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2. The President welcomed all Ladies and Gentlemen at the AGM . He said that the AGM was normally held before the end of the year, but owing to some unavoidable reasons this time it had got delayed. One of the main reasons was the non availability of the CNS as he had agreed, as a departure from the normal practice, to attend and we had to find a mutually convenient date. He and the senior hierarchy will be present at the dinner today.
3. At the outset , he informed that some of our colleagues including, Cdr DK Bhadur, Vice Adm N Bhalla, Captain OP Sharma , Surg Vice Adm CS Gill , Cdr NS Kabarwal , Vice Adm N Bhalla , Mrs Jyoti Arora w/o Cdr Arora, Lt Cdr Saurabh Tewari son of Commodore Vijay K Tewari, Commander Sripad Gore at Pune, ViceAdm(Retd) Subimal Mookerjee at Pune, Commodore PR Chowdry in USA, Surg Rear Adm PN Anand , Rear Adm PN Gour and Cmde Inder Singh and Capt McGready have left us. He requested all to please rise and observe a minutes silence in memory of these friends who passed away during the last year or so and in memory of any others who may have been missed out.
4. The President said that before he proceeds further and presents the Annual Report, he would like to remind that the Delhi Charter was founded in 1988 and therefore we are now in the 20th year and celebrating our anniversary today. He extended his greetings and congratulations to all the members on the occasion and wished that the NFDC will grow from strength to strength. For this occasion, we had arranged a special dinner and we will also be issuing a Souvenir that will be released by the CNS in the course of the Dinner. We have also designed and brought out a Sticker for the Navy Veterans and this will be issued along with an up-to-date Telephone Directory.
5. The President then reviewed the events and activities that took place since the last AGM held on 25 Oct 2006.
(a) New Members:- 26 members were added last year plus 37 from Jan 08 to Feb 08 in the Delhi Charter, thus making the total of 692.. He said that in our estimate there were over 2000 retired naval officers residing in and around Delhi. While it had been our endeavor to make all of them members of the Delhi Charter, he urged support of all in making it possible to the maximum extent. We had also discussed this issue with the Navy at the highest level, and were awaiting a communication that all invitations to the Navy Day functions, Golf etc will only go to members of the Navy Foundation, to make the Charters more attractive. In fact most of the invitations to the Navy Day and the Golf were in consultation the Navy Foundation.
(b) Fund Raising for the Delhi Charter:- As all were aware that a Fund Raising campaign for the Delhi Charter was undertaken from late 2006, we had received over 10 Lac as donations. It was for the first time, since the inception of the Charter that a drive of this nature was taken up. The proceeds have been invested in FDs with Banks and we now hold appox. Rs 25 Lacs as deposits. Interest from such investments will be used to organize additional activities as per our Charter and we need to identify other non social avenues.
Both, during the AGM of the NF last year at Kochi and this year at Chennai and at other opportunities the President NFDC, had stressed the need for the Navy to share some of the Canteen profits with the retired community, which contributes the bulk of the profits at the disposal of NHQ. He was glad to report that we have made some progress and the CNS has given a cheque for Rs 1 Lakh to the Delhi Charter and varying amounts to other Charters on per capita basis. This payment was likely to become an annual feature and whilst being thankful to the Navy, we needed to continue to press for additional funds. Incidentally, we have also received Naval contributions from Non Public Funds of Rs 50,000 for the conduct o the RD Katari Memorial Lecture. The Delhi Charter has therefore not used its financial resources for such events.
6. General Activities:- Like the previous years, the activities followed a similar pattern and he mentioned some of the more important ones:-
(a)An Inter-active Session:- was arranged with the Managing Director of ECHS Central Org on 25 Mar 2007 at Kota House for our members to get the latest update on ECHS on various policy matters, as also to facilitate our members to resolve their queries.
(b) Luncheon get-togethers:- were organized once in three months for the members and our experience is that these events are very popular and welcomed by the community
(c)Admiral RD Katari Memorial Lecture:- Two such lectures were held, one on 18 Dec 2006, delivered by Lt Gen SK Sinha and the second on 07 Dec 2007, delivered by Shri NN Vohra. It was rather sad, that the attendance by the retired community for Shri Vohras Lecture was under 25 and was adversely commented by the CNS and others. Just to reiterate, the Katari Memorial Lecture is a function organized by the Navy Foundation and it was not fair if our own members did not show any interest. . He mentioned that it is rather difficult to get good non defence speakers at short notice of a couple of months. He said that he
had received OKs from Mr Shashi Tharoor and Mr Narayan Murthy of Infosys but it had a lead time of 8 to 9 months.
(d)Annual Golf Match with the Serving Officers:- One was held in Mar 2007 and the other as early as yesterday. Its indeed a popular event for the golfers and non golfers. He admitted that a large number of our members wanted to participate in the match, but owing to naval constraints, it was not possible to accommodate all. He sincerely hoped that those missed out will take it graciously. He also mentioned that it will only be fair to give priority to those of us who regularly participate in all facets of our activities.
7.Other Activities:- We also tried to broad base our activities and bring in other aspects and roles that are integral to the Charter of the Navy Foundation. We had a decent response but from a limited number of us and we would request other members to also come forward and participate, both to encourage us and the outside agencies. We do hope to get these speakers during the current year. He drew attention to a few of these.
(a) Members of Parliament Consultative Committee on Defense:- Members of Parliament Consultative Committee on Defense had a meeting with Ex-servicemen on 22 Jan 2007. Six members of the Navy Foundation Delhi Charter attended this meeting. A report was forwarded to all our members in our News Letter.
(b) NFDC Meeting with Dr Percevial:- Dr Bronson Percival former Prof of the US Naval War College and currently assigned to the US Centre for Naval Analysis had an interactive session with members on 11 Feb 2007 at Kota House. Col Rindon the US Defence and Army Attach and Capt William Hall the US Asst Naval Attach also participated. The discussions were on Indias Maritime Domain awareness and Anti piracy strategy in the Indian Ocean. The occasion was followed by Lunch hosted by us.
(c) NFDC Meeting with Mr Peter Lavoy:- and the Center for Contemporary Conflict on a visit to India, and Cocktails hosted by the US Defense and Army Attach, Col Frank Rindone on 26 April 2007.
(d) A reception cum discussion was hosted by US Defence and Army Attach at his residence for 20 veterans on 10 Feb 2007.
8. Self Help:- The President personally believed that, particularly in a resurgent India if we do not look after our common interests, no one will. He was equally convinced that NHQ have limited time, inclination, understanding of the problem or the will to take up and forcefully champion our causes with the MOD or elsewhere. Besides they have little choice when MOD signs off and their hands were tied behind their back. He felt that we needed a forceful, revitalized, committed standing organization to take up our causes through all available fora, including but not limited to courts, press, mail, MOD, PILs and RTI etc on an as required basis. It is an uphill task for an individual to fight such cases single handed. It was with this in view that we took up the issue of the Indian Maritime University Bill - 2007 with the Standing Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Mr Sitaram Yechury, its Chairman. We also for the first time, became litigants before the Supreme Court, along with the Retired Defense Officers Forum in the case on pay fixation of officers post 4th Pay Commission.There were several similar cases before various courts, MOD and elsewhere that need institutional support and some of them were:
(a) Pay Fixation of Officers:- As mentioned earlier and the case pertains to an anomaly in IV Pay Commission. A number of cases on this issue had been filed by individual retirees in various Courts in the country. On a request from MOD, the Supreme Court had directed that all such cases be transferred to the Supreme Court to be heard and as mentioned earlier NFDC is a litigant.
(b) ECHS Membership Contribution:- The Supreme Court, on a petition by pre 1996 retirees has ruled that they should not be charged for health care under ECHS. A cursory glance at the judgment will make it clear that pre 1996 retirees are not paying because they are litigants and post 1996 are required to pay as they did not fight their case. MOD is still dragging its feet on the payment and NHQ had not been able to move the MOD.NFDC is also a co-litigant in contempt petition before the Supreme court
(c)Challenging the Non Grant of additional two years purchase value:- in commutation of pension to officers of the Armed Forces who retired on or after 01 Apr 85.
(d) There were several such cases before courts that he was not enumerating for want of time and he was aware that many of you on email, are fully aware of them as they had been making the rounds for some time.
9. AGM of Navy Foundation ( all Charters):- The AGM of the Navy Foundation with all Charters present was held on 21 Jan 2008 at Chennai and which he attended. One of the important issues exercising NHQ was the need for institutional support for the sailors who continue to be orphaned by the serving and retired officers community and have to fend for them selves. He recalled that this issue had come up at the last AGM of the NF and the NFDC and the CNS had desired our views.You will also recall that I had sought views of a number of Veterans but was disappointed with the response which was essentially tempered by the experience of the Noida community and who preferred to throw the baby with the bath water. It was no bodys case to bring the sailors in the social ambit of the officers community. He strongly felt that we needed to help the sailors and that we were the only organization that can provide them succor and we need to find ways to help them. NHQ will be formalizing their views on this subject .
10. The President then requested that the Points on the Agenda be taken up
11. ITEM No I:- Confirmation of the Minutes of the last AGM held on 25 Oct 2006
The Minutes were unanimously passed. The same were proposed by Vadm SP Govil and seconded by VAdm AC Bhatia
ITEM No II:- Presentation of the Balance Sheet and Statement of Accounts for Financial Year ending 31 Mar 2007. There being no points thereof, they were proposed to be passed by Vadm Bhatia and seconded by Cdr Bhagwan Malkani.
12.ITEM No III:- Election of the President, Secretary and the Treasurer. There was a unanimous demand from the House that VAdm Harinder Singh continues as the President for another term. Vice Adm Harinder Singh showed reluctance but gave in to the popular demand of the House. This was proposed by VAdm SP Govil and seconded by VAdm S Chand. Similarly, was the case for the election of the Secretary and the Treasurer. as proposed by VAdm SP Govil. Therefore, Cmde VK Thakur and Cdr SS Ahuja were re-elected as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
13.Points Raised By the Members. :- The following points raised by members were discussed.
a) Invitations to retired naval officers for Navy Day Reception:-Cmde H Sawhney and Cmde RR Tandon enquired as to the criteria followed by NFDC in recommending names to NHQ for the Navy Day Reception since many retired officers who had been regularly invited had been dropped from the list in the past year. VAdm Harinder Singh explained that during the lasttwo years, the Navy had asked the NFDC to recommend 75 names from the NFDC from amongst the Cmdes and below .and no weightage was given to any rank orseniority. The CNS had also desired that all members be given a chance equally and repetitions avoided. This was done fairly by the NFDC except for inclusion of the Committee members. Weight-age was given to members who regularly participated in the Charters activities. In addition to this list, some names were included by the NHQ at their descretion. All retired Flag officers were invited in any case, were invited by NHQ as per past practice.. The President also informed that all Charters had proposed to the CNS at the recent AGM that invitations to all official functions of the Navy should be to members of the Navy Foundation Charters only to encourage retirees taking up Foundation membership. The decision is awaited.
(b)Admiral RD Katari Lecture. Cmde H Sawhney suggested that the topic and the Speaker for the RK Katari Lecture should be more carefully selected and if these were not attractive the attendance would obviously be low as was the case at the last Lecture held in Dec 08. VAdm Govil said that this was purely a Navy Foundation function and it should be entirely conducted by the NFDC. Adm Harinder Singh explained that the CNS had personally invited Shri Vohra for the last lecture and also selected the topic. However, in future the NFDC would be more pro-active.
(c)Single Forum For Retired Naval Officers and For Ex-servicemen:-Cdr PN Parashar suggested that the Navy Foundation, the Navy Leagueand other fora should merge so that the Forum has a broad base and is stronger to project the issues of the retired personnel.. He further suggested that there should be a single Forum for the ex-servicemen across the country to represent the VETERANS. Today there were many associations/Groups etc which did not have a strong voice. To these suggestions Adm Harinder Singh responded to say that the merger of the NF and the Navy League had been discussed many a times and historically it did not find favour but as far as the Navy was concerned there was only one NHQ recognised forum representing the community. Secondly, regarding a single Forum for the retired, there are many proposals to have a unified approach to resolve the issues of the Veterans. The RDOF is planning to have a seminar in Mar/Apr to bringing all the Veterans under one umbrella. The NFDC will keep the members informed.
(d)Cases Pertaining to anomalies in Pay/ Pension of Defence Officers. Cmde VS Laroya brought out that there were many such cases pending in various Courts and requested for an update. The President assured that an authentic update will be provided in the next few days through our News Letter.
14.AGM Declared Closed. There being no other points The President thanked all members for their participation, co-operation and understanding in matters relating to the NFDC. He said it was gratifying to note the enthusiastic attendce at the AGM and we regret that some members and their spouses could not be accomodated for want of space , our sincere apologies to such members. The AGM was declared closed.
VK Thakur Commodore (Retd)Hony Secretary,NFDC ,14 Feb 2008
MEMBERS FORUM
( Use it to exchange experiences , an anecdote or plain humour. It is also available to you to send out a general message to look for a Shipmate, Coursemate, or erstwhile Colleague; or to simply update each other )
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NAVY NEWS & OTHER REPORTS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST
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Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme(ECHS)
Revised Application Form - Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme(ECHS)
ATTENTION:ECHS MEMBERS
++DOs++
>> Do carry your ECHS Registration slip and identification documents.
>> Do carry your referral form and ECHS Registration slip to the Empanelled facility.
>> Do try to choose a Service/Empanelled hospital in an Emergency - you will not have to pay.
>> Do inform your Polyclinic within 48 hrs when admitted directly to Empanelled or non-Empanelled hospital, in an Emergency.
>> Do allow some time to the Polyclinic to procure super-speciality drugs prescribed for you, if not readily available.
++DON'Ts++
>> Do not go to Empanelled hospital without referral from ECHS Polyclinic, except in Emergency.
>> Do not pay bills in Empanelled hospitals - ECHS will clear your bills.
>> Do not insist on particular brand name of drug from Polyclinic - you may be issued different brand but with same pharmacological composition. Trust your doctor.
Members are informed that that DESA / NHQ will now be the "nodal point" to attend to all queries on the subject.
*Regional Centre - *Army PCsDA/CsDA- *Ten Digit Code
*Jammu - *PCDA(NC),Jammu- *4014000005
*New Delhi/Chandimandir-*PCDA(WC),Chandigarh-*4013000002
*Jaipur/Pune- *PCDA(SC),Pune- *4011000002
*Lucknow- *PCDA(CC),Lucknow - *4018000009
*Kolkata/Patna- *CDA,Patna- *4015000006
*Jabalpur- *CDA,Jabalpur- *4055095002
*Hyderabad- *CDA,Secunderabad- *4055090007
*Chennai/Kochi- *CDA,Chennai- *4016000007
ECHS
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VIKRANT MARITIME MUSEUM PROJECT
Indian Navy has floated a Trust to accept donations for the Vikrant Maritime Museum Project. The Trust -IMS Vikrant Fund Trust - has been registered with the Charity Commissioner of Greater Mumbai. Donations for the Project are exempt from Income Tax up to 50% under Section 80-G.
To go on a pictorial tour of the ship courtesy rediff.com , click here
Vikrant - a Floating Museum
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Kursura Museum
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MARITIME MUSEUM COMPLEX AT FORT KOCHI
The second section of the Maritime Museum Complex at Fort Kochi is housed in two well fortified magazines used during World War-II for storage of ammunition. It is located along the boundary wall of INS Dronacharya on the Beach Road which is about one km south of the St Francis Church at Fort Kochi. While the first section dwells in the maritime heritage of India dating back to the Indus Valley civilisation, the second section unfolds the evolution of the Indian Navy from it's origin in 1612 AD when Indian Marine was established at Surat to protect trade in the East Indies. The expedition and exploits of the Navy have been chronologically depicted. The fact that India was a great maritime power between the 3rd century BC to 12th century AD is evident from the far- reaching influence of the Indian culture upto the shores of Java, Sumatra and Bali. A sound-and-light show arranged in the museum highlights the naval actions over the years, its contribution in uniting the country post-independence, the Junagarh operations, the Goa Liberation and Indo-Pak conflicts of 1965 and 1971. Operations Cactus and Pawan and the strategic manoeuvres during Kargil have also been described in the section 'Navy in Action'.
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Our Archives
These contain links to interesting and useful sites of the past
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Other Places to go:
Home Page of the Indian Navy
Home Page of the Indian Coast Guard
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Sainik Samachar
Looking for Shipmates
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Directory of Official Websites of Govt. of India
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Official Website of Indian Armed Forces & Inter Services Institutions
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