What is consciousness? The concept of consciousness without contents is irrational and invalid

Many traditions in the East have proposed that consciousness without content is possible and could be achieved with mental training. In my analysis, the concept of consciousness without contents is irrational and invalid.

Consciousness describes the condition of an individual; the condition of knowing, awareness, or recognizing the fact, the state, and the act of existence or living in a given environment. Thus, consciousness is a natural principle that could explain what an individual knows and experiences about the world around one and inside one.

There are two aspects of consciousness that is registered subjectively by an individual; 1. Consciousness is a state of knowing or awareness of what goes on around an individual, and 2. Consciousness is a state of knowing or awareness of what goes on within the individual.

Consciousness is an absolute attribute of Life; it is the fundamental characteristic of living matter or living substance described as Protoplasm or Cytoplasm, the essential living matter or material substance of all animal, and plant cells. Wherever Protoplasm is found, irrespective of the size, shape, and form of the cell or of the living organism, the contents of its consciousness could be discovered.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, Dean of the Harvard Medical School 1847-1882. “To live is to function and that is all there is in living.” Life is defined by the nature of its living functions. Consciousness is the absolute characteristic of all living functions and so I define Life as “Knowledge in Action.”

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?

Why is this baby crying? Is it hunger? Is it thirst? Is it a wet diaper? Is it earache? Is it fever? Is it too hot? Is it too cold? Is it gripes or colic? Is it to get attention? Is it consciousness? The baby is aware of something. The baby is aware of its existence in an environment and is also aware of its internal condition.

Consciousness is described as a state of knowing, or awareness, or recognizing the existence, truth, or fact of ‘something’. What is that ‘something’ that is known or recognized by consciousness? I propose to explore the contents of consciousness to answer the question of What is Consciousness?

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SENSE EXPERIENCE:

What is Consciousness? Is it awareness of Sense Perception? Is it awareness of Thought? Is it awareness of Mood and Feeling? Is it awareness of Existence? Can there be any Perception without Existence? What is that Exists and Knows that it Exists?

**The Neural Correlates of consciousness defined by Mormann & Koch explores consciousness as a sense experience. It fails to understand the Totality of Consciousness.**

Consciousness is generally viewed as a form of relationship or act of the mind towards objects in nature. Consciousness has been described as a continuous field or stream of mental sense-data. Some biologists and neurophysiologists view consciousness as a brain function and describe it as an exclusive function of the nerve cells; neuronal and axonal function. Dr. Florian Mormann and Dr. Christof Koch have defined Neural Correlates of Consciousness( Florian Mormann & Christof Koch (2007) NCC, Scholarpedia 2(12):1740 ) as the minimal neuronal mechanisms jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious percept. Further, Mormann & Koch state that, “Consciousness is a puzzling, state-dependent property of certain types of complex, biological, adaptive, and highly connected systems. A Science of Consciousness must strive to explain the exact relationship between phenomenal, mental states and brain states.” They have posed the question: ” What is the nature of the relationship between the immaterial, conscious mind and its physical basis in the electrochemical interactions in the body? The answer to this question is very simple. Consciousness is related to a material substance that is called Protoplasm and electrochemical interactions in the body describe the properties of this living substance or material. The brain cells and all other cells have the same basic features; they are constituted by Protoplasm which has a Biological Membrane to define the limits of the Cell. Mormann & Koch also erroneously suggest that, “Only a few particular systems can experience anything, why they are Conscious and other systems such as the enteric nervous system or the immune system are not Conscious.” The enteric nervous system does in fact provide a wide range of conscious experiences. A baby would respond with a cry when it experiences gripes or colic. In the practice of Clinical Medicine, evaluation of pain as a symptom and as a diagnostic clinical sign plays a very significant role. The pain experienced by an individual with gastrointestinal, or genitourinary problems, or from inflammation of tissues and organs, and from problems with skeleton and musculature is registered by consciousness. The immune system behaves in a conscious manner and displays specificity, selectivity, and memory. A Living Cell is a highly complex, biological, adaptive, and highly connected system known in the Natural Science. A simple understanding of various cell functions would explain this issue. For example, mitochondria are organelles found within most cells which provide the cells with energy. Extensive protein translocation occurs in mitochondria where about one thousand different polypeptides are imported from the cytosol. This event is orchestrated by distinct translocation machineries in the outer and the inner mitochondrial membranes. Mitochondria display functional awareness and perform the task of oxidising sugars and fats in a deliberate, and sequential manner that involves the use of different enzymes to facilitate each chemical reaction.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A PHYSICAL OR BODY EXPERIENCE:

Claude Bernard( b. July 12, 1813 – d. February 10, 1878), French Physiologist was the first ever scientist of France who was granted a national funeral. He developed the concept of “MILIEU INTERIEUR” or internal environment of the Organism. He played a role in establishing the principles of experimentation in the Life Sciences to become one of the founders of experimental Medicine. Bernard’s historic role was to demonstrate the experimenter’s need to a guiding hypothesis to be either confirmed or refuted by the results of the experiment.

Apart from thoughts, intellect, feelings, moods, and perception of various sensory information, man is aware of the fact of and the state or condition of his physical existence. Man is aware or Conscious of hunger, thirst, and sexual drive. Man is aware of vital functions like respiration, and circulation. Man is alerted and often reacts with a sense of fear when these vital functions are disturbed or threatened in a significant manner. Consciousness or awareness includes awareness of bodily functions such as appetite, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting sensation, deglutition ( the act of swallowing food and drink ), satiation, and the functions of excretion and the associated sensations like the fullness of the bladder, and rectum. The human organism has awareness of its internal condition such as the state of hydration, water and electrolyte balance, and acid/base balance. The chemical events collectively called “metabolism” require concentration of hydrogen ions and electrolytes to remain within narrow limits in the tissue cells and in the fluids which bathes them. Body responds to both volume changes and changes in the osmotic pressure of the body fluids. Life is possible only if the hydrogen ion concentration of body fluids is kept within a narrow range. In health, a blood hydrogen ion concentration of 36-44 nmol/liter or pH 7.37 – 7.45 is maintained by several closely integrated but widely differing mechanisms. 19th century French physiologist Claude Bernard had defined “Homeostasis” as “all the vital mechanisms, varied as they are, have only one object; that of preserving constant the conditions of life.” All living things maintain a constant internal environment or Internal Milieu. Living cells and organisms are aware or conscious of the environment in which they exist as well as the state of their own internal environment making possible to witness this phenomenon of Homeostasis.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A CELLULAR EXPERIENCE:

**All the solid tissues in the human body consist of cells that are essentially similar to an Ovum.**

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the former Dean of Harvard Medical School defines Life by stating, “To live is to function and that is all there is in living.” Who or what is the subject who lives because of its living functions? Consciousness is a cellular experience of the cells of the brain and the body. It is an experience shared by the Whole Organism. It is an experience shared by all the living cells. The living functions of cells include uptake and conversion of nutrients, synthesis of new molecules, production of energy, and regulation and coordination of metabolic sequences apart from function of reproduction by asexual cell division. All the solid tissues in the human body can be shown to consist largely of similar cells, differing it is true, but that are essentially similar to an ovum. The most significant feature of similarity between the cells is presence of a soft, gelatinous, semi-fluid, granular material inside the cell. This substance known as Protoplasm is similar to that found in the ovum or the egg cell. This viscous, translucent, colloidal substance is enclosed in a membrane called Plasma Membrane or Biological Membrane. A small, spherical body called nucleus is embedded in the protoplasm. The protoplasm could be differentiated into cytoplasm/cytosol, and nucleoplasm based upon its location. Cytoplasm refers to protoplasm located outside the nucleus. Nucleoplasm refers to the protoplasm located inside the nucleus. The two essential features of any living cell in the human body are that of presence of protoplasm and the nucleus. The most striking characteristics of protoplasm are its vital properties of “MOTION,” and “NUTRITION”. Protoplasm has the intrinsic power to change its shape and position and the motion is described as amoeboid movement as the motion is similar to the motion that is observed in Amoeba proteus. Nutrition is the power which protoplasm has of attracting or drawing the materials that are necessary for its growth and maintenance from surrounding matter/environment. Nutrition is not a passive, unguided, and physical event. The Biological Membrane or the Plasma Membrane allows a highly controlled exchange of matter across the barrier it poses; some compounds are able to pass through the Membrane easily, others are completely blocked. The Biological Membrane helps to maintain cell’s internal environment or constant interior milieu in which intracellular reactions occur. To maintain life, the cell not only repairs or replaces, ( or both) its structures by continual synthesis of new organic molecules. This is characteristic of functional awareness or consciousness that is at work at the cellular level. The human organism uses a repair process and it is described as Inflammation and Repair. Wound healing, and hemostasis (or controlling blood leakage or bleeding from an injured blood vessel) are natural mechanisms operated by Cellular Consciousness. Human existence is possible because of this valuable and protective healing process which comes into immediate play after an injury or damage. Similarly, the human organism defines its identity and defends its existence by deploying unique protein molecules such as the antibodies. Antibodies recognize their antigens or foreign protein molecules with high affinity and extreme selectivity. The ability to develop specific immunity to infection is only one consequence of a wider capacity in the individual to recognize and to specifically respond to the foreignness of an extensive range of biological substances that are not normally present in the body of that individual. The adaptive immune system remembers that particular infectious agent and can prevent it causing disease later. The immune system consists of a variety of molecules and cells that are distributed throughout the body. They play an important role in inflammation, tissue damage and repair, the killing of bacteria, viruses, and tumor cells. Cellular Consciousness defends human existence.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SOCIAL EXPERIENCE:

Sociology lays claim to the whole of human life beyond the biological level because virtually all human activities possess a social aspect. Consciousness can be viewed as the capacity in an individual to form harmonious relations with others and to participate in or contribute constructively to changes in the social environment. Man is a social being and he is aware of the social structures and the social organization that he is part of. Parental instincts and social instincts describe an aspect of social behavior exhibited by all animals. Animals exhibit social behaviors and form parental societies to care for their offspring. Bacteria come together to live as colonies. At cellular level, the social aspect of consciousness is reflected by the cell’s abilities such as association, cooperation, communication using signaling molecules, recognition, and functional subordination in its interactions with other living cells present in its environment. In an Ecological System, the consciousness plays the role to establish the interrelatedness, the interdependence, and the interconnectedness of its participating members.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A MORAL EXPERIENCE:

Consciousness is the attribute of a conscientious person. Conscious behavior is often described as conscientious action that is scrupulous, characterized by or done with careful attention. Conscience describes awareness of one’s own acts and the application of knowledge to discern an act as right or wrong, good or evil, selfish or altruistic. Man has the intrinsic ability to recognize his acts of transgression or sinful conduct. Man is a creature with conscience and hence exists as a moral being.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE:

The word spiritual is often used to describe the fact of having a relationship based on sympathy of thought or feeling. Consciousness has a spiritual function as it establishes a relationship between the energy dependent living cell and its energy provider. The living cell is a thermodynamically unstable system. This means that without continuous input of energy, a cell will degrade spontaneously into a nonliving collection of molecules. The life’s journey of the human organism begins as a single, fertilized egg cell. This single, fertilized egg cell is conscious of its existence, is conscious of its energy dependence and it promptly connects itself to its energy provider. Human life begins to move forward when this egg cell implants itself into the maternal tissue and the biological mother has no cortical awareness of this implantation. Thus, cortical awareness does not describe the totality of consciousness. The Science of Consciousness must describe the mental, the sensory, the physical, the cellular, the social, the moral, and the spiritual aspects of Consciousness.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS AWARENESS OF EXISTENCE IN AN ENVIRONMENT:

**Amoeba proteus – Is this organism aware of its own existence in an environment? Is it aware of what goes on around it and what goes on within it?**

Consciousness describes condition of an individual; condition of knowing, awareness, or recognizing the fact, the state, and the act of existence or living in a given environment. Thus, Consciousness is a natural principle that could explain what an individual knows and experiences about the world around one and inside one. There are two aspects of Consciousness that is registered subjectively by an individual; 1. Consciousness is a state of knowing or awareness of what goes on around an individual, and 2. Consciousness is a state of knowing or awareness of what goes on within the individual. Who is this individual who has ability to know and be aware of its external and internal environment ? The term environment refers to all the conditions, circumstances, and influences surrounding, and affecting existence of a given individual, or group of individuals. The individual is a living organism and the organism could be unicellular or multicellular.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND MATERIAL SUBSTANCE:

**Consciousness is an absolute attribute of Life; it is the fundamental characteristic of living matter or living substance described as Protoplasm, Cytoplasm, Cytosol, Nucleoplasm, and etc.,**

CONSCIOUSNESS-THE LAW OF INDIVIDUALITY AND CREATION:

**Identity and Individuality are the two sides of the same Coin. The genome establishes the Identity, and Consciousness establishes the Individuality of a Living Cell or of a Living Organism.**

The contents of consciousness vary from individual to individual. There are individualistic variations in the contents of consciousness. There can never be two identical living individuals. Even when the cells are cloned and have the same or identical genomes, the state, or condition of Protoplasm that is Conscious is never identical. With the same genome, or different genomes, the living cells can only exist or live as individuals and they have no other choice. The living substance is the same, and the nature of consciousness is the same and yet the contents of consciousness are not the same. This Individualistic variation of consciousness is the characteristic of all living things and I describe it as ‘The Law of Individuality and Creation’.

THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

**Consciousness is the natural, vital principle that moves and animates all Life. The Living Cell knows the fact of its existence, it knows as to where it exists, and knows as to how it is existing.**

Consciousness is the natural principle, the vital principle that moves and animates all Life. It has a set of defining features; it is the principle by which a living cell or organism knows the fact of its own existence, it knows as to where it exists, and knows as to how it is existing. Cognition is described as the act of knowing. Cognitive Science involves the study of all human activities related to Knowledge. These activities include attention, creativity, memory, perception, problem solving, thinking, and the use of language. Cognition is the process involved in knowing, or the act of knowing which includes awareness and judgment. The nature of cognition, the relationship between the knowing mind and external reality, is applicable in the study of living functions that are characteristic of the living substance or material called Protoplasm. These functions at cellular level that require cognition include nutrition, reproduction, metabolism, and association with other living cells present in the immediate environment. The human brain is often viewed as the Seat of Knowledge. Human brain’s ability to acquire, process, store, and use of information is essentially function of the cytoplasm of the brain cells. Cognitive functions like perception and memory would establish Protoplasm as the Seat of Knowledge.

CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE HUMAN ORGANISM:

The Human Organism is an association of trillions of individual living cells. Consciousness serves the purpose of Functional Unity and all the cells display adaptive functional subordination to serve the purpose of the Whole Organism or the Individual. There are two distinct aspects of human Consciousness;1. The Capacity for Consciousness, and 2. The Contents of Consciousness.

There are two distinct aspects of human Consciousness namely the Capacity for Consciousness and the Contents of Consciousness. When Consciousness is viewed as a psychological or strictly as a mental function, it is represented by the Contents of Consciousness, function of Cerebral Cortex. When Consciousness is understood as a biological or living function, it is represented by the aspect of Capacity for Consciousness. The upper brain-stem, the neural structures like the Reticular Formation, and Thalamus function to compose the contents of Consciousness and project the contents to the cerebral hemispheres via the tracts of the Ascending Reticular Activating System. Integrity of these neurons and neural connections is important to maintain the alertness, and Arousal State of the Whole Organism in its relationship to its environment and internal maintenance of coordination of various living functions.

THE GRADING OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN CLINICAL MEDICINE:

Human Iris Recognition - The Science of Consciousness

Apart from philosophers, psychologists, psychics, theologians and others, the term consciousness is frequently used by the practitioners of Clinical Medicine. It is a useful term with several practical applications in management of individuals with a variety of conditions that impact the neural functions, particularly the Arousal. In medical practice, the assessment and grading of consciousness serves the purpose of being good predictor of the eventual long-term outcome or prognosis of the underlying disease or medical condition.

In Clinical Medicine, the medical practitioner evaluates the Level of Arousal or Alertness of his patient. The different levels of consciousness are:

a. alert or awake, fully Conscious and fully Oriented to person, place, and time. This Orientation represents the normal operation of Higher Intellectual Functions. A person who is Conscious, but is under the influence of alcohol or other psychotropic drugs, neural stimulants or depressants may not be fully oriented.

b. phase of automatism – the person is not fully alert as in Sleep-walking, or recovering from the effects of anesthesia.

c. Lethargic – drowsy, sleepy, but easily arousable.

d. Delirium – a state of mental confusion, a toxic condition, altered physical, and mental state or condition.

e. Stupor – semiconscious, responsive only to painful stimuli.

f. Coma – Unconscious or not responsive to painful stimuli.

Similarly, the Edinburgh method of grading Consciousness is:

Grade 0 – Fully Conscious

Grade 1 – drowsy but responsive to vocal command.

Grade 2 – Unconscious but responsive to minimal painful stimuli.

Grade 3 – Unconscious but just responsive to strong painful stimuli.

Grade 4 – Unconscious with no response to verbal commands and all other painful stimuli.

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS ) is universally used in assessment of the head injury victim. This Scale measures and provides a score that ranges from 3 to 15 points by evaluating three kinds of responses from the patient.

1. Eye Opening: Spontaneous eye opening=4; Eye opening in response to command=3; Eye opening in response to painful stimuli=2; and no response of eye opening=1.

2. Motor Response: Obeys commands=6; Localizes pain=5; Shows flexion(decorticate) response to pain=3; Shows extension (decerebrate) response to pain=2; and no response(no reflex muscular activity)=1.

3. Vocal Response: Oriented to person, place, and time=5; Confused=4; Shows inappropriate speech=3; Makes incomprehensible sounds=2; and no vocal sounds=1.

Such neurological evaluations are repeated periodically to record significant changes in the medical condition of the patient. However, it must be noted that Clinical Medicine always evaluates totality of all living functions and the medical usage of the terms Conscious and Unconscious represent a careful interpretation in the context of the medical condition of the patient.

THE TOTALITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

The Vitruvian Man. c. 1492. The painting by Leonardo da Vinci displays the spirit of scientific inquiry. The inquiry of Man must begin with the investigation of Consciousness.

The Science of Consciousness must explore and investigate the entire contents of Consciousness. By understanding the nature of experience provided by the Totality of Consciousness, the condition, the state, or the act of being Conscious could be explained.

Consciousness is a Mental Experience:

The term consciousness is most widely used as meaning “attention to the contents or workings of one’s own mind.” English philosopher John Locke defined Consciousness as a psychological condition; it is described as perception of what passes in a man’s own mind. In Indian tradition, mental activities are of four kinds and collectively constitute what is named as “ANTAHKARANA”; these are : 1. “MANAS”- the seat of thoughts, 2. “BUDDHI” or intellect and knowledge, 3. “CHITTA” or the seat of emotions such as Kindness and Love, and 4. “AHAMKARA” or self-ego. The mental experience, the awareness or knowing of these activities of thoughts, intellect, moods, feelings, and self-ego describe consciousness as a mental experience. Using this view, many philosophers, religious thinkers, and mystics have shared their experience of different levels of consciousness and have given names to the higher levels or states of consciousness. Terms such as Pure Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, and Super Consciousness may describe some kind of mental experience and such terms may not add any information to understand the Totality of Consciousness and its experience.

I ask my readers to define the term consciousness as a biological function, the characteristic of the living things that signifies the existence of its living matter or the corporeal substance.

R. Rudra Narasimham,

Ann Arbor, MI, 48104-4162 USA.

BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG

The Neural Correlates of Consciousness defined by Mormann & Koch basically ignores existence of specific Conscious percept like NUTRITION by which the Living Organism shows its awareness of Energy dependence for its existence or living.

Spirituality – Soul, Consciousness and the God-connection (bhavanajagat.wordpress.com)

Vijay Diwas 2020. On the 50th Anniversary of India-Pakistan War, the Special Frontier Force pays tribute to the fallen heroes

Vijay Diwas 2020: PM Modi to light ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ at National War Memorial. Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year on December 16 to mark India’s triumph in liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971.

The Indo-Pak war of 1971 was a defining moment in the history of the subcontinent, resulting in Bangladesh becoming independent. This established the progress of the Indian Armed Forces including the Army, Air Force and Navy. The war started on 3 December 1971, when the struggle for independence was going on in East Pakistan. The war ended 13 days later on 16 December with the surrender of the Pakistani Army. Since then, this day has been celebrated as Vijay Diwas in India and Bangladesh.

I take this golden opportunity to acknowledge the leadership role of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the execution of the Liberation War of Bangladesh. I have first-hand knowledge of her stewardship for she approved the battle plan code-named Operation EAGLE which initiated the liberation with direct military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Her initiative was very critical and she balanced the opposition and the resistance exerted by the United States.

In an official release on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry has said, “In December 1971, the Indian Armed Forces secured a decisive and historic Victory over Pakistan Army, which led to the creation of a Nation – Bangladesh and also resulted in the largest Military Surrender after the World War – II. From 16 December, the Nation will be celebrating 50 Years of India-Pak War, also called ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’. Various commemorative events are planned across the Nation.”

***Vijay Diwas 2020. Prime Minister Modi pays tribute to the fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial, New Delhi.***

Prime Minister Modi was received by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the venue. The Prime Minister, Chief of Defence Staff and Tri-Service Chiefs laid a wreath and pay homage to the fallen soldiers.

The Prime Minister lit up the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ from the eternal flame of National War Memorial on the occasion.

***Vijay Diwas 2020. On the 50th Anniversary of the India-Pakistan War, Prime Minister Modi lit up the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal from the Eternal Flame of the National War Memorial, New Delhi.’***

Vijay Diwas 2020. Soldiers carry the victory flames ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ which was lit-up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking the beginning of Golden Jubilee celebrations of India’s victory over Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War, at the National War Memorial in New Delhi

“Four Victory Mashaals (flames) were lit from the Eternal Flame of National War Memorial. These Mashaals will now be carried to various parts of the country including to villages of Param Vir Chakra and Mahavir Chakra Awardees of 1971 War. Soil from the villages of these Awardees and from areas where major battles were fought in 1971 is being brought to the NWM,” read the release.

India’s Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw on 13th December said “You surrender or We wipe you out,” soon after which India won the war over Pak armed forces.

I regret I have only one life to give for my country. -Prem Ramchandani

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited the National War Memorial (NWM) in Delhi, where he lit the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ on the 50th anniversary of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

Vijay Diwas 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff General M M Narawane, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria lays a wreath at the National War Memorial at the beginning of the Golden Jubilee of India’s victory over Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War, in New Delhi

***Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays wreath at the National War Memorial at the beginning of the Golden Jubilee of India’s victory over Pakistan in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, in New Delhi***

December 07. Special Frontier Force joins the celebration of the Indian Armed Forces Flag Day

Armed Forces Flag Day 2020

Today, India is celebrating the Armed Forces Flag Day.

Since 1949, December 7 is observed as the Armed Forces Flag Day throughout the country to honour the martyrs and the men in uniform who valiantly fought and continue to fight on our borders to safeguard the country’s honour.

On August 28, 1949, the government had set up a committee under the defence minister and had decided to observe a Flag Day annually on December 7.

This came right after India had achieved independence and the welfare of the defence personnel had to be taken care of. The Armed Forces Flag Day was observed to distribute small flags to the civilians and in return collect donations.

The Flag day is mainly observed to serve three basic purposes which include rehabilitation of battle casualties, the welfare of serving personnel and their families, resettlement and welfare of ex-servicemen and their families.

According to the ministry of defence, every year around 60,000 defence personnel are compulsorily retired. They are released between 35-40 years of age and they are physically fit and young. Therefore, taking the responsibility of these ex-soldiers (ESM) and their families is important.

On the Flag Day all three branches of the Indian armed forces, the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, arrange a variety of shows, carnivals, dramas and other entertainment programmes to showcase to the general public the efforts of their personnel to ensure national security.

In Tibet, China occupies the Land, the Body, the Mind, and the Soul of the Tibetans

In Tibet, China preaches the material over the spiritual

By Yew Lun Tian

LHASA, China (Reuters) – Dzekyid, a 54-year-old barley farmer, presents himself as a role model for his neighbours and for the success of China’s efforts to tie economic development to social control in Tibet.

Dzekyid’s well-built house in Jangdam village has a hall filled with Buddhist scriptures and Thangka paintings, and a row of prayer wheels for his religious 76-year-old father, Tenzin, to spin twice a day. As a member of China’s ruling Communist Party, Dzekyid is an atheist.

“This house is possible because of good government policies. My heart is wholly with the party, not even one bit with religion,” said Dzekyid, whose family was showcased to a group of reporters on a government-organised tour of Tibet, an area where access to foreign journalists is normally barred.

Government officials in both Beijing and Tibet vetted the reporters from media organisations who were invited to join the trip. On the closely supervised tour, there was little opportunity to interact with ordinary Tibetans without government officials in attendance.

China is pushing to transform the mindsets and values of Tibetans to bring them into the country’s modern mainstream, which includes urging the region’s devout Buddhists to focus less on religion and more on material prosperity.

“Tibet has some bad old habits, mainly due to the negative influence of religion that emphasises the afterlife and weakens the urge to pursue happiness in the current life,” said Che Dhala, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

On the trip to Tibet, officials showcased poverty-relief programmes that include relocation of families to better homes, schooling, vocational training, and business development efforts such as a climate-controlled mushroom farm. The efforts are part of China’s push to eradicate rural poverty nationwide by the end of this year.

Officials also described efforts to “manage the minds” of Tibetans, who for centuries lived in a deeply religious society with a belief in reincarnation and a devotion to their spiritual leader.

The head of Caiqutang village, Dekyi Paldron, described how poor households who receive free new government housing “should not” set up a family room for worshipping Buddha, a common feature in traditional Tibetan houses, because they “shouldn’t be two-faced” after benefiting from the atheist Communist Party.

“If space is taken up by the Buddha room, the boy and girl may have to squeeze into one bedroom – this is not ideal for the healthy development of either child,” another official told the visiting journalists.

China seized Tibet after troops entered the region in 1950, in what Beijing calls a “peaceful liberation.”

In 1959, spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled China after a failed uprising, and the long-impoverished region has been one of the most politically sensitive and restricted parts of China.

PRAY LESS, WORK MORE

Recipients of poverty relief are told to curb their spending on religion and to instead invest in increasing their earning power and in their children.

**In Tibet, China is occupying the Land, the Body, the Mind, and the Soul of the Tibetans.**

At a vocational school in Nyingchi, a signboard stated that the school uses ideological and political education to fight against “separatism”, denounce the Dalai Lama and to prevent religion from making people “passive”.

“Ten years ago, villagers competed among themselves to see who donates more to temples. Now they compete to see whose son or daughter has a stable government job, or who owns a car,” Karma Tenpa, deputy propaganda minister for the Tibet Autonomous Region, told Reuters.

Pictures of the Dalai Lama, once commonly displayed in Tibetans’ houses, are banned, but framed posters of President Xi Jinping were visible inside all the homes the journalists were shown.

Propaganda slogans urging allegiance to China and the Communist Party are conspicuous along roadsides and billboards in Tibet.

Critics say China’s efforts linking poverty eradication to an embrace of a secular life and the Communist Party infringe on human rights.

“The Chinese government’s efforts to force Tibetans to change their way of life to the one the government approves is a violation of their fundamental human rights, including their freedoms of thought and religion,” Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch told Reuters.

A recent Reuters report based on official documents described how growing numbers of rural Tibetans were being pushed into recently built training centres, where they are trained to be factory workers in a programme that some critics have called coercive – a characterisation China rejects.

“At first we have to go around explaining to the nomads and herders why they should go for skills training to earn higher wages. Now that they see the benefit of doing so, they come to us automatically,” Lin Bei, a poverty alleviation official, told Reuters.

FAME OR SHAME

Families who practise good hygiene or have other desirable attributes receive credits for goods such as washing powder or towels, Lin said. The best are listed as “Five Star Families” on the village notice board.

Those deemed to show undesirable behaviour are named and shamed.

“If someone has been lazy, drunk alcohol, hung out at the teahouse or played games instead of taking care of his family, we will call him out at the village meeting,” said Lin, who is a member of China’s ethnic Han majority.

Dzekyid, who like many Tibetans uses only one name, encourages his neighbours to support the party and its programmes. His house was built with a government grant of nearly $20,000.

“Praying to the gods and Buddha can’t get me this,” he told Reuters.

In Tibet, China occupies the Land, the Body, the Mind, and the Soul of the Tibetans.

November 22. Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment Remembers the 35th US President John F. Kennedy

HISTORY OF THE US-INDIA-TIBET RELATIONS: November 22. Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment remembers the 35th US President John F. Kennedy.

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT

The History of Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment: June 03, 1963, Indian President Radhakrishnan by his visit acknowledges the India-Tibet-US military alliance/pact to oppose the military threat posed by China.

Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.

By the fall of 1963, President John F. Kennedy and his political advisers were preparing for the next presidential campaign. Although he had not formally announced his candidacy, it was clear that President Kennedy was going to run and he seemed confident about his chances for re-election.

At the end of September, the president traveled west, speaking in nine different states in less than a week. The trip was meant to put a spotlight on natural resources and conservation efforts. But JFK also used it to sound out themes—such as education, national security, and world peace—for his run in 1964.

Campaigning in Texas

A month later, the president addressed Democratic gatherings in Boston and Philadelphia. Then, on November 12, he held the first important political planning session for the upcoming election year. At the meeting, JFK stressed the importance of winning Florida and Texas and talked about his plans to visit both states in the next two weeks.

Mrs. Kennedy would accompany him on the swing through Texas, which would be her first extended public appearance since the loss of their baby, Patrick, in August. On November 21, the president and first lady departed on Air Force One for the two-day, five-city tour of Texas.

President Kennedy was aware that a feud among party leaders in Texas could jeopardize his chances of carrying the state in 1964, and one of his aims for the trip was to bring Democrats together. He also knew that a relatively small but vocal group of extremists was contributing to the political tensions in Texas and would likely make its presence felt—particularly in Dallas, where US Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson had been physically attacked a month earlier after making a speech there. Nonetheless, JFK seemed to relish the prospect of leaving Washington, getting out among the people and into the political fray.

The first stop was San Antonio. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John B. Connally, and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough led the welcoming party. They accompanied the president to Brooks Air Force Base for the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. Continuing on to Houston, he addressed a Latin American citizens’ organization and spoke at a testimonial dinner for Congressman Albert Thomas before ending the day in Fort Worth.

Morning in Fort Worth

A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. A platform was set up and the president, wearing no protection against the weather, came out to make some brief remarks. “There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth,” he began, “and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it.” He went on to talk about the nation’s need for being “second to none” in defense and in space, for continued growth in the economy and “the willingness of citizens of the United States to assume the burdens of leadership.”

The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the president reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces.

Back inside the hotel, the president spoke at a breakfast of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, focusing on military preparedness. “We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom,” he said. “We will continue to do…our duty and the people of Texas will be in the lead.”

On to Dallas

The presidential party left the hotel and went by motorcade to Carswell Air Force Base for the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas. Arriving at Love Field, President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and immediately walked toward a fence where a crowd of well-wishers had gathered, and they spent several minutes shaking hands.

The first lady received a bouquet of red roses, which she brought with her to the waiting limousine. Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were already seated in the open convertible as the Kennedys entered and sat behind them. Since it was no longer raining, the plastic bubble top had been left off. Vice President and Mrs. Johnson occupied another car in the motorcade.

The procession left the airport and traveled along a ten-mile route that wound through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon.

The Assassination

Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.

Bullets struck the president’s neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was shot in his back.

The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.

The president’s body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by US District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.

Less than an hour earlier, police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently hired employee at the Texas School Book Depository. He was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the fatal shooting, shortly afterward, of Patrolman J. D. Tippit on a Dallas street.

On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to the county jail. Viewers across America watching the live television coverage suddenly saw a man aim a pistol and fire at point-blank range. The assailant was identified as Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. Oswald died two hours later at Parkland Hospital.

The President’s Funeral

That same day, President Kennedy’s flag-draped casket was moved from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by six grey horses, accompanied by one riderless black horse. At Mrs. Kennedy’s request, the cortege and other ceremonial details were modeled at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue and many wept openly as the caisson passed. During the 21 hours that the president’s body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, about 250,000 people filed by to pay their respects.

On Monday, November 25, 1963, President Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral was attended by heads of state and representatives from more than 100 countries, with untold millions more watching on television. Afterward, at the gravesite, Mrs. Kennedy and her husband’s brothers, Robert and Edward, lit an eternal flame.

Perhaps the most indelible images of the day were the salute to his father given by little John F. Kennedy Jr. (whose third birthday it was), daughter Caroline kneeling next to her mother at the president’s bier, and the extraordinary grace and dignity shown by Jacqueline Kennedy.

As people throughout the nation and the world struggled to make sense of a senseless act and to articulate their feelings about President Kennedy’s life and legacy, many recalled these words from his inaugural address:

“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration. Nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”

President John F. Kennedy is known to me for he founded the military organization called the Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment, in 1962 to secure Freedom, Democracy, Peace, and Justice in the occupied Land of Tibet. President Kennedy acted as a ‘True Neighbor’ of Tibet when he acted with compassion after recognizing the plight of helpless Tibetan people. The United States must reflect its true national values in the manner in which it treats its alien residents.

The Tibetan Resistance Movement at The White House

I trace the beginning of the Tibetan Resistance Movement from 1949 during the presidency of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States (1945 to 1953).

Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay entered the United States White House this afternoon on November 21, 2020 — a historic feat. This is the first time in the last 6 decades the head of the Central Tibetan Administration has been invited into the White House.

**The Tibetan Resistance Movement at The White House. Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay and Representative Tsering outside the White House compound after the meeting.**

In the last 6 decades, the head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) was denied entry to the US State Department and the White House; the logic for both denials was that the US government does not recognize the Tibetan government in exile. Today’s visit amounts to an acknowledgement of both the democratic system of the CTA and its political head.

Dr. Sangay met with White House officials. Prior to this meeting, Dr. Sangay had met with White House officials in undisclosed meetings and locations over a dozen times in the past 10 years since he became the CTA’s Sikyong in 2011. This unprecedented meeting perhaps will set an optimistic tone for CTA participation with US officials and be more formalized in the coming years.

Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada

Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment

Tibetan political leader visits White House for first time in six decades

By Reuters Staff

FILE PHOTO: Paramilitary police officers swap positions during a change of guard in front of Potala Palace in Lhasa, during a government-organised tour of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, October 15, 2020. Picture taken October 15, 2020.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The head of the Tibetan government in exile has visited the U.S. White House for the first time in six decades, a move that could further infuriate Beijing, which has accused the United States of trying to destabilise the region.

Lobsang Sangay, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), was invited to the White House to meet the newly appointed U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Robert Destro, on Friday, the CTA said in a press release.

“This unprecedented meeting perhaps will set an optimistic tone for CTA participation with U.S. officials and be more formalised in the coming years,” said the CTA, which is based in India’s Dharamshala.

Tibet has become one of the areas of dispute between the United States and China, with relations between the world’s two biggest economies at their lowest point in decades.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Beijing in July of violating Tibetan human rights and said Washington supported “meaningful autonomy” for the region.

Beijing officials have since accused the United States of using Tibet to try to promote “splittism” in China. China has also refused to engage with the Dalai Lama.

China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it described as a “peaceful liberation” that helped it throw off its “feudalist past”, but critics led by the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in August that China needed to build an “impregnable fortress” in Tibet in order to protect national unity.

The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge?

My partnership with the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) begins on September 22, 1971, whereas the US involvement in Tibet dates back to the Hump Airlift Operations of World War II. I am sharing the story about the flight of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama from Lhasa in March 1959. The story mentions about the CIA’s role in the Tibetan Resistance Movement.

Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada

Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment

The Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa and his perilous journey to India: ‘A dizzying, frightening blur’

Excerpts from a new illustrated biography of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? An archival photo of the Dalai Lama with his pet Lhasa Apso Senge in Dharamsala | Courtesy Tendzin Choegyal and Rinchen Khando (John Faber).

His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography comprises text and rare photographs assembled by Tenzin Geyche Tethong, who worked at the Tibetan Buddhist leader’s private office for four decades. Tethong retired as the Dalai Lama’s private secretary in 2007. Here are edited excerpts that detail the spiritual leader’s flight to India following Chinese aggression in Tibet.

Lhasa, 1959: Chinese aggression and a Tibetan resistance

Right after the Great Prayer Festival on 9 March, Brigadier Fu, who was in charge of PLA troops in Lhasa, invited the Dalai Lama for a theatrical performance at their headquarters. He instructed Phuntsok Tashi Taklha, the Dalai Lama’s brother-in-law, who was his chief of security, that His Holiness should come without protection and in secret. The young Tenzin Choegyal (Ngari Rinpoche), studying at Drepung monastery, was also invited.

This highly irregular request caused great worry. The news spread like wildfire and on 10 March, large crowds gathered outside the Norbulingka palace to prevent the Dalai Lama from going, suspecting it was a ruse by the Chinese to hold him hostage or worse, harm him. By midday, the huge crowd of thirty thousand grew restive.

**The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? The Dalai Lama’s parents in 1940. Courtesy Tendzin Choegyal and Rinchen Khando (Hugh Richardson print)/Roli Books.**

The Nechung oracle advised His Holiness to remain in Lhasa and engage with the Chinese. His Holiness spent the afternoon in divination. A few tense days later, a second visit to the oracle yielded the same message – to wait and negotiate. Time was passing for His Holiness in ‘a dizzying, frightening blur.’

On 16 March, the General informed the Dalai Lama that the Chinese were preparing to attack the Norbulingka. The thought of violence and the inevitable loss of life greatly upset His Holiness. The next day, he sought out the oracle again. This time – the oracle, swaying in a trance – said dramatically ‘go, go, go tonight’ and even gave instructions on the exact escape route to take, and then fell unconscious on the floor. Just at that moment, two shells exploded outside the palace building. On the night of 17 March, the twenty-three- year-old Dalai Lama, disguised as a soldier, left his summer palace and embarked on a long, dangerous journey to India into exile, not knowing when he would see his country or people again.

The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? One of the earliest photographs of the Dalai Lama aged four at Kumbum monastery, 1939. Courtesy Archibald Steele, in A.T. Steele Papers, Arizona State University Libraries, Special Collections/Roli Books.

Tibet’s destiny would change forever on the fateful day of 17 March 1959. His Holiness had been battling confusion and distress, but the oracle’s word revealed the way forward. The Dalai Lama also performed his own divination, which revealed advice from Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom. The oracle’s advice was confirmed and His Holiness felt the standoff could be diffused only if he left Tibet.

But surely, the Chinese would be carefully monitoring the situation? His Holiness informed only his immediate staff and delegated the preparations to his Lord Chamberlain, Phala Thupten Woden and the acting Chikyab Khenpo, his chief of monastic staff, Gadrang Lobsang Rigzin. Three different groups set off within hours of each other. In the afternoon, His Holiness’ tutors and four officials of the Kashag left hidden under a tarpaulin of a truck; some hours later the Great Mother, the young Tenzin Choegyal, his sister Tsering Dolma and an uncle left in disguise, with the two women dressed as men.

By this time the Lord Chamberlain had sent a message to the Indian Consul General in Lhasa on the question of exile and asylum in India. He also sent a message to the Chushi Gangdruk fighters in the south, asking them to be ready to protect and escort His Holiness.

For one last time His Holiness visited his personal shrine dedicated to Mahakala, the protector deity for the Dalai Lamas. After offering a silk khatag, His Holiness finished his prayers and left. Shortly before ten at night, he dressed as a soldier in trousers and a Tibetan chuba (robe) and walked out of Norbulingka. Slung across his left shoulder was a cylindrical case which housed a very precious item – a thangka of the protector-goddess Palden Lhamo that had once belonged to the Second Dalai Lama. Slung across his other shoulder was a rifle.

This was the third and last group to leave that day. With over tens of thousands of PLA soldiers in the area, the likelihood of being spotted and detained was a real risk. His Holiness and those accompanying him quickly crossed the Kyichu River, where the two groups were waiting on the other side. It was only then, His Holiness recalled later, that he put his glasses back on and was again able to see clearly.

**The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? The Dalai Lama on his way to Assam, escorted by a unit of the Assam Rifles. Courtesy Tibet Museum/Roli Books.**

The escape party rode most of the night, only stopping briefly on their way to the Che-La mountain pass, and reached the top at daybreak. His Holiness stopped to look around. It would be the last time he would get a glimpse of Lhasa. After a short prayer, they moved on towards the Yarlung Tsangpo, or the Brahmaputra river, to cross over into southern Tibet. His escape had not yet come to light, but fighting had broken out as the Tibetan forces were supporting the people of Lhasa. The Chinese launched greater attacks and on 20 March, they started shelling Norbulingka palace. It was only the next day that the Chinese found out that His Holiness had escaped.

The Lord Chamberlain’s message had been taken to two CIA-trained Tibetan radio operators, Athar and Lhotse, who were with the resistance forces holding Lhuntse Dzong, not far from the Indian border. This was where His Holiness was also headed. His intention was to temporarily set up base there and officially repudiate the 17-Point Agreement, and once again set up negotiations with the Chinese from a safe place within reach of India. On 25 March, they sent a message to the Americans, the Chinese attacks in Lhasa and all hopes of a negotiated settlement were lost.

A human tragedy of great proportions was unfolding. It later came to light that in the one-year period following the uprising, the PLA had eliminated over 87,000 Tibetans in Central Tibet alone. At Lhuntse Dzong, His Holiness conducted a ceremony of consecration to set up a new Tibetan government. The ceremony was attended by over a thousand people. But it was clear that there was imminent danger if the Dalai Lama remained in Tibet. Consequently, messages were conveyed to the Indians and the Americans that His Holiness desired to cross over into India seeking asylum.

John Greaney, a senior CIA officer, received the message on Saturday night, 28 March. With instructions from his boss, he sent a covert message to New Delhi informing them of the Dalai Lama’s request for asylum. Around this time, Gyalo Thondup writes that he visited Prime Minister Nehru at the Parliament House in Delhi through B.N. Mullick, chief of India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB). Nehru enquired if His Holiness was safe and when informed of his asylum request, he immediately said yes.

**The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? The Dalai Lama arrives in India in 1959. Courtesy Tibet Museum/Roli Books.**

The next day His Holiness left for the frontier, passing through the village of Jhora and as the escape party crossed over the Karpo La mountain pass, the last one on the Tibetan side before the border, an airplane flew over them, causing panic. They feared that the Chinese had spotted them. Tenzin Choegyal recounts, ‘… we were sure the Chinese would be on us in no time.’ The party decided to break into small groups and move forward for two more days. Messengers sent by Phala to the Indian border rejoined them here. They, too, conveyed the news that His Holiness was allowed to cross over into India.

As His Holiness recalled, his last night in Tibet was in rather miserable conditions at a small village called Mangmang. The escape party had endured rough weather all through their flight, and this seemed to cap it all. His Holiness fell sick with fever and dysentery. Two days later, on 31 March, he bade farewell to those who would remain in Tibet – some officials, the resistance fighters and the two Tibetan radio operators, Athar and Lhotse, who received a special blessing.

The party of approximately eighty people crossed over from the Land of Snows into the Tawang District, in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Waiting on the other side was the Indian Assistant Political Officer, T.S. Murthy, with greetings from Prime Minister Nehru. The exhausting, stressful two-week journey had finally come to an end.

**The trappings of Chakrata Karma. I am a Refugee. Who is my Refuge? Excerpted with permission from His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography, Tenzin Geyche Tethong, Roli Books.**

President Nixon’s views on Indian Women did not undermine the Special Frontier Force-Nixon Connection during 1969-74

In my analysis, the US President Richard M. Nixon, and the US National Security Adviser Dr. Henry A. Kissinger did not undermine the Special Frontier Force-Nixon Connection during the Bangladesh Ops of 1971 in which the Special Frontier Force ( a military organization raised by the United States) initiated the Liberation of Bangladesh in November 1971 with military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

**November 1971. President Nixon’s views on Indian women did not undermine the Special Frontier Force-Nixon Connection.**

‘Indian women sexless, unattractive, don’t know how they reproduce’ — US President Nixon said

In a set of newly declassified tapes, former US President Richard Nixon allegedly called Indian women ‘the most unattractive women in the world’, according to NYT op-ed.

TARAN DEOL, 4 September, 2020

New Delhi: Former US President Richard Nixon described Indian women as “the most unattractive women in the world” and the “most sexless”, claimed US professor Gary J. Bass in an opinion piece published on Thursday, September 03, 2020 in The New York Times.

In a column for The New York Times, Bass attributed these quotes to a set of newly declassified White House tapes of the US president’s conversations with Henry Kissinger, who was his National Security Advisor (NSA).

Nixon was the 37th US president, serving in office from 1969 to 1974.

The tapes were released by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, according to Bass, who is a professor of politics and international relations at Princeton University and has also authored The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide.

The book, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, was about the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

In the tapes, the author claimed, Nixon compared Indian women to Black women and said, “I mean, people say, what about the Black Africans? Well, you can see something, the vitality there, I mean they have a little animallike charm, but God, those Indians, ack, pathetic. Uch.”

Furthermore, on 4 November 1971, Bass noted that when the president was in conversation with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he was heard saying “To me, they turn me off. How the hell do they turn other people on, Henry? Tell me.

“They are repulsive and it’s just easy to be tough with them,” he added.

In another instance, on 12 November 1971, while discussing the India-Pakistan war with Kissinger and his Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Nixon has been quoted as saying, “I don’t know how they reproduce!”

In one of the tapes, Bass stated that Kissinger can also be heard calling Indians “a scavenging people” as he blamed them for the mass exodus of Bengali Pakistanis.

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-The Nixon Connection. The US President Richard M. Nixon visits South Vietnam on July 30, 1969.**

**November 1971. Nixon’s views on Indian women did not undermine the Special Frontier Force-Nixon Connection. President Nixon’s two-day visit to India on July 31, and August 01, 1969.**

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-The Nixon Connection. The US President Richard M.Nixon with Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India during his visit on July 31, 1969.**

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-The Nixon Connection. The US National Security Adviser Dr. Henry A. Kissinger with Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.**

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-Nixon Connection. The US President Richard M. Nixon with Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India during his visit on July 31, 1969.**

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-The Nixon Connection. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India with the US President Richard M. Nixon at the White House on November 04, 1971.**

The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle: What is the Connection? Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with the US President Richard Nixon at the White House, Washington, D.C. on November 04, 1971. The US did not sanction Operation Eagle.

SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE-ESTABLISHMENT NO. 22-VIKAS REGIMENT- OPERATION EAGLE 1971 AND THE VIETNAM WAR:

**THE EAGLE CONNECTION: THE BALD EAGLE-THE GOLDEN EAGLE-OPERATION EAGLE – WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?**

The military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts that initiated the Liberation of Bangladesh during 1971 is known as Operation Eagle. This military action used the military power of ‘The Bald Eagle’ and is executed by ‘The Golden Eagle’ without getting the formal approval or sanction of the US President.

Operation Eagle was a very modest military confrontation as compared to the Vietnam War. However, a comparison must be made to understand the use of military force to defeat an enemy to obtain a political objective. The Operation Eagle was executed using US weapons, ammunition, US military radios, medical supplies, assorted tools and equipment, field gear, and U.S. Military Field Rations-Meals Ready to Eat or MREs that the US Army was using in the conduct of the Vietnam War.

In a hilly, forest terrain, the use of aerial firepower or bombing campaigns will not dislodge the enemy. The enemy must be found on the ground and must be directly attacked. This is a view of Mizo Hills of India taken from Chittagong Hill Tracts in the foreground.

The military objectives of the Vietnam War could not be accomplished because of the reliance placed upon aerial bombardment to defeat the enemy. Operation Eagle was small in its scope and size. But, it did not rely upon the use of aerial bombardment. We operated on a ‘manpack’ basis, went in search of enemy positions, and directly challenged the enemy at his own post. United States failed to attack the enemy on the ground during the Vietnam War. To defend South Vietnam, the military strategy and planning would call for Infantry attacks on the enemy inside North Vietnam. United States used more bombs as compared to the number of bombs that were dropped during the Second World War and yet could not dislodge the enemy from his entrenched positions. We need to fight and engage the enemy on the ground. Secondly, during Nixon’s presidency(1969-1974), while engaged in War, the President conceded the battle by befriending the Enemy.

OPERATION EAGLE 1971 AND THE VIETNAM WAR INFANTRY WEAPONS AND FIELD GEAR:

OPERATION EAGLE 1971 AND THE VIETNAM WAR INFANTRY WEAPONS, FIELD GEAR AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT. INDIA’S GOLDEN EAGLE SYMBOLIZES THE MILITARY OPERATION THAT WAS WAGED WITH THE MILITARY EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY THE BALD EAGLE THAT SYMBOLIZES AMERICAN MILITARY POWER.

A military action by Infantry is best understood by examining the weapons that are used. During Operation Eagle 1971 and the Vietnam War, the Infantry used the same kinds of Infantry weapons. We must ignore the sophisticated technology and the firepower of United States Navy and Air Force. The battle must be won on the ground. During Operation Eagle 1971 we used the same Infantry weapons, equipment, and other supplies more effectively in our battle as compared to US Army in its combat missions against its enemy in Vietnam. We did not use helicopters as gunships or to attack the enemy in support of ground troops. I would like to share some of the photo images of the Infantry Weapons and equipment that were used in the Vietnam War and which I have seen during Operation Eagle 1971.

**The General Purpose Machine Gun M60 was designed for use in the Vietnam War was equally useful for Operation Eagle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.**

M1 Muzzle loading 81mm Mortar is a heavy piece of Infantry weapon which provides indirect fire support. During Operation Eagle, our men carried them on their backs and used them to fire upon the enemy patrols and enemy posts.

**The most common weapon used by American Infantry Battalions in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Operation Eagle was fought on a manpack basis and this short-range, lightweight mortar was very useful.**

Rifle is the most basic Infantry weapon. M14 Infantry Assault Rifle was used in Vietnam. During Operation Eagle 1971, I politely refused to use this M14 Rifle as my personal weapon.The men used this Rifle. During Operation Eagle 1971, I could not bring my Sub Machine Gun or SMG and willingly participated in the battle without carrying the M14 Rifle.

**During Operation Eagle 1971 we were not allowed the use of cameras or photography. I would have looked like this man wearing Olive Green Coat Poncho. I used US Army Cap-Field.**

A Soldier needs his gun, boots, and clothing to protect himself. During Operation Eagle 1971, I used this US Army Nylon Poncho with Hood(Olive) to sleep on the ground and as a coat to protect myself from intense fog and dew prevalent in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Short-range, manpack, portable, frequency modulated(FM) transceiver that provides two-way voice communication. Radio Set AN/PRC – 25 is used in the Vietnam War and I used the same in Operation Eagle. Two-way voice communications could be easily monitored by the enemy. Fortunately, It posed no problem as the enemy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts had no linguistic experts. I openly communicated with my Unit Commander in my native language of Telugu and there was absolutely no risk of revealing any sensitive information.

**The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle: What is the Connection?**

The U.S. Army uses a variety of Individual Field Medical Kits. The Kits issued to us during Operation Eagle 1971 were Olive Green Canvas pouches worn on the belts by each individual. The medical supplies included Water Purification Tablets for use in water bottles, anti-Malaria pills, Insect Repellent Solution(DBP), Insect Repellent Cream(DMP), Injectable Tubonic Morphine, tetracycline tablets, Multivitamin tablets, Field dressings, bandages and others. The Kits were not stamped but the contents reveal the place of origin.

Infantry marches on its feet. Boots are the most important equipment apart from Guns. I used Ankle Canvas Boots during Operation Eagle and marched on feet to fight and dislodge the enemy from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Canvas Boots lasted for the entire duration of Operation Eagle. They were better than the leather boots that I would use in other operational areas.

The Bald Eagle-The Golden Eagle-Operation Eagle-The Nixon Connection. On November 03, 1971 the Connection was revealed to me by the military equipment and tools that I used in the conduct of the military operation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

WAR AND PEACE – A FAILURE OF U.S. DIPLOMACY:

United States failed in Vietnam as it failed to develop a clear vision to achieve its goal of resisting and containing the expansion of Communist Power in Southeast Asia. U.S. efforts to stop the spread of Communism got derailed by Dr. Henry Kissinger who chose the option of backstabbing people who support the United States in its global mission to oppose Communism using diplomacy and military power. U.S. gave away a lot during the Paris Peace Talks basically defeating the accomplishments of its military and literally ridiculing their sacrifices. The several concessions given to the Peoples’ Republic of China to win its cooperation failed to stop the flow of military assistance to North Vietnam.

The establishment of US-China relations gave no advantage to the United States for its War in Vietnam. United States added insult to its own injuries by seeking the support of Communist China to attack India across its Himalayan frontier in the North East Frontier Agency in a vain bid to stop India in its efforts to liberate Bangladesh during 1971.

**President Nixon and Dr Henry Kissinger failed in their attempt to block the launching of Operation Eagle, the Bangladesh Ops of 1971.**

During 1971, Richard Nixon and Dr. Kissinger played on the Sino-Soviet Split. United States moved to normalize trade with China. Dr. Kissinger and President Nixon visited Peking(Beijing) to befriend Communist China. Did it stop China from delivering military assistance to North Vietnam? Did this famous meeting stop Hanoi’s EASTER OFFENSIVE in March 1972?

President Nixon met Communist China’s Prime Minister Chou Enlai. Did this act of friendship help the US Army in the Vietnam War? Could it stop Communist North Vietnam from launching its major invasion of South Vietnam during March 1972? Using this friendship, both President Nixon and Dr. Kissinger tried their best to stop India from Liberating Bangladesh during 1971. This Nixon and Chou Enlai friendship did not stop the Liberation of Bangladesh which India initiated with Operation Eagle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Dr. Kissinger’s diplomatic initiatives totally fail the US Policy in Southeast Asia. Communist China remains a huge military threat in this region and United States fails in its mission to curb the expansion of Communist Power.

THE BALD EAGLE AND THE GOLDEN EAGLE CONNECTION:

**The Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle came together as Operation Eagle.**

My Unit participated in Operation Eagle during 1971-72 to gain practical experience of Infantry Combat Operations to fight against Communists in a future battle.

The Operation Eagle 1971-72 was inclined towards peace. It intended to deliver peace to the people of Bangladesh who declared their independence from Pakistan during March 1971.

The War in Vietnam is over and yet the threat of Communism still persists in Southeast Asia. To deliver peace to people of Southeast Asia, the United States must learn from its failure in Vietnam. The failure was not that of the US Army which willingly sacrificed the lives of over 58,000 of its fighting men and women. The US political leadership had failed the US military mission in Vietnam. United States must seek assistance from the people of Southeast Asia and fight its enemy on the ground and dislodge the enemy in a ground battle.

Dr. R. R. Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,

Service Number: MS-8466, Rank. Captain,

Branch: Army Medical Corps/Short Service Regular Commission. Designation: Medical Officer, South Column Operation Eagle 1971-72.

Unit: Headquarters Establishment No. 22 C/O 56 APO.

Organization: Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment

https://bhavanajagat.com/2008/08/18/international-control-commission-for-vietnam/

OCTOBER 31, 2020. 36th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi – A flame that got extinguished

October 31, 2020. 36th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Operation Eagle (1971)-Public Grievance Registration Number: MODEF/E/2011/00761 dated 24 September, 2011 is asking the Government of India to give due recognition to a participant of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts that initiated the Liberation of Bangladesh during 1971.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with President Richard Nixon on November 03, 1971 while I was taking part in Operation Eagle to initiate Liberation of Bangladesh with military action in Chittagong Hill Tracts. — **October 31, 2020. 36th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A flame that got extinguished.**

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took the executive responsibility to initiate military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to initiate Liberation of Bangladesh during 1971. The Battle Plan was named Operation Eagle. — Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took the executive responsibility to initiate military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to initiate the Liberation of Bangladesh during 1971. The Battle Plan was named Operation Eagle.

On completion of my military training and medical internship, I was sent on deputation to serve in Special Frontier Force(Establishment No. 22), a multinational defense alliance/pact which is supervised by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretariat/The Directorate General of Security. — On completion of my military training and medical internship, I was sent on deputation to serve in Special Frontier Force (Establishment No. 22), a multinational defense alliance/pact which is supervised by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretariat/The Directorate General of Security.

October 31, 2020. 36th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A flame that got extinguished.

The Cold War in Asia. Democracy vs Communism. The Unfinished Korea-Vietnam War

The Cold War in Asia is about the security challenges imposed by the spread of Communism to Asia. The United States fought wars in Korea and Vietnam to contain the spread of Communism. I describe those military conflicts as ‘The Unfinished Korea-Vietnam War. In my analysis, the spread of Communism to Tibet must be defeated to stop the military expansionism of Communist China.

Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada

SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE-ESTABLISHMENT NO.22-VIKAS REGIMENT

BECA — and importance of three foundational pacts of India-US military cooperation

After LEMOA and COMCASA, New Delhi and Washington have signed BECA, sealing a framework of mutual trust and long-term military and strategic cooperation. The immediate context is the common threat from an aggressive and expansionist China, but the potential for cooperation in the future is immense.

Written by Shubhajit Roy , Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: October 28, 2020 1:49:58 pm

The Cold War in Asia. Democracy vs Communism. The Unfinished Korea-Vietnam War. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New Delhi (PTI)

India and the United States on Tuesday (October 27) signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which, along with the two agreements signed earlier — the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) — completes a troika of “foundational pacts” for deep military cooperation between the two countries.

What is the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)?

BECA will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence that will enhance the accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones. Through the sharing of information on maps and satellite images, it will help India access topographical and aeronautical data, and advanced products that will aid in navigation and targeting.

This could be key to Air Force-to-Air Force cooperation between India and the US. Just as your radio cab (or the GPS in your smartphone) helps you zero in on the path to your destination and helps you reach it quickly and efficiently, BECA will provide Indian military systems with a high-quality GPS to navigate missiles with real-time intelligence to precisely target the adversary.

Besides the sailing of ships, flying of aircraft, fighting of wars, and location of targets, geospatial intelligence is also critical to the response to natural disasters.

The signing of BECA flows from the commitment in the joint statement during President Donald Trump’s visit in February this year, when the two sides said they looked forward to an “early conclusion” of BECA.

The Cold War in Asia. Democracy vs Communism. The Unfinished Korea-Vietnam War. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (R), US. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (2L) and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper (L) during a press statement, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi (PTI)

And what is the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) about?

LEMOA was the first of the three pacts to be signed in August 2016. LEMOA allows the militaries of the US and India to replenish from each other’s bases, and access supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can then be reimbursed.

LEMOA is extremely useful for India-US Navy-to-Navy cooperation, since the two countries are cooperating closely in the Indo-Pacific. To put the usefulness of this agreement in simple terms, it is like being able to stop at a friend’s garage or workshop to refuel your car or get it repaired when you are far away from your own home or workshop.

The critical element that underpins LEMOA is mutual trust. Without trust, no country will be willing to expose its military and strategic assets such as warships to the facilities of another country.

The signing of LEMOA was in itself an affirmation of the mutual trust between the two militaries, and its application will enhance the trust. It took almost a decade to negotiate LEMOA, and the exercise in a sense bridged the trust deficit between India and the US, and paved the way for the other two foundational pacts.

While India had indeed provided ad hoc logistics support to the US in the past — such as allowing the refuelling of American aircraft in Bombay during the first Gulf War in 1991, and letting US warships visit Indian ports during the war on terror after 9/11— the signing of LEMOA has institutionalised this process and made it smoother.

Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the then US Secretary of Defense James Mattis at a joint press conference after the India-US 2 + 2 Dialogue in New Delhi in 2018 (File)

What about the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)?

COMCASA was signed in September 2018, after the first 2+2 dialogue during which then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the visiting Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and then Secretary of Defence James N Mattis.

The pact allows the US to provide India with its encrypted communications equipment and systems so that Indian and US military commanders, and the aircraft and ships of the two countries, can communicate through secure networks during times of both peace and war. Again, to take a simple example, it’s like being able to exchange messages or communicate with a friend on WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram in real time and in a secure manner.

The signing of COMCASA paved the way for the transfer of communication security equipment from the US to India to facilitate “interoperability” between their forces — and potentially with other militaries that use US-origin systems for secure data links.

What is the specific context of these pacts, and their practical benefit to India?

The strengthening of the mechanisms of cooperation between the two militaries must be seen in the context of an increasingly aggressive China, which threatens a large number of countries in its neighbourhood and beyond, and which has been challenging several established norms and aspects of international relations.

Amid the ongoing standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh — the longest and most serious in three decades — India and the US intensified under-the-radar intelligence and military cooperation at an unprecedented level, especially since June.

Pompeo called up External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the third week of June, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been in touch with the US NSA Robert C O’Brien, and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark A Milley has been in touch with Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat. The US Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper called up Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in the second week of July.

These conversations facilitated information-sharing between the security, military, and intelligence agencies of the two countries, including the sharing of high-end satellite images, telephone intercepts, and data on Chinese troops and weapons deployment along the LAC.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, center, gestures towards US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, right, standing beside him, ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi (AP)

On Tuesday, Pompeo attacked China directly, and reiterated the American commitment to “stand with the people of India to confront threats to their sovereignty and to their liberty”.

“…I am glad to say that the United States and India are taking steps to strengthen cooperation against all manner of threats and not just those posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” Pompeo said. “We went (to the war memorial in New Delhi)… to honour the brave men and women of the Indian Armed forces who have sacrificed for the world’s largest democracy including 20 that were killed by the PLA forces in the Galwan valley in June.”

Esper said: “The defence ties between our two nations remain a key pillar of our overall bilateral relationship. Based on our shared values and common interests, we stand shoulder to shoulder, in support of a free and open Indo Pacific for all, particularly in light of increasing aggression and destabilising activities by China.”

Rajnath Singh and Jaishankar, who were present with Pompeo and Esper, did not name China, but spoke about “respecting” and “upholding” the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of all states — an obvious reference to Beijing’s belligerence along the LAC.

And what is the big picture on the signing of these foundational pacts with the US and the way forward?

As mentioned above, it marks, above all, the enhancement of mutual trust and a commitment to the long-term strategic relationship. With these key defence pacts in place, cooperation between the US and India can take place in a more structured and efficient way, rather than in episodic bursts.

While LEMOA means one partner trusts the other enough to expose its valuable assets, COMCASA means one is confident that it can rely on encrypted systems to connect the two militaries. And the latest pact, BECA, means the countries can share highly classified information in real time without fear of being compromised.

The US wants India to move away from Russian equipment and platforms, as it feels this may expose its technology and information to Moscow. So far, India is going ahead with the purchase of the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia, and this has been a sticking point for American interlocutors.

For its part, India is wary of Pakistan’s deep-rooted ties with the Pentagon, and Washington’s dependence on Rawalpindi for access to Afghanistan as well as its exit strategy.

But, because of the clear and present danger from China, New Delhi’s strategic embrace of Washington is the obvious outcome. The Indian defence establishment has already used at least five American platforms at the LAC— C-17 Globemaster III for military transport, Boeing’s Chinook CH-47 as heavy-lift helicopters, Boeing’s Apache as tank-killers, P-8I Poseidon for overland reconnaissance, and Lockheed Martin’s C-130J for airlifting troops.

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SENSE EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A PHYSICAL OR BODY EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A CELLULAR EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SOCIAL EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A MORAL EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS IS AWARENESS OF EXISTENCE IN AN ENVIRONMENT:

CONSCIOUSNESS AND MATERIAL SUBSTANCE:

CONSCIOUSNESS-THE LAW OF INDIVIDUALITY AND CREATION:

THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE HUMAN ORGANISM:

THE GRADING OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN CLINICAL MEDICINE:

THE TOTALITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

Consciousness is a Mental Experience:

Related Articles

Share this:

I regret I have only one life to give for my country. -Prem Ramchandani

Share this:

Armed Forces Flag Day 2020

Share this:

In Tibet, China preaches the material over the spiritual

PRAY LESS, WORK MORE

FAME OR SHAME

Share this:

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT

Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.

Campaigning in Texas

Morning in Fort Worth

On to Dallas

The Assassination

The President’s Funeral

Share this:

Tibetan political leader visits White House for first time in six decades

Share this:

The Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa and his perilous journey to India: ‘A dizzying, frightening blur’

Excerpts from a new illustrated biography of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Lhasa, 1959: Chinese aggression and a Tibetan resistance

Share this:

‘Indian women sexless, unattractive, don’t know how they reproduce’ — US President Nixon said

In a set of newly declassified tapes, former US President Richard Nixon allegedly called Indian women ‘the most unattractive women in the world’, according to NYT op-ed.

SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE-ESTABLISHMENT NO. 22-VIKAS REGIMENT- OPERATION EAGLE 1971 AND THE VIETNAM WAR:

BECA — and importance of three foundational pacts of India-US military cooperation

After LEMOA and COMCASA, New Delhi and Washington have signed BECA, sealing a framework of mutual trust and long-term military and strategic cooperation. The immediate context is the common threat from an aggressive and expansionist China, but the potential for cooperation in the future is immense.

What is the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)?

And what is the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) about?

What about the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)?

What is the specific context of these pacts, and their practical benefit to India?

And what is the big picture on the signing of these foundational pacts with the US and the way forward?

Share this: