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Time of India
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Small-town roots, sky-high valour: Bihar's sons at the helm of Operation Sindoor
Patna: No one would have thought that a decision to establish a military airbase at Chunapur in Purnia after the 1962 India-China war would give wings to the dream of a child in the town a few years later to fly jets and oversee a successful mission like Operation Sindoor against terrorists to avenge the killings of 26 tourists at Pahalgam. Air Marshal Awadesh Kumar Bharti , who as the DG Air Operations (DGAO) played a key role in the success of Operation Sindoor, is the man who nurtured that ambition while being a student of Middle School, Parora, 10 km away from Purnia town. He not only cracked the entrance exam of Sainik School Tilaiya , now in Jharkhand, but also of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and got commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in June 1987.A decorated officer, Air Marshal Bharti has been awarded Vayu Sena (VM) and Ati Vishisht Seva (AVSM) medals for his distinguished also has its reason to celebrate the country's military might, as defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh , who kept a hawk's eye on the preparedness for the Operation Sindoor launched on May 7, hails from Muzaffarpur in the state and had his schooling from Netarhat School, now in Jharkhand. His commitment was reflected in his statement on assuming the charge of defence secretary last year when Rajesh said, "The country will forever be indebted to our brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the motherland. Their extraordinary courage and selflessness inspire us to work towards making India a safe and prosperous nation."The Bharti family is proud of the achievement of its members. The eldest among the three brothers and a sister born to Jiwachh Lal Yadav and Urmila Devi from Jhunni Kalan village in Purnia district, Air Marshal Bharti had that fire since childhood to serve the country by joining the armed forces, his brother Mithilesh Bharti told this newspaper over phone from Purnia on Wednesday. His youngest brother, Dr Rajesh Kumar Bharti, who is a noted medical practitioner, told TOI, "My visionary grandfather had a dream to see his grandchild soar in the skies. My grandfather was a strict disciplinarian and used to recite stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata every evening. He would take Awadesh to all village fairs to make him aware about the rich heritage and roots and inculcated in him the Indian 'sanskars' and good virtues."He started his schooling from Purnia Convent. "Our parents were living in Kosi Colony as dad was working in finance dept of Kosi Irrigation Project. He was a brilliant student. His teachers still remember him as one of the best students and my brother keeps visiting his school and interacts with the faculty and children when he visits Purnia. Then he went to the boarding school at Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya, Parora and Sainik School, Tilaiya, followed by the NDA in Pune where he was the topper. He was awarded the prestigious 'Sword of Honour'," Dr Bharti swimming, playing golf and walking are his few hobbies, Dr Bharti father is proud of his son for what he is doing for the country. Air Marshal Bharti makes it a point every year to visit his home town in Srinagar Hata where his parents have been residing for the last 35 years. Mithilesh, who works for a pharmaceutical company, said, "Whenever bhaiya visits Purnia, he meets people. He also visits the village home," he said. Earlier, Air Marshal Amit Dev of Sitamarhi and an alumnus of Patna's St Michael's High School, was the DGAO during the Balakot airstrikes following the Pulwama terror attack on the CRPF convoy in 2019. He is a recipient of three Presidential awards. He was also appointed as ADC to the President of India. His subordinate and Group Captain Shashi Bhushan Sharma (retd) told TOI that his decisions were precise and timely, yet he always lent a patient ear, even to the quietest voice in the room. "To us, that was leadership in its truest form. I salute the man, the mentor, and the Marshal," Sharma said.
Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
‘Happy beyond words': Air Marshal AK Bharti's father on knowing his son's role during Operation Sindoor
Jeevachhlal Yadav, 85, father of Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations (DGAO), is a proud man after his son played a critical role in planning and executing the Indian Air Force's (IAF) operations against Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. 'People are either calling up or dropping by to congratulate us. We are happy beyond words and on cloud nine for what my son has done for the country,' Yadav told HT. The octogenarian was unaware of his son's heroics until his neighbours asked him to watch the officer's press briefing last Sunday evening. Yadav still regrets missing the first few minutes of the press conference and continues to stay glued to the news channels, hoping to see his son again. 'He did not tell me anything when he called up and spoke to me last week. He could have at least told me that he would be on TV. I would have watched the programme from the beginning,' Yadav said. The man also said the officer was 'brilliant' since childhood and never took private tuition, from his schooling to joining the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune. Mithilesh Kumar (48), the second of the three siblings in the family, stated how his brother does not discuss anything about his work. 'Though my brother regularly calls up, he never discusses anything about what he is doing. It's easier to talk to bhabhi (Sangeeta Bharti), who hails from Kashmir and was a short service commission officer in the IAF before she got married to bhaiya in 1996,' said Kumar, who works at a pharmaceutical firm. AK Bharti joined the flying branch in 1987. Over 20 years of dedicated service, he achieved many key milestones. He is a Fighter Combat Leader and has completed training at the Defence Services Staff College. He served as the Flight Commander of a Sukhoi-30MK squadron and also worked at Air Headquarters as Joint Director of Air Defence Operations. He was awarded the 'Three Stars' for safe flying, showing outstanding performance, and received a commendation from the Chief of the Air Staff in 1997 for his dedication to duty. He was promoted to the rank of Air Marshal in September 2023. India launched Operation Sindoor targeting high-profile terrorists and terror infrastructure in Pakistan as a retaliation for the April 22 attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours soared for days as Pakistan launched 'Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos' targeting civilian and military sites in India, which was successfully thwarted by the Indian armed forces. (With inputs from Ruchir Kumar/Aditya Nath Jha)
India.com
14-05-2025
- Politics
- India.com
India to punish Turkey for helping Pakistan with weapons, set to drop Rs 3000 crore 'bomb'
India to punish Turkey for helping Pakistan with weapons, set to drop Rs 3000 crore 'bomb' India on Turkey: During the recent India-Pakistan tension, Turkey openly helped Pakistan, after which there is a demand for boycotting Turkey in India. Many Indian travel companies have stopped booking with Turkey. According to a report, if this campaign intensifies, then Turkey, which supports Pakistan, may suffer a huge loss of about Rs 3,000 crore. India has always helped Turkey. Medicines were provided by India during the Covid period. At the same time, during the devastating earthquake in Turkey in February 2023, India extended a helping hand. India was at the forefront in helping this country. Turkey gives its most dangerous drone Sonagar to Pakistan In a press briefing held by the Ministry of External Affairs on May 9, Colonel Sofia Qureshi had said that Pakistan had attempted to attack 36 places in India using drones and missiles. She had said that most of these drones belonged to Turkey. Turkey provided its most dangerous drone Sonagar to Pakistan. The specialty of these drones is that they are unmanned aircraft capable of carrying weapons. Features of Turkey's drone These Turkish drones have special capabilities to identify and destroy targets. This is Turkey's first national armed drone system, which is used in cross-border military operations. The range of these drones is 5 to 10 km. It is equipped with cameras and automatic machine guns. DGAO Air Marshal AK Bharti had said in a press briefing that our air defense system is so strong that it shot down Turkey's drone. Let us tell you that during Operation Sindoor , when tensions between India and Pakistan increased, Turkey's President Erdogan talked to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif several times and expressed concern, but did not say a word about the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
The Hindu
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
India, Pakistan agree not to fire a single shot
While consenting to continue the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action, India and Pakistan on Monday (May 12, 2025) agreed that both sides 'consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction' from the borders and forward areas, the Army said. This was agreed during the talks between the Director-Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries that were held on the established hotline at 5 p.m. 'Issues related to continuing the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action against each other were discussed,' the Army said. India-Pakistan ceasefire LIVE | Follow the Updates on May 12, 2025 This effectively takes forward the understanding reached between the DGMOs on May 10 to stop all firing and all military activity that came into effect at 5 p.m. later that day. While that was violated by Pakistan within few hours, guns fell silent and the skies remained devoid of drones on Sunday (May 11, 2025) night, the Army confirmed. Earlier in the day, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Director General Air Operations (DGAO), underscored that 'in spite of some minor damage incurred during Operation Sindoor, all our military bases and systems continue to remain fully operational, and ready to undertake any further missions, should the need so arise.' The three Directors General (Operations) underscored how the country's Air Defence (AD) grid functioned seamlessly to shoot down the waves and waves of incoming drones, loitering munitions and missiles launched by Pakistan between May 7 and 10. 'I would like to highlight again that in every single domain that Operation Sindoor has been prosecuted, there has been total synergy between the three Services,' noted Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai, Director General Military Operations. The DG, Naval Operations, Vice Admiral A. N. Pramod said their powerful Carrier Battle Group (CBG) with formidable offensive capability was able to operate 'with impunity and maintained an uncontested presence' in the area of operations. 'Effectively it compelled the Pakistani air elements to remain bottled up close to the Makaran coast, denying any opportunity to be a threat in maritime space.' Air Marshal Bharti delved into how the Indian armed forces managed to minimise the damage to both civilian and military infrastructure in the country, in spite of the unrelenting efforts by the Pakistani forces. In this regard, noting that while much has been said and written about the newer systems, the DGAO highlighted the performance and efficacy demonstrated by even the older and battle-proven AD weapons such as the Pechora, OSA-AK and the L-70, Zu 23 mm and Schilka guns in countering the Pakistani threat vectors in the current operations. Another highlight has been the stellar performance of indigenous AD weapons such as the Akash surface-to-air missile system, he stated. 'I would like to also mention that, putting together and operationalisation of this potent AD environment has been possible over the last decade, due to unwavering budgetary and policy support provided by the government in acquiring state-of-the art equipment and weapon systems,' he said. Maritime surveillance Further on the Navy's role, Vice Admiral Pramod said that in the current stand-off, the presence of the aircraft carrier with large number of Mig-29K fighters and air-borne early warning helicopters 'prevented any suspicious or hostile aircraft to close the CBG within several hundred km.' 'Over the past few years, and most importantly immediately after the cowardly incident by Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack at Pahalgam, we had validated our anti-missile and anti-aircraft defence capability in a complex threat environment using a cross-platform cooperative mechanism,' the officer said. 'The Indian Navy maintains a credible capability to detect, identify and neutralise any aerial platforms that threaten our units at sea,' he added.
Time of India
12-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
State salutes its two sons in uniform after ‘Op Sindoor'
1 2 3 4 Patna: As the sun set over the fields of Narayanpur in Saran and Junni Kalan in Purnia, the two villages in Bihar stood united in pride and grief – one mourning the loss of a brave son, the other celebrating the leadership of another. From Saran to Purnia, " Operation Sindoor " has stirred a wave of emotion as the state salutes two of its own who stood at the frontline of India's response to those honoured is BSF sub-inspector Mohammad Imtiyaz , martyred during the operation. He was a resident of Narayanpur village in Saran district. Another son of Bihar, Air Marshal Awadesh Kumar Bharti , director general of air operations (DGAO), played a key role in the mission and hails from Junni Kalan village in Purnia district. He briefed the media on the operation's results following the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 innocent tourists were brutally killed on April 22. The Indian armed forces responded with precision airstrikes in the early hours of May 7, targeting nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).Air Marshal Bharti, an alumnus of Sainik School, Tilaiya, continues a proud tradition. Coincidentally, Air Marshal Amit Dev, who served as DGAO during the Balakot airstrikes on Feb 26, 2019, also has roots in Bihar. Dev completed his schooling at St Xavier's and St Michael's High School in Patna and was decorated with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Marshal Bharti's family still resides in Junni Kalan. "His brother, Dr R K Bharti, is a practising doctor in Purnia town. His father, Jeevach Lal Yadav, is retired and lives there with the other family members," said Kundan Krishnan Mohan, mukhiya of Jhunni Kalan panchayat. "He has his ancestral home in ward number 10. Air Marshal Bharti visited the village about two years ago. His mother, Urmila Devi, frequently visits her village home," he added.
