14/01/2016
REVISION OF RATES TO SWEEPER/ WATER CARRIERS/GARDENERS ETC. FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2015-16
The Officer Who Negotiated Pakistan’s Surrender In 1971, Lt Gen JFR Jacob passes away
Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka following the 1971 war, passed away today. Jacob, who was 92, breathed his last this morning after prolonged illness, army sources said.
Jack Farj Rafael Jacob was from a family of Baghdadi Jews and was born in Kolkata in 1923. In an interview to the Times of Israel,
he had said that he joined the army to fight Nazis and said that the
only place he ever encountered anti-Semitism was in the British Army,
never in the Indian Army.
Born in the Bengal
Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19
and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.
While recounting to Rediff how
the India-Pakistan surrender was arranged, Lt Gen Jacob had spoken of
how he landed in Dhaka to negotiatate with his counterpart Lieutenant
General Ameer Abdullah Khan Niazi for a surrender. He also spoke of how
the Indian Army had proceeded directly towards Dhaka instead of taking
the other cities.
He pointed out that when he
initially sought a surrender, it was turned down by the other Pakistani
officers there and he also realised there were way more enemy troops
than he thought.
And I was thinking, suppose he doesn't surrender, what do I do? He has 30,000 troops, we have 3,000, he can fight for three weeks at least!
Despite
his worry about what would happen if his counterpart didn't accept,
Jacob went back to meet with the general and convinced him to surrender.
But once the surrender was accepted the Pakistan general and he had a discussion about how it would be done:
I will surrender in my office, Niazi said.
I said no, I have already given instructions that you will surrender at the racecourse, in front of the people of Dhaka.
"I won't," he said.
"You will," I said. "You will also provide a guard of honour."
He also ensured that the enemy general wasn't killed:
Near the airport, I saw a few of our troops trickling in. I saw two para boys in a jeep and I took them with me. When I got to the airport, Tiger Siddiqi turned up with a truckload of Mukti Bahini. I don't know why, but I felt he wanted to shoot Niazi.Post retirement, he also served as the Governor of Goa and Punjab.
If Niazi was killed at the airport, there would be no surrender.
I told the two para boys to shield Niazi, walked up to Siddiqi -- I told the two para boys to point their rifles at him -- and ordered him off the airfield.
Then Aurora and his entourage, including his wife, landed. I was supposed to travel with Niazi and Aurora, but I was told to make way for Mrs Aurora. She was more important. Since everyone else had gone, and this was the last car, I hitched a ride in a truck.
After the signing, the crowd was wanting to lynch Niazi. We had very few troops there. So we had put a cordon around Niazi, put him in an army jeep which whisked him away.
In
the interview with the Israeli paper, Jacob was asked whether he had
ever considered immigrating to Israel given his Jewish descent. Here's
what he said:
"I am very proud to be a Jew, but am Indian through and through. I was born in India and served here my whole life; this is where I want die.”
Govt sets up panel to study 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.
Government today decided to set up a high-powered panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations
of the 7th Pay Commission which will have bearing on the remuneration
of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.
The Cabinet has approved the setting up of Empowered
Committee of Secretaries to process the recommendations of 7th Pay
Commission in an overall perspective, Parliamentary affairs Minister M
Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.
The
implementation of the new pay scales is estimated to put an additional
burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore on the exchequer in 2016-17. Subject to
acceptance by the government, they will take effect from January 1,
2016.
The
Empowered Committee of Secretaries will function as a Screening
Committee to process the recommendations with regard to all relevant
factors of the Commission in an expeditious detailed and holistic fashion, an official statement said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier that he was not worried about fiscal deficit and government would be able to meet its target despite additional outgo on account of higher pay.
He
had admitted however that the impact of implementing the
recommendations, which will result in an additional annual burden of Rs
1.02 lakh crore on exchequer, would last for two to three years.
SOURCE - indian express
Govt
sets up panel to study 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations - See more
at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-sets-up-panel-to-study-7th-pay-commissions-recommendations/#sthash.eDmeXJne.dpuf
Govt
sets up panel to study 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations - See more
at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-sets-up-panel-to-study-7th-pay-commissions-recommendations/#sthash.eDmeXJne.dpuf