had first raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each on March 14 and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL had frozen petrol and diesel prices since March 16, as if anticipating the government move and set off gains they accrued from continuing drop in international oil prices against the excise duty hike.

They, however, promptly passed the increase in local sales tax or VAT by state governments such as Rs 1.67 increase in VAT on petrol and Rs 7.10 in diesel by the Delhi government on May 4.

The total incidence of excise duty on petrol has risen to Rs 32.98 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 31.83. The excise tax on petrol was Rs 9.48 per litre when the Narendra Modi government took office in 2014 and that on diesel was Rs 3.56 a litre.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.

In all, duty on petrol rate was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government's excise mop up more than double to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

It cut excise duty by Rs 2 in October 2017 and by Rs 1.50 a year later. But it raised excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in July 2019.

It again raised excise duty on March 14 by Rs 3 per litre.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

Allahabad, Mar 1: Shabista Khan, wife of suspended pediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan, fears that her husband's life is in danger.

In a letter written to the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court and senior government authorities, Shabista has sought security for her husband who is lodged in Mathura jail for allegedly delivering provocative speech during anti-CAA protest at Aligarh Muslim University.

"My husband is being mentally tortured in jail and is being subjected to inhuman behaviour," Shabista wrote in her letter to the chief justice of Allahabad High Court, additional chief secretary (home) and director general (jail), among others.

She said that she apprehended that an attempt could be made on her husband's life in jail and demanded adequate security for him.

She also demanded that her husband should be kept away from active criminals and lodged with common prisoners.

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