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
March 31,2020

Hyderabad, Mar 31: Six people from Telangana who attended a religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin died due to the novel coronavirus, the state government said on Monday.

"Coronavirus has spread among some of those who attended a religious prayer meeting from March 13 to 15 at Markaz in Nizamuddin area in Delhi," according to an official release. "Among those who attended were some persons from Telangana."

Two of the six died at the Gandhi Hospital, one each in two private hospitals, and one each in Nizamabad and Gadwal towns, the statement said, without mentioning the time of their deaths.

The special teams under the collectors have identified the persons who came in contact with the deceased and they are shifted to the hospitals, it said.

Police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West in south Delhi on Monday and over 200 people have been kept in isolation in hospitals after several people who took part in a religious congregation there showed symptoms of coronavirus.

The Telagana government asked those who participated in the prayers to inform the authorities. It will conduct tests and offer treatment to them free of cost, according to the release.

The government also requested the people to alert if they come to know about those who participated in the prayers.

Earlier a separate government release said a person died of COVID-19 in Telangana, taking the toll to two and the total number touched 77 after six fresh cases were reported on Monday.

As many as 13 patients who underwent treatment for the virus were discharged on Monday, a media bulletin on COVID-19 issued by the state government said.

A techie, the first COVID-19 case in Telangana, has been discharged recently. The state now has 61 active cases, the bulletin said.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had on Sunday said barring a 76-year-old person, who had other ailments, the other patients were doing well.

Rao had said 25,937 people were under surveillance and being watched by 5,746 teams and they would be out of watch after completing their mandated 14-day quarantine period. He had said all those who are under observation would be out of vigil by April 7 if there are no fresh suspected cases.

"From March 30, their time is nearing completion. After that, they do not need to be under any surveillance. By April 7, we will have a situation of zero... We pray God that we should not get new cases,"

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News Network
January 19,2020

New Delhi, Jan 19: Reacting to a tweet by ace lawyer Indira Jaising urging her to forgive the four men on death row for brutally raping that finally took her life, Nirbhaya's mother said on Saturday: "Even if God asks me, I won't forgive them."

Speaking to news agency, over the phone, the mother who had been fighting for seven long years to send her daughter's killers to the gallows, said, "...even if god comes and asks me to forgive them, I will not. People like these (Jaising) are a blot on the society."

Commenting on Jaising's tweet, she said: "Who is she to tell or suggest to me to forgive them. What relation does she have with me. I have nothing to do with such people. She can be a relative of those (the convicts) that she is having a soft corner for."

"She is an insult to women. She is running a business in the name of human rights. She is a veteran, she should give a message to the society. But she instead will go against her own kind," she added.

Earlier in the day, Jaising had requested Nirbhaya's mother to follow the example of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had moved for the clemency of a woman, Nalini Murugan convicted for the assassination of her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"While I fully identify with the pain of Nirbhaya's mother I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she didn't want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against death penalty," Jaising tweeted on Friday.

A Delhi Court on Friday issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts -- Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and Vinay in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Satish Kumar Arora fixed 1 February as the date of execution of the four death row convicts. They will be hanged at 6am.

The move came after the prosecution moved an application seeking issuance of fresh death warrants following the rejection of the mercy plea of one of the convicts Mukesh by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The 23-year-old victim was brutally gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which later led to her death.

All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.

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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) has alleged that the varsity administration has blocked the registration of 300 students on the basis of 'fake Proctor inquiries'.

The union had on Saturday asked students of the university to pay their academic tuition fee but not the hiked hostel fee.

"Today the Vice Chancellor first blocked the fee payment portal and then blocked the payment of tuition fees. It is clear that the VC was lying through the teeth when he said students want to register but are not being allowed to by protesters," JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said.

She said the VC has also blocked the registration of 300 students based on fake proctor enquiries which are not even completed.

"The truth is that it is the administration which does not want students to register and is blocking their registration," she said.

JNUSU vice president Saket Moon said that in the meetings held in HRD ministry, it was decided that the administration would take a lenient view on the students' protest and not take action against them.

He said many students, who opened the portal for registration found they had been academically suspended and could not register.

He said the JNUSU had softened its stand by saying that they would register by paying the old fees but that has been kept on hold.

On Sunday, the administration extended the date for the winter semester registration till January 15.

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