Asked if he would indeed resign, Singh retorted: “Please leave it to my judgement on what I want to do. It concerns me and I may decide on my action after thinking over it whenever I get the time.” Soon, another question popped up: Is this your last Army Day press conference as army chief? General Singh’s enigmatic reply: “I don’t know.”
“What happened at that time, we have a report of that. It has been made available to authorities. I don’t think there was an inquiry carried out at that time. Because in all such encounters, it is left to the civil police to investigate,” Singh said when asked about the controversy involving Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, present Eastern Army Commander.
“The procurement game is a version of snakes and ladders where there is no ladder but only snakes, and if the snakes bite you somewhere, the whole thing comes back to zero,” Singh said.
In a clarification issued here after it was reported that Former Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh had favored correcting the birth records of the army chief in a letter to letter he wrote to Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony, the state Congress president said he had written the letter about a month ago putting forth his “opinion on the issue” only in his “personal capacity”.
The complaint’s 90-day mandatory period for a response ended a month ago, but Antony has maintained that he was not bound by the Army Act under which the statutory plea had been made by General Singh.
Lieutenant General Shri Krishna Singh, the Indian Army’s second senior-most officer, Tuesday took over as the new vice chief, heralding a generational change in the top brass. He is the first officer commissioned after India’s 1971 war with Pakistan to rise to the post.
India’s cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympian gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra Tuesday officially became honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the Territorial Army with the army chief, General Vijay Kumar Singh, pipping their ranks on their shoulders.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday warned that nuclear security and proliferation in India’s neighborhood remained “a serious threat” and called for the country’s policy-makers to factor in the deterioration in the international strategic and political environment while drawing up India’s future policies.
These plans are now being validated in combat exercises, including the one happening in the Rajasthan desert, according to the army chief, General Vijay Kumar Singh.
The prime minister will interact with the military top brass during the annual Combined Commanders Conference, which will also see an exchange of views on security and strategic affairs, keeping in view the scenario prevailing in the South Asian and Indian Ocean regions.
