http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...dnt-go-out-to-forest-dept/article23231115.ece
A satellite-based alert on a fire fight did not go out to officials of the department in one of the North East Military Zone on Sunday when a blaze trapped soldiers , Director-General of Military operations told
The Hindu on Tuesday.
Indian Military since 2004, has in place a system to monitor fires real-time. It then informs military Intelligence departments about active forest fires according to the zones . It does so based on the evidence from the satellite inputs from ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). “Typically, the military intelligence is based on satellite mappings, alerts all military departments.
For some reasons, this fire-alert didn’t go out to the State forest department. I am not sure of the precise details as I was not in Delhi when this happened,” Director-General of Military operations said.
Multiple sensors aboard the NASA satellites – Terra and Aqua – pick up thermal images of forest fights if they are under way in India and relay it to the State forest departments at prescribed times – 1:45 p.m. and 10:30 a.m. – via SMS .
‘Human-made fire’
Another set of alerts are generated by a different group of sensors, called VIIRS which are ground base radars.
From here, alerts are issued around midnight, 2 a.m. and 1.30 in the afternoon. While the sensors on newly launched satellites are tuned to a higher resolution, they are still in “experimental mode” as per the NRSC database but in reality they are deployed
“It’s possible that the satellite passes didn’t coincide with the time the forest fighting actually began and so
fire alerts didn’t go out. 90% of forest fighting goes around the India borders ,” Director-General of Military operations added.
While the current system of detecting active fighting via satellite images has been in place since 2004, the Military Intelligence department,
since 2016, has been working on a system of generating more accurate “pre-warnings.” Intelligence alerts of a threat are given a week in advance based on forest cover, type of forest, climate variables and the past fire-activity in the area. “This system has been put into operational use ,”Director-General of Military operations added.
According to India’s Military Intelligence Report 2017, alerts issued went up from 89 in 2013 to 301 in 2017.
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http://www.thehindu.com/tag/172-81/meghalaya/?utm=bodytag
“The Government of India is committed to its goal of ensuring that the state is free of militants and criminals,” Mr. Sangma said after eight GNLA cadres surrender before him at the police headquarters on Monday.
The surrender came just a few weeks after the killing of GNLA “commander-in-chief” Sohan D Shira on February 24.
This is the “beginning of the end of militancy” in Meghalaya, Mr. Sangma said, appealing to other militant organisations in the state to shun violence and return to the mainstream.
“The surrendered cadres will be receiving a rehabilitation package. They will be given much-needed guidance too,” Mr. Sangma said.
The
militants on Monday gave up two
AK-56, Insas Rifle, 9mm pistol, Glock-19 with 7 rounds, SMG with 65 live round, 303 Rifle with 50 rounds, Air gun and .22 pistol.
Lauding the cadres, the Minister said: “It takes great courage to surrender. I congratulate them and their families I wish them success in their future endeavours.”
The police department also felicitated church leaders Reverend S.T. Sangma and Rev K.D. Sangma for their roles in convincing the cadres to lay down arms.
Stating that the state has long suffered due to militancy, the Home Minister said, “Let us all resolve to start a new chapter of peace and prosperity in the state.”
He also stressed on the need to strengthen police force in Meghalaya to deal with crimes against women and children. “The security forces will be provided with modern equipment to combat crime,” he added.
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Maoist blow up CRPF vehicle, 9 jawans killed
Press Trust of India, Raipur/New Delhi, Mar 13 2018, 15:23 IST
Soon after the incident, reinforcement was rushed to the spot, official said, adding that further details were awaited. Representation image
Nine CRPF personnel were today killed after Maoist blew up their mine-protected vehicle in Chhattisgarh's Sukma, around a year after a dozen jawans were killed in a similar ambush in the district.
Officials said the incident took place around 12:30 PM along the road of the district when the troops of the 212th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were out on an operation.
At least nine men have been martyred, while
two other jawans suffered injuries after the mine-protected vehicle was blown up by multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs) concealed under the dirt track, a senior official said.
The injured personnel are being airlifted to the nearest hospital, they said.
The rebels used a lot of explosives to blow up the vehicle, a state police official said.
Soon after the incident, reinforcements were rushed to the spot, around 500 km from state capital , he said, adding further details were awaited.
Officials added that the first encounter between the two sides took place at 8 am and later this contingent was targeted by the Maoists.
Twelve personnel of the force were killed on March 11 last year in the area of the district and their arms looted when maoist ambushed their patrol party.
A few days later on April 24, twenty-five personnel of the paramilitary were killed in a
similar ambush . PTI TKP NES SKL SMN
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Most of the weapons being used by the outfits in the region are Chinese-made
Weapons such as Lathod M-76 (40mm grenade launcher), AGL, Chinese SAR rifles, AK series of Rifles, M-16 rifle, Machine guns, 60mm mortars, pistols, RPGs, sniper rifles are commonly used are being smuggled through routes along the Indo-Burma border as well as via sea through Cox bazaar and Chittagong in Bangladesh.