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| Neeru Chhabra, president of Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), interacts with children during an art competition at Tezpur Army School, Solmara, on Thursday on the occasion of AWWA Day. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Army wives at welfare forefront
For a change, it was the wives’ day in the sun. Functions organised by the Army Wives’ Welfare Association of the Gajraj Corps to commemorate its foundation day on August 23 saw families turn out in large numbers at different locations in the Tezpur Cantonment.
A special family welfare meet had been held a few days earlier, on August 19, at all station units. Lots of games and competitions were organised with prizes sponsored by the AWWA.
Gajraj AWWA chairperson Neeru Chhabra interacted with Veer Naris, AWWA functionaries and all members on August 21. A magic show for children was organised at Gajraj Auditorium on the same day.
On August 23, the Gajraj AWWA president and other ladies visited Aasra — a home for destitute children brought from various orphanages and underprivileged border villages. Aasra is being run by the Gajraj AWWA.
AWWA members interacted with the students and gave them sweets and gifts.
Neeru Chhabra dedicated various facilities to the army families: Nari Shakti Bunkar Kendra at AWWA Vocational Training Centre at Belonia Marg, the Gajraj Pre-Nursery at AWWA Vocational Training Centre in Solmara and the revamped Roop Beauty Parlour at the same location.
A painting competition was conducted for children in two age categories. A rangoli competition for families of all units was held at Solmara. The comedy film Golmaal was screened for family members of defence personnel at Gajraj Auditorium that very day.
R.B. Srivastava recently took over the reins of the defence laboratory at Tezpur from Dubey, who retired after four decades as a defence scientist. A postgraduate in botany from Allahabad University, Srivastava completed his Ph.D in applied life sciences from Kumaon University. Proficient in a number of foreign languages, especially German, he has held several important positions during his career.
Srivastava has evolved the water quality standard for Indian coastal waters, predictive modelling performance and behaviour of marine clean and polluted harbour waters and aerospace materials under different climatic service and operational conditions.
He has significantly contributed to the light combat aircraft (LCA) programme through his work on bio-susceptibility evaluation and performance assessment of LCA fuel tank material.
His role in the armed forces sector has been planning, co-ordinating and conducting defence material and store preservations and revolutionary packaging at Naval stores and military depots across the country.
Srivastava has also received the DRDO laboratory awards in 1999 and 2000 for his research on bio-corrosion assessment method and bio-susceptibility evaluation of rocket launcher systems for the Indian navy.
He has more than 80 research papers in national and international journals to his credit.
Often under attack for violation of human rights, the army has planned a seminar on the topic in a bid to increase awareness about rights among its personnel. And it could not have come at a better time.
Tezpur-based Gajraj Corps will conduct the seminar on August 30, covering topics ranging from the genesis of human rights to its dynamics in the socio-politico-military situation prevailing in the region. The discussion will also focus on the commitment that the Indian army has towards upholding human rights, with specific reference to our country.
Guest speakers from the army headquarters at Delhi will throw light on the legal aspects of human rights. They will also discuss the importance of keeping the media informed and identifying its role as one of the strongest pillars of democracy.
Human rights is an age-old concept though the phrase has been adopted only in recent times. Though talked about the world over, human rights has its roots in India, too. With such a legacy of values, it should not be difficult for the Indian soldier to be committed to upholding the dignity of human life. However, with the sprouting of organisations fighting for the need to protect human rights, it is but natural that there is a constant endeavour to learn, educate and progress in this particular field for our army.
Trained to fight conventional wars, the army now has to set its sights on the people, the most fundamental difference being that there are no discernible battle lines - the enemy is faceless and may enjoy local support and sympathy, if government agencies do not undertake a people-friendly approach.
And when the army is operating in such a scenario, one of the biggest challenges is to ensure that it does not encroach on the rights of civilians. As defence spokesperson Lt Col Narendra Singh said, the Indian army has the “best human rights record in the world” and it is the duty of every soldier to ensure that it stays that way.
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| Children of Army School, Tezpur, present a group song during the inter-house song competition |
An inter-house group song competition was held at the Army School, Tezpur, on August 8. All the students of the school participated in the competition, held at Vividha Hall.
The event started with presentations by the junior classes.
Students of classes I, II and III presented group songs.
The group songs performed by each class were co-ordinated beautifully by their respective teachers.
The group song competition started with Brahmaputra House, followed by Kameng House, Lohit House and Siang House.
A panel of three guests — Ranjana Borah, Purnima Sharma and Rajyalaxmi Rao — judged the competition.
The event ended with the recitation of a rhyme by students of junior classes.
The event was organised to instil a sense of patriotism among children.
Anecdotes and experiences of cantonment life can be sent to : canttbuzz@abpmail.com for publication in this column
