FORCES (Gaurav Negi)

My Dear Indians, On Holi we had talked about Vikram Samvat Panchang that started in 56 BC. This calendar is followed by Hindus across the world. There is one more calendar that is followed in India which is called शक संवत . This calendar started in the year 78 CE during the time of Shalivahana (शालिवाहन ) rulers. Today it is Gregorian Year 2022. As per शक संवत this is year 1944 Please note that शक संवत is a Solar Calendar unlike Vikram Samvat which is a Lunar calendar The calendar consists of 365 days and 12 months like the normal Gregorian calendar. 65 years back on this day- 22 March 1957- शक संवत पंचांग was adopted as The National calendar of India. शक संवत पंचांग is used along with Gregorian calendar for the official purposes like Gazette of India, News broadcast by All India Radio, Calendars issued by the Government of India, Government communications etc You might have noticed stone plates installed outside Govt buildings which read like...... "इस भवन का शिलान्यास २२ मार्च २

My Dear Indians, We will be celebrating Holi on 18 March 2022. Last year (2021) Holi was celebrated on 29 March. Tell me - Why is Holi celebrated on different dates every year ? Why does Holi not fall on the same date every year ? Holi is celebrated on the full moon day of the month of Falgun फाल्गुन of the Hindu Calendar- Vikram Samvat calendar विक्रम संवत पंचांग. This calendar does not match one-to-one with the calendar (January- December) that we follow in our daily live. There are two ways in which a Calendar Year is calculated. One is called a Solar Year. The other one is called a Lunar Year . Solar Year Time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun once is called one Solar Year. This time is 365 days January to December year that we normally follow is a Solar Year. This calendar is called "Gregorian Calendar". This is named after Pope Gregory. The predecessor of Gregorian Calendar was 'Julian Calendar' that was made by Julius Caesar of Rome. This calendar ha

Dear Young Indians, Today is the death anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar popularly remembered as Veer Savarkar He was born on 28 May 1883 He passed away on 26 February 1966 He was a freedom fighter who served jail terms under the British.   Veer Savarkar is best remembered for popularizing and making us realize the reality of Hindutva हिंदुत्व Veer Savarkar said that all Indians are Hindus because India is the land of Hindus. How does he define Hindus ? Hindus were the people who lived on the eastern side of River Sindhu सिंधु   River Sindhu सिंधु has a special significance for India. You must have heard/ read terms like सप्त सिंधु सभ्यता Hindus were the people who lived on the eastern side of River Sindhu सिंधु…… between River Sindhu, Himalayas and the Ocean. River Sindhu, Himalayas and the Ocean are natural boundaries. Later when new beliefs like Buddhism and Jainism took birth within India, some people started following these beliefs. They got "converted" to the new

  Gaurav Negi 25 Feb 2022 INDIA   "India Gate" was constructed in 1931 by the British in the memory of soldiers of British-Indian Army who died during World War -1   After Independence, this War Memorial of World war -1 was continued as the memorial of post-independence Indian soldiers.   Soldiers and families of martyrs made repeated requests to the Govt of India to construct a dedicated and better memorial for Indian soldiers but the Govts paid no heed.   Successive Govts kept putting up excuses….   Congress Party leader and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had opposed setting up of the long-awaited National War Memorial at the India Gate complex, saying ' it will affect the ambience of the area and restrict people’s movement at the popular hangout zone '   …This is disgusting, to say the least ! .   1947 - India became independent. Soldiers were martyred protecting Kashmir…. But War memorial was NOT made.   1950 - The first Param Vir Chakra was posthumously awarded t

My Dear Indians, Many of you would have watched the movies- 1)    The Ghazi Attack 2)    Raazi Haven't you ?   The US Navy had a submarine by the name USS Diablo. They had leased this submarine to Pakistan Navy. The Pakistan Navy renamed it as PNS Ghazi. Hindi film 'The Ghazi Attack' was a commercialized and modified version of what had actually happened. What was the real Ghazi incident? PNS Ghazi was a part of Pakistan Naval fleet in 1971. The war started on the evening of 3 December 1971 when Pakistan launched air attacks of Indian air bases of Ambala, Agra, Avantipur and Srinagar. Before starting the war, Pakistan had made plans to deploy PNS Ghazi against India. The Captain of PNS Ghazi was Commander Zafar Mohammed Khan. He was given the task of destroying and sinking INS Vikrant (Air-craft carrier of the Indian Navy). India had prior intelligence (information) that Pakistan was planning to launch an attack against INS Vikrant. This intelligence was passed on to India

My Dear Young Indians, Nights and early mornings are cold now. However, we have all stay inside our homes with warm clothes on so it does not really matter to us what the outside temperature is. The capital of Delhi is at a height of 250 metres. At a height of 5,500 metres is a place called Rezang La in Laddakh (On the India China border) Temperature at this place in November is minus 15 degrees…. Imagine what would happen to us…if you and I had to sit at Rezang La in the open snow without adequate winter clothes ! On 18 November 1962 (59 years back) a company of Indian soldiers of the 13 Kumaon Regiment were posted at this place to stop the invading Chinese forces. They had inadequate winter clothes and weapons of world war 2 era (Thanks to Prime Minister Nehru) This Company was commanded by Maj. Shaitan Singh. Shaheed Major Shaitan Singh was honoured with the Param Vir Chakra for battle that was fought by him and his men in the morning of 18 November 1962 at Rezang La  (Laddakh) agai

My Dear Young Indians, Today is the martyrdom of Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, Maha Vir Chakra He was martyred on 17 Nov 1962 fighting the Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh (then called NEFA). After Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat was dead, the Chinese cut-off his head and took it with them as a 'trophy.After the war was over, impressed by his bravery, the Chinese presented a brass bust of Jaswant Singh to India. Indian Army maintains a shrine/ memorial “Jaswantgarh” near Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh). Though Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat was martyred, he is believed to be still alive! Locals in Arunachal Pradesh believe that he walks around in the night and his spirit protects the area.The locals call him Baba. A room that is maintained for him by the Indian Army has a bed that is made up every night (prepared for Baba to sleep.) Patrolling shoes of Baba are also kept in the same room. The room remains closed during the night. In the morning when the room is opened, the bed sheet is found cru