TheLegands

FLYING OFFICER Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was a pilot of a Gnat detachment based at Srinagar for the air defence of the valley against Pakistani air attacks. In accordance with the international agreement dating back to 1948, no air defence aircraft were based at Sirinagar, until the outbreak of hosti- lities with Pakistan. Flying Officer Sekhon was, therefore, unfamiliar with the terrain and was not acclimatised to the altitude of Srinagar, especially with the bitter cold and biting winds of the Kashmir winter. Nevertheless, from the outset of the war, he and his colleagues fought successive waves of intruding Pakistani aircraft with valour and determination, maintaining the high reputation of the Gnat aircraft. On 14th December 1971, Srinagar Airfield was attached by a wave of six enemy Sabre aircraft. Flying Officer Sekhon was on readiness duty at the time. However, he could not take off at once because of the clouds of dust raised by another aircraft which had just taken off. By the

bashini Sankaran, India’s first woman IPS officer, who took charge of security for Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonawal, in July 2016 Subashini comes from a South Indian middle class family with roots in Kumbakonam in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu. her father worked in the industrial safety department of a private company. none of her family member has ever worked for the police,  her mother is a home maker and her sister an entrepreneur in the USA In the 1980s her parents moved to Bombay, where she did her schooling in Thane. Subashini earned degree in sociology from St. Xaviersand M.Phil degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her M Phil dissertation at Jawaharlal Nehru University on women and terrorism – she studied the suicide bomber squads of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). IT helped her understand law and order within a broader political and sociological framework. While in JNU, Subashini started preparing for the UPSC exa

Born in Sehna village in the Sangrur District of Punjab, Karam Singh was the first non-posthumous Param Vir Chakra awardee. Singh retired from the Indian Army as Honorary Captain in 1948 and died in 1993 at the age of 77. He is also the only Indian to win the highest medals of both the British and Indian governments. Among his several brave acts, Karam Singh is best known for his courage on 13 October, 1948, when Pakistan decided to launch a brigade attack to retake Richhmar Gali in Kashmir. The firing was so furious that it destroyed almost all the bunkers in the Indian platoon. The communication with the commander was also cut off and Singh could not update his situation or ask for reinforcements. He was left with just one choice – to fight the enemy with whatever little army and weapons he had. The attacks had left Karam Singh severely injured but nothing could deter his spirit. He refused to evacuate the post even when the enemy got very close. When enemy soldiers came even c

At a time when paramilitary forces are battling an image crisis in Bastar following charges o f rape during anti-naxal operations, first woman officer of Central Reserve Police Force to be posted in the Maoist hotbed in Chhattisgarh is inspiring tribal women to get educated and join uniformed service. Th e 27-year-old Usha Kiran feels that apart from serving the battalion, it's also her d uty  to inspire local tribal girls to take up education. Usha said having education and a strong mind-set would give tribal women more power than possessing an AK-47 assaul t rifle. "Women here are skeptical to talk to forces, without their guardians or male family members. Even children refuse to take chocolates. They are reluctant to meet outsiders and uniformed forces," she said. She serves the difficult terrain in the forested areas of Bastar and during off-duty hours, she spares some time to help school-going girls in their studies in her camp. "Being newly trained, w

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the premier central police force of the Union of India for internal security. Originally constituted as the Crown Representative Police in 1939, it is one of the oldest Central para military forces (now termed as Central Armed Police Force). CRPF was raised as a sequel to the political unrest and the agitations in the then princely States of India following the Madras Resolution of the All-India Congress Committee in 1936 and the ever-growing desire of the Crown Representative to help the vast majority of the native States to preserve law and order as a part of the imperial policy. After Independence, the force was renamed as Central Reserve Police Force by an Act of Parliament on December 28, 1949. This Act constituted CRPF as an armed force of the Union. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister, visualised a multi-dimensional role for it in tune with the changing needs of a newly independent nation. During the early 195

Major General Ian Cardozo, who has many achievements to his name, will always be known for his immense courage in the 1971 war with Pakistan. He was, at the time, a young major with 5 Gorkha Rifles. During the war, he stepped on a landmine and severely injured his leg. When even the doctor could not cut his leg, Cardozo asked for a khukri (the Gorkha knife) and cut his own leg off, saying, “Now go and bury it!” The incident did not deter Cardozo from going on to serve his country. Through sheer willpower and determination, he continued to perform his duties as a soldier and became the first disabled officer in the Indian Army to command an infantry battalion and a brigade. In spite of not being physically at par with other officers, he defeated many ‘two-legged’ soldiers to come first in many fitness tests during his stint in the army.