Archives for December 2021

New Delhi:The Mi17V5 helicopter, which crashed with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat and 13 other people onboard on Wednesday, is an advanced military transport chopper that has been with the Indian Air Force (IAF) since 2012.

Manufactured by Russian Helicopters’ subsidiary Kazan, the helicopter has an onboard weather radar and is equipped with the latest generation of night vision devices.

However, IAF’s Mi17V5 chopper has been involved in quite a few incidents during the last decade.

One of these choppers with the IAF crash-landed in eastern Arunachal Pradesh on November 8. However, the two pilots and three crew members suffered just minor injuries.

Six people on board IAF’s Mi17V5 helicopter escaped unhurt on April 3, 2018, after it crashed near the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.

On October 7, 2017, a Mi17V5 helicopter crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh while it was heading for the China border, killing all seven armed forces personnel onboard.

On June 15, 2013, one of these helicopters crashed while returning from Kedarnath on a rescue mission during the Uttarakhand floods. A total of eight people, including five crew members, were killed in this accident.

Nine IAF personnel were killed around 10 km from Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat on August 30, 2012, when two of these choppers crashed into each other.

Twelve defence personnel were killed on November 19, 2010, when a Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

This helicopter has the new PKV-8 autopilot system and a KNEI-8 avionics suite. It can carry a maximum take off weight of 13,000 kg and maximum payload weight of 4,000 kg.

India had in 2008 signed a deal with Russia to induct 80 Mi17V5 medium lift helicopters for strengthening its chopper fleet for humanitarian and disaster relief missions and transport operations.

The contract was later expanded for delivery of 151 Mi17V5 helicopters. The first batch of these helicopters came to India in September 2011.

In February 2012, the IAF had formally inducted Mi17V5 helicopters from Russia to enhance its operational capabilities including carrying troops and cargo to high altitude areas.

The helicopter is fitted with a self-defence system against heat seeker missiles, heavily-armoured cockpit, vital systems and components.

“The Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopter is designed to carry personnel, cargo and equipment inside the cargo cabin or on an external sling, drop tactical air assault forces and reconnaissance and sabotage groups, destroy ground targets and carry the wounded,” said Russian government’s defence exports company Rosoboronexport.

According to the company, this helicopter can achieve a maximum speed of 250 km per hour.

The helicopter is fitted with advanced TV3-117VM engines.

It is the most technically advanced helicopter of Mi-8/17 family of helicopters, and incorporates the best engineering solutions from previous generations of helicopters.

New Delhi: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday said that a consensus has been reached over a revised draft proposal of the Centre on their pending demands and it will now meet on Thursday to decide the future course of the movement, even as its leaders demanded a formal communication on government letterhead.

Farmer leader and SKM core committee member Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that the earlier draft from the central government on pending demands was not acceptable to them following which a fresh proposal was received from the Centre on Wednesday.

“We are in agreement with the government regarding our demands. We will decide about suspending the agitation after the meeting tomorrow. No decision has been taken yet on calling off agitation. Another meeting of SKM will be to be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 12 noon,” Chaduni said at a press conference after a meeting of the SKM core committee.

The SKM, which is spearheading the farmers’ movement, said in a statement that a consensus has been achieved on the central government’s draft regarding farmers’ demands.

“Consensus has reached on government’s fresh proposal. Now, a formal communication signed on the government’s letterhead is awaited. SKM will meet again tomorrow at twelve noon, at Singhu Border, to take a formal decision thereafter to lift the morchas, the SKM said in a statement.

The SKM has also formed a five-member panel for a dialogue with the Centre regarding pending demands of farmers including legal guarantee on MSP, withdrawal of cases against farmers registered during the movement and compensation to kins of farmers died during the agitation.

Another farmer leader and SKM’s five-member committee member, Yudhvir Singh said, The ball is now in the government’s court and a final decision will be taken tomorrow (Thursday).

On Tuesday, the SKM had demanded clarification on certain points in the government’s proposal, including on the precondition set for the withdrawal of “fake” cases against farmers.

On November 29, a bill was passed in Parliament to repeal the three contentious farm laws, one of the main demands of the protesting farmers.

But the stalemate continues with the protesters demanding that the government fulfil their other demands that included a legal guarantee on MSP and withdrawal of cases against farmers.

New Delhi: Paying rich tributes to Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that he was an outstanding soldier and a true patriot who greatly contributed to modernising India’s armed forces and security apparatus.

Gen Rawat’s passing away has saddened him deeply, the prime minister said.

In his condolence message, Modi said he was deeply anguished by the helicopter crash in which Rawat, his wife and other personnel of the armed forces died.

They served India with utmost diligence, Modi said, adding that his thoughts are with the bereaved families.

“Gen Bipin Rawat was an outstanding soldier. A true patriot, he greatly contributed to modernising our armed forces and security apparatus.

“His insights and perspectives on strategic matters were exceptional. His passing away has saddened me deeply. Om Shanti.

“As India’s first CDS, Gen Rawat worked on diverse aspects relating to our armed forces including defence reforms. He brought with him a rich experience of serving in the Army. India will never forget his exceptional service,” the prime minister tweeted.

Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 other people on board an Indian Air Force helicopter died in a crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said.

MUMBAI: A farmer from Solapur in Maharashtra managed to earn a meagre Rs 13 after selling 1,123 kilograms of onions, despite winter tending to spike prices of the kitchen staple, leading to a state farm leader declaring such a situation was unacceptable, while a commission agent claimed the low price was due to the consignment’s poor quality.

This meant he earned just Rs 13 from the sale.

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader and former Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, who tweeted the sale receipt of Kavade, said, “What should one do with this meagre Rs 13? This is unacceptable. The farmer supplied 24 bags of onion from his farm to commission agent’s shop.  And he earned only Rs 13 from it.”

“How will he repay the production cost, which includes preparation of soil for cultivation, procurement of onion seed, fertiliser and harvesting charges? If onion prices had skyrocketed, the Union government would have imported the produce from other countries on war footing.

However, now that the prices have crashed, government will ignore the farmer’s plight,” Shetti alleged.

Kavade earned enough to pay the transportation cost of Rs 1,512 to the service provider or else would have ended up paying this amount from his own pocket, Shetti further said.

Commissioner agent Rudresh Patil, who procured the onions from Kavade, said.

“I did buy onions at such a low rate, but it is mainly because of the poor quality of the produce. The onion was wet and damaged due to unseasonal rains in last few days, which is why it attracted such a low rate.”

Patil said good quality onions are fetching robust prices in the market due, and termed Kavade’s case as “unfortunate and exceptional”.

Kavade could not be contacted for comments.

KOLKATA: Two weeks to go to the civic poll in Kolkata, the BJP’s municipal election committee is hardly seen active while the Trinamool Congress is campaigning in full swing.

The BJP is scheduled to release its poll manifesto on December 8, but most of the committee members are in dark about the content of the promises that the party is going to make before the electorate of the state capital.

Discontent over the manifesto has surfaced within the party.

“A campaign committee headed by Dinesh Trivedi, who defected from the TMC before the Assembly polls, was formed for preparing the content of the manifesto. Trivedi did not discuss the content with anyone in the committee. He prepared on his own and sent it to central observer Amit Malvya. If one person decided what would be the manifesto, why the committee was formed?” asked a member.

Sources in the saffron camp said grassroots-level workers of the party are sitting idle when only two weeks are left for the election.

“This section of footsoldiers plays a crucial role in door-to-door campaign. Election committee’s main work is engaging these footsoldiers but the committee is not seen playing active role when the TMC is holding meetings almost every day,” said a senior BJP leader.

A member of the election committee said the leadership didn’t seek explanation from those who had skipped the first meeting on November 28.

“This shows the party’s approach towards the upcoming poll. We see no sign of our leadership’s come-back effort after the poor performance in the Assembly elections,” he pointed out.

Koppal (Karnataka): A team of veterinarians at Koppal on Friday surgically extracted over 25 kg of plastic items from the stomach of a cow.

According to the reports, the cow was not eating its regular food and was not producing milk for over 15 days. Upon preliminary check-up, the veterinary doctors suspected the cow to have consumed plastic waste.

A team of veterinarians comprising of Koppal Polyclinic’s Assistant Director Dr. Ashok Gonasagi, Chief Officer Dr. Chandrashekhar G, and Dr. Yamanappa carried out the surgical process and extracted 25 kg of plastic from the cow’s stomach.

Dr. Ashok then urged people to reduce the usage of plastic items and suggested against throwing plastic waste out in the open to save animals.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has moved Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order granting default bail to lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who was arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case in August 2018 under the provisions of UAPA.

The high court on December 1 had said in its order that Bharadwaj, accused of being part of a conspiracy to overthrow the Union government, was entitled to bail and its denial would be in breach of her fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The high court had directed that Bharadwaj, lodged in the Byculla women’s prison, be produced before the Mumbai special NIA court on December 8, and conditions of her bail and date of release be decided.

Bharadwaj is the first among 16 activists and academicians arrested in the case to have been granted default bail.

Poet-activist Varavara Rao is currently out on medical bail.

Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died in a private hospital here on July 5 this year while waiting for medical bail.

The others are all in custody as undertrials.

The high court had rejected the default bail plea filed by eight other co-accused in the case – Sudhir Dhawale, Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city’s outskirts.

The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The probe in the case was later transferred to the NIA.