Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

Vijayalakshmi Ramanan retired from IAF as Wing Commander in 1979. The 96-year-old passed away in Bengaluru on 18 October. By Special Arrangement Wing Commander (retd) Vijayalakshmi Ramanan, the first woman officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF), had more than one ‘first’ to her credit. She was not only the first woman to wear saree as uniform, she also designed the uniform. Wing Commander (retd) Ramanan passed away on Sunday (18 October) at the age of 96 in Bengaluru. Her ashes were immersed in the Cauvery river near Srirangapatna Tuesday by her family. S.V.L. Narayan, her son-in-law, told that Ramanan had developed health complications in the past 10 days and was shifted to the IAF’s Command Hospital. “She passed away peacefully Sunday night. She was very active till the very end. Days before she passed away, Ramanan had even given a handwritten note to her doctor,” Narayan said. Born on 27 February 1924 , Ramanan did her MBBS from the Madras Medical College in 1943 and was named the b...

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has said that the retirement age of jawans in the Army, airmen in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and sailors in the Navy will be extended as it could benefit nearly 15 lakh men of all three armed forces.  “We are soon bringing a policy to extend the service profile of the men (forces nomenclature for troops) and have an increased minimum retirement age,” said General Rawat in an exclusive interaction with The Tribune yesterday. On being asked if he was looking to cut down the manpower costs as rising salaries and pensions were taking away a large portion of the budget, General Rawat said, “I am looking at manpower costs. Why should a jawan serve for just 15 or 17 years, why cannot he serve for 30 years? We are losing trained manpower.”  Easing fears that this policy would change the age profile of the fighting force, he said that the frontline combatant could be young. “We have an Army Medical Corps, why can’t the nursing assistant serve ...