MILITARY

Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal, Chief of Naval Staff, Bangladesh Navy, is on an official visit to India, from 23 – 29 Oct 21. At New Delhi, Admiral Shaheen Iqbal will interact with the Chief of Naval Staff, in addition to the Chief of Defence Staff and other high ranking Gol officials. During the bilateral interactions, issues relating to joint cooperative efforts like Coordinated Patrol along International Maritime Boundary Line, bilateral exercise BONGOSAGAR, conduct of naval training and reciprocal visits of delegations would be discussed. 

            On completion of engagements in Delhi, Admiral Shaheen Iqbal is scheduled to visit Mumbai, where he will meet with VAdm R Hari Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command and visit Flagship of Western Naval Command. On completion of Mumbai visit, the Admiral would proceed to Defence Services Staff College, Wellington to witness training activities and interact with Commandant, DSSC. 

            India and Bangladesh share bonds of history, language, culture and multitudes of other commonalities. The excellent bilateral ties reflect an all- encompassing partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust and understanding, that goes beyond strategic ties. India and Bangladesh are jointly celebrating Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Victory in Bangladesh Liberation War and 1971 War this year. A host of joint activities have been conducted which include reciprocal ship visits by both Navies and participation in Republic Day Parade 2021 at New Delhi by Bangladesh Armed Forces Contingent and gifting of WAR memorabilia. During the last quarter of 2021, conduct of Talks by Bangladesh War Veterans at Naval War College & Indian Naval Academy and participation of Indian Armed Forces contingent & Band in ‘Victory Day Celebrations’ in Bangladesh are planned.

Defence Accounts Department (DAD) celebrated its annual day on October 01, 2021. To mark the occasion, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Shri Rajnish Kumar distributed Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence to the officers and staff of the Department for their exemplary performance and dedication. The first award was shared by the team of the Administration Section in CGDA office and the office of the PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj. 

Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Pensions, Prayagraj (Allahabad) got the award for implementation of project for online pension claim submission, processing and Electronic Pension Payment Order (ePPO) download for Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBORs), which helped pensioners get their due on time during the Covid-19 pandemic. The award was given to the Administration Section of the Controller General of Defence Accounts Office for exemplary performance in handling the COVID-19 crisis by efficient response management. The third award was given to PCDA (South-Western Command), Jaipur for the innovative design and development of the Command Training Module. 

The CGDA also gave away the CGDA Motivational Awards 2021 to the teams of PCDA (Air Force), Dehradun for review of Air Force orders, updating of Air Force Manuals and thematic Audit on provisioning of stores; and the team of Integrated Financial Adviser (IFA) Section, CGDA Headquarters for making the e-compendium of important orders relating to the working of IFA Offices. 

Shri Kumar also launched four new projects. These were e-Office, integration of New Compilation System (NCS) with Tulip, System for Integrated Financial Advisers – Plus (SIFA Plus) and No Due Certificate (NDC) audit software for Air Force officers and personnel. 

In his message on the occasion, the CGDA detailed the achievements of the department, appreciating the proactive induction of technology in service delivery mechanisms with a view to expediting, simplifying and automating systems and procedures. He stressed on the importance of ongoing Business Process Re-engineering activities in the Department. The CGDA emphasised on the need to update and simplify manuals and procedures to improve efficiency and effectiveness in a highly competitive and dynamic environment. 

Shri Kumar explained how DAD has been constantly leveraging technology for the dual benefits of providing transparent services and expediting the delivery procedures in the fields of pay, pension, accounting, audit and financial advice. He reiterated the commitment of DAD to substantially contribute to national security objectives through prudent, proactive and progressive defense financial management. He stressed that the age-old system of generating manual Pension Payment Orders is giving way to a completely automated system called System for Pension Administration (Raksha) – SPARSH. 

The DAD functions under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence and is headed by the Controller General of Defence Accounts. The department functions as a specialized organization in the fields of accounts, audit, payment and financial advice.