Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan-Pak-India |
| Indo-US air exercises on despite Communist protests |
| 2005-11-04 |
| Joint air exercises between India and the United States will go ahead in West Bengal as scheduled despite the Communist parties planning a massive protest, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Friday after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The meeting was also attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The ruling Left Front of West Bengal has threatened to mobilise three million activists in statewide protests against the exercises in eastern India and has also threatened to lay siege at the Kalaikunda air base Monday. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Mukherjee said there would be no change in the military exercise. Both West Bengal Chief Minister Buddadheb Bhattacharya and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leadership had been informed of the proposed exercise. "Every political party has the right to demonstrate, but at the same time I have requested the state government to provide requisite security," Mukherjee said. The hurriedly convened meeting came within hours of an unscheduled Cabinet Committee on Security meeting late Thursday to discuss the situation arising out of Left parties' opposition to the exercise. The air forces of the two countries are scheduled to start joint exercises at the Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal from Nov 7, where F-16s would be arriving from the USAF35th Wing based in Misawa, Japan. In a statement issued Thursday by the CPI-M, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc, the Left Front said the deepening military collaboration did not augur well for India's strategic interests and independent foreign policy. |
| Posted by:john |
| #4 Several were diagnosed with colour blindness, defective vision, conjunctivitis squint and other conditions. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-11-04 16:03 |
| #3 Airforce authority busy with preparations of exercise in Kalaikunda Kalaikunda, West Bengal: Undeterred by CPI(M) demonstration in front of the air base here yesterday, the Air Force Authority remained busy with its normal schedule of holding joint exercise with American counterpart (COPE- 05) from November Seven. ''The 250 strong American Air Force contingent with one squadron of F-16 Fighter Aircraft have reached here yesterday led by Colonel Cobat Nelson from American Airbase in Miswa Air Base in Japan. The custom clearance of the US contingent have been completed,'' spokesmen of Air Force Authority said here this morning. Asked as to whether there is any plan to stop or reschedule the joint exercise in view of the CPI(M) agitation, which starts here from November Seven, the spokesmen said, ''As of now they have received no such message from the Central Government.'' Meanwhile Dipak Sarkar, District CPI(M) secretary made an on-the-spot study of the place of demonstration in front of Kalaikunda airbase this morning for deciding the strategy of holding the main demonstration on November Seven when the joint exercise starts. Later in a press conference, he said, ''At least one lakh party members and common people will demonstrate in front of Gate No.2 on the airbase in Kadua Village near here for three hours in the morning when the joint exercise starts.'' ''We love our country. We don’t want it to sell its independence to the US. The security of the country will be jeopardised because of this joint exercise. We also consider that the so-called independent foreign policy of the UPA government is nothing but a hoax,'' Mr Sarkar alleged. |
| Posted by: john 2005-11-04 09:41 |
| #2 Two hundred years ago the East Indian Company used Bengali troopers to subjugate India. Later, Bengali soldiers were used by the British to humble China in the Opium wars. Now, as testament to decades of communist misrule Bengal boys not fit to fight There was a time when officers from Bengal made the army proud. But today, the land that gave us youth icons like Col Suresh Biswas, Air Marshal Subrata Mukherjee, Gen Jayanta Nath Chaudhuri, Admiral A.K. Chatterjee and Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury doesn't have much representation in the armed forces. Blame it on the state's youth, who're just not fit enough to don the fatigues. An internal study by the defence ministry has found that in 2004-2005, only 17,596 of 76,102 applicants cleared the initial screening during recruitment to the Eastern Command. "Their failure has been attributed to lack of physical endurance, poor health conditions and unsatisfactory performance in the written tests," sources said. They added that such conditions were found across the country too but not to such an extent. "During medical examination, over 9,500 (54 per cent) applicants were declared unfit. They were suffering from several deficiencies. Around 33 per cent had skeletal abnormalities or conditions like flat feet and scoliosis. Ten per cent were declared unfit during ENT exams. Several were diagnosed with colour blindness, defective vision, conjunctivitis squint and other conditions. While some were found suffering from abdominal infections, others had Caries' teeth, malocclusion. Some had cardiac complications," sources said. Poor nutrition, unhygienic living conditions and poor personal hygiene were cited as the main reasons by the study. |
| Posted by: john 2005-11-04 09:31 |
| #1 The CPI-M should be thankful the exercises don't include a program of live fire strafing runs with the 20mm. |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-11-04 09:17 |