1,634
NUMBERSGAME
soldiers have died in Siachen INDIAN ARMY
For the first time, the government has accepted that the number of Indian soldiers who have laid down their lives in the Siachen sector, ever since the Indian Army made its first foray in the region, had reached 846 soldiers. “A total number of 846 Armed forces personnel have made supreme sacrifices on the Siachen glaciers since 1984”, said the release. This includes deaths due to the The government has put cargo terminals of eight sensitive and big airports like Delhi and Mumbai under the security cover of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in wake of inputs received stating that the cargo terminals of big airports could be targeted by terrorists and due to increase in theft of passenger cargo. Cargo terminals were hitherto under the security of Airport Authority of India (AAI). The CISF will also be deployed to guard Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi and Ahmedabad airport cargo termi-
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mar and to hold strategical positions located in the country. The Indian Army and the Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) started a joint patrol last year. Conducted in close coordination, the patrolling is spread out along the border: from the northern-most point in Arunachal Pradesh to the southern edge bordering Tripura. The armies of both nations have had substantive relations since the early 1990s, largely due to geographical contiguity and the precarious security situation in India’s Northern-Eastern states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur that border Myanmar. India also has an arms-equipment supply-based relationship with the Myanmar armed forces while the Myanmar Navy is often invited for the Indian Naval exercise ‘Milan’.
extreme climate and terrain conditions, which causes more casualties in that sector than battle does. Hypoxia, high altitude pulmonary edema (or ‘altitude sickness’ in mountaineering lexicon), avalanches and crevasses have also taken a heavy toll of Indian lives. New Delhi has decided not to differ differentiate between those who died in combat and those who died in an avalanche.
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cargo terminals under CISF
`52,264 crore for Internal Security
The Central spending to counter internal security challenges is set to cross the `50,000 crore-mark over the next one year, twice of what was being spent so far. Ministry of Finance gave a 19 per cent hike of `43,700 crore for the internal security establishment which will reach `52,264 crore for the next fiscal year, though most of it will be utilised to pay salaries to the central security personnel fighting Terrorists and Maoists in J&K and North eastern states. H. C. TIWARI
846
MOD
Supplementing its ‘Look East’ policy, India has joined hands with Myanmar to conduct joint patrolling along the 1,634 kms border area between the two countries—a move that has raised eyebrows in Beijing. India and China have for long competed for access to natural resources like gas in Myan-
HEMANT RAWAT
kms joint border patrols
nals. The move has come at a time when there is a tussle between Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over control of airport security. While the MCA wants its own force, Aviation Security Force, to replace CISF, MHA has remained non-committal preferring the current arrangement.
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April 2013