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Showing posts with label DEFENCE & SECURITY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DEFENCE & SECURITY. Show all posts

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Movie recommendations for defense aspirants

Hollywood:

  • Fury(2014):

Main theme- The story revolves around a mission in war like situation involving Tanker called Fury and her crew.
IMDb rating- 7.6/10
Available on- Netflix




  • Saving Private Ryan(1998):

Main theme- A story of  searching a soldier naming Private Ryan. The search party was lead by a young captain, the story showcases comraderie &determination and movie seems realistic.
IMDb rating- 8.6/10
Available on-  Amazon Prime



  • K-19: The Widowmaker(2002):

Main theme- A Soviet Union's Nuclear powered submarine misfunctions in its maiden sail, The story revolves, how her crew workaround(knowing they will die) to avoid nuclear disaster at shore.
The movie is based on true story of K-19.
IMDb rating- 6.7/10
Available on- 



  • USS Indianapolis men of courage(2016):

Main theme- Movie revolves survival and court scene after sinking of US Naval ship, hit by Japanese torpedo called Kaiten. The US mission was a classified one so it is less known to public, the movie is based on true events.
IMDb rating-5.3 /10
Available on - 

  • Unbroken(2014):

Main theme- An Olympic track record holder, fighter pilot gets crashed into sea and gets captivated as prison of war. The movie shows protagonist's struggles.
IMDb rating- 7.2/10
Available on-  Netflix


  • Dunkirk(2017):

Main theme- Story based on true events of World war -2 Where soldiers of England and France are pushed to costal town of Dunkirk. Movies showcases struggles of soldiers their evacuation and national politics/Partiality while evacuation.
IMDb rating- 7.8/10
Available on- Amazon Prime

  • The hurt locker(2008):

Main theme- The story of sergeant and his subordinates deployed in Iran. The recklessness of protagonist causes some difference between him and his team during mission. The movie has won several awards and It surely will give you goosebumps.
IMDb rating- 7.5/10
Available on- Amazon Prime

  • American sniper(2014):

Main theme- The movie is about mental thoughts of a SEAL sniper, who had served in Iran.
IMDb rating- 7.3/10
Available on - Netflix

  • 1917(2019):

Main theme- It is the story of two British soldiers, who had to cross enemy boarder to pass on a critical message to save thousands of their comrades 
IMDb rating- 8.3/10
Available on - 

  • Topgun(1986):

Main theme- This movie has been inspirational to many defense aspirants. The story revolves around A Navy Lt taking part in selection of top Naval aviators strike squad called Topgun. The story has emotional touch to it, involving a love story and protagonist Maverick looses his buddy to an crash due to technical failure onboard.  

There in a part -2 planned to this

IMDb rating- 6.9/10
Available on - 

  • The Imitation game(2014):

Main theme- The movie is based on true story involving discovery of Enigma machine by Alan Turing to crack German messages. After watching this movie you will get to know how calculative world war-2 was. Alan Turing and team literally decided who is going to die in WW-II
IMDb rating- 8/10
Available on - Netflix

  •  JAR HEAD(2005--):

Main theme- The movie is based on stories of soldier who gets deployed in foreign countries, the stories mainly based on self talks and the uncertainty they are facing.
IMDb rating- 7/10
Available on - 

  • Sully: Miracle on the Hudson(2016):

Main theme- Captain of a passenger does unusual landing over Hudson river. This is based on true story, which showcases so many leadership qualities.
IMDb rating- 7.4/10
Available on - 



  • Captain Phillips(2013):

Main theme- The theme of the movie is a story of captain of a cargo ship under attack by somalin pirates. Like Sully this movie also a true story, showcasing lots officer like qualities.
IMDb rating- 7.8/10
Available on - 

  • Forest Gump(1994):

Main theme- A Man with relatively low IQ recalls his early life in this movie. the movie shows his life in Army and important historical events.

IMDb rating- 8.8/10

Available on - Netflix



  • Inglourious Basterds(2009):

Main theme- The movie is story of few Jew undercover soldiers working to bring down Nazi.

IMDb rating- 8.3/10

Available on- Netflix



Bollywood:

  • URI: The Surgical Strike(2019):
Main theme- The movie is based on true events; It depicts incidents involving counter surgical attack conducted by Indian Army, against terrorist group, who were directly responsible for URI army base terrorist attack.

IMDb rating- 8.2/10

Available on - 

  • The Gazi Attack (2017):
Main theme- This is one of many unknown true tales of armed forces; which actually occurred during 1971 Indo-Pak war. The story of bringing down the Pakistan Submarine PNS Gazi.

IMDb rating- 7.6/10

Available on- Amazon Prime

  • Laksya(2004):
Main theme- This is a story of amature confused college going kid who turns out to become, Indian Army officer and leads a successful operation during Indo Pak war.

IMDb rating- 7.9/10

Available on- Amazon Prime

  • Shourya(2008):
Main theme- This is a courtroom drama, involving case against a serving Brigadier. The movie shares similarity from a hollywood movie- A Few Good Men' (1992)

IMDb rating- 7.3/10

Available on- youtube for free

  • Raazi (2018):
Main theme- A true story of a RAW agent who played a key role during Indo-Pak war of 1971. this is unique as it is story of a women who is married to Pak Maj. and had been key intelligence source.

IMDb rating- 7.8/10

Available on- Amazon Prime

  • Boarder(1997):
Main theme- Collection of  small story about life of soldiers during war are bundled together to make a movie.

IMDb rating- 7.9/10

Available on- Youtube for free

  • Holiday: Asoldier is never off duty(2014):

Main theme- A solder on holiday bursts out Terrorist gang.
IMDb rating- 7.9/10
Available on - 




  • Shershaah (2021):
Main theme- It is a movie based on life of one of the Kargil heroes Capt. Vikram Batra. 

IMDb rating- 8.8/10

Available on- Amazon prime



These are just some from whole bunch; Feel free to put any movies in the comment section below, to update the list.

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Monday, February 15, 2021

15 OLQs: Qualities being checked in a candidate at SSB

Services selection boards interview are one of the toughest interviews in India. It is so, for a reason to filter candidates who are worthy to be officers. SSB interview is nothing but a series of personality tests. It assesses to find whether the candidates have it in them to lead men into battels without any specials incentives but a possibility of casuality or even death.

Those qualities are of an Army/Navy/Airforce officers, which in short known as OLQs(Officer Like Qualities). 


OLQs-officer-like-qualities


There were totally 21 OLQs at the inception of SSB in after changes it has been brought down to 15. Those qualities are bifurcated into four factors, those are as shown below

Factor I: Planning and Organizing

1)Effective Intelligence
2)Reasoning Ability
3)Organizing Ability
4)Power of expression

Factor II: Social Adjustment

5)Social adaptability
6)Cooperation
7)Sense of responsibility

Factor III: Social effectiveness

8)Initiative
9)Self confidence
10)Speed of decision
11)Ability to influence group
12)Liveliness

Factor IV: Dynamic

13)Determination
14)Courage
15)Stamina

***********

Lets briefly understand one after other; what each quality mean.

1)Effective Intelligence:

It is the capability of an person to solve practical daily problems; It is different from basic intelligence (which is measured in stage-1 as OIR tests).

2)Reasoning Ability:

It is the ability of a person to understand any situation and reason the cause and effects of it, with application of logic. In Hindi it is known as Tark shakti. 

3)Organizing Ability:

As the name suggests, it is the capacity of a person to organize resources, problems, thoughts and ideas.
Just to explicitly mention here the resources could be any useful thing money, time, material and human resource.

4)Power of expression:

This is the most basic and important quality of a person. It is ability of the candidate to communicate his/her thoughts opinions and ideas effectively with ease. 

This includes effectiveness in verbal, non-verbal and written communication.

5)Social adaptability:

It  is the ability of a person to adapt to any situation, group or social environment very quickly. Adaptability will be well enhance with quick learning and reasoning ability.

6)Cooperation:

Cooperation is basically person's attitude towards collaboration and team work. It is how he reacts to difference in ideas and opinions for the collective cause. Anywhere in social scenario group goal comes first then comes individual ambition.

Dictionary meaning of cooperation: The action or process of working together to the same end.
 

7)Sense of responsibility:

It is the understanding and clarity in mind of a person in performing his/her roles well without reminder or no ones forceful instructions. Roles could be of a child, student, citizen and teammate etc.

8)Initiative:

Taking first step towards team/collective goal and sustaining  the zeal until it is achieved.

9)Self confidence:

It is the faith in one's own abilities. (especially at unfamiliar situations)
 

10)Speed of decision:

As the name suggest; It is the ability of a person to come at workable decisions fast and accurate.
 

11)Ability to influence group:

As the name suggests It is the ability to make his/her followers to work/behave as intended.

As mentioned in the beginning of the blog; officers has lead men into battels without any specials incentives but a possibility of casuality. So the qualities mentioned so far, especially ability to influence group is essentially should be there in an officer.

12)Liveliness:

It is the capability off a person to be joyous and inspiring even if the situation get stressful. Optimism, clarity off thoughts and control over his/her emotions comes into play here.

13)Determination:

It is sticking to what he/she believes right; until the end. 

In other words it is a sustained effort to achieve objectives in sprite of obstacles and setbacks.

14)Courage:

It is capability of a person to appreciate and take well purposed (and calculated) risks. Courage has two forms to it  (i)Moral courage: standing for what is right.  and (ii)Physical courage: Standing for physical risks.

15)Stamina:

As all knows, It is capability of a person to withstand physical and mental stress. It includes both physical and mental endurance.

Assessors at SSB check for above qualities using different tools in various tasks/tests of Individual interview, GTO tasks and Psychological tests. Now the question is


As a candidate/defense aspirant, should you know about 15 OLQs?

The single and straight forward answer is NO. Some people say it is better to know OLQs, some coaching classes even guide aspirants wrongly to portray OLQs on purpose. 

but remember, by just fake portrayal and mugging up officer like qualities you will not gain them. It takes time and effort to inculcates each qualities unless you have them as a part of your upbringing.
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Monday, October 26, 2020

Story of a submariner: Play of fate - Defense aspirants must read

story of a submariner: Play of fate

This is a story of an officer, told at Naval Selection Board, Vizag. I do not remember his name properly but his rank was commander. For the ease of story, I am assuming his name as Ajay, Cdr. Ajay. The story involved his friend Sucky and some other incidents till his successful career as a submariner, instructor and defense strategist. At the end there will be a question for defense aspirants asked by him, so try to read it till the end. 


Ajay and Sukhy:

Ajay was a nerd in his schooling and was only concentrated in academics. His dad was a lawyer and mom was a homemaker. The only set of goals in his life included making shit loads of money, having a beautiful wife and settling down in United states. From the beginning Ajay was clear that the only way he can achieve that, was by cracking entrance to IIT.   

Ajay had a Khalsa friend Sukhdev Singh AKA Sukhy. Sukhy was extremely disciplined and immensely passionate towards joining Army. He also was a big fan of Hollywood character Maverick from  the movie Top-Gun. Sukhy in the summer of Delhi use to go for a ride by wearing lather jacket just like Tom Cruise in Top-Gun. He also had developed six pack abs and biceps by his tough fitness regime. 

Guys, having 6-pack abs in late 80's, early 90's was a macho thing.


The NDA Exam:

One evening, during the study holidays of the 12th grade, Sucky comes to Ajay's place and tells "Hey, Bugger! NDA ka form nikla hai, bhar dena" (hey Ajay NDA form is out fill it).

Ajay asks "Ye kya hota hain?" (what is it?)

Sukhy says "arre army ka hai saath mein jaathe, exam dene" and fills the form on behalf of Ajay and submits it.

Both of them write the exam in nearby center and clear it. Sukhdev does remaining procedures as well on behalf of Ajay and they get the call for SSB interview at Bengaluru. 


The SSB:

The interview was scheduled from 19th August and the reporting was at MCO of KSR railway station, Bengaluru.

On 14th August Sukhy, comes to Ajay's home. "Hey, Bag Bharna start kiya ki nai?" (Have you started preparation and packing or not?)

Ajay told "Arre, mein nai Aaraha, army sabi mere bas ka bath nai hain. tum chale jana!" ( I am not in a mood to come, Army is  not my cup of tea, you go ahead)

Sukhy uses Ajay's weekness and influences him by saying "hey! Ajay Banglore Masth jaga hai! Khoob ladkia hote hai, train se jayenge akela Maza ayega chalo" ( Hey! Ajay Banglore is a fantastic place! you will get to see lot of girls and you will enjoy the journey too) 

Ajay packs the bag and prepares himself thinking about girls all the way :-)

The D-day comes Ajay and Sukhdev report at MCO and five days flies by. Ajay enjoys those five days at SSB, as he had limited outdoor exposure before coming to Bengalore. On 23rd August. They both finish the SSB conference( last activity of SSB interview). There were 30 odd candidates. Ajays chest number was 24 and Sukhdev's was 26. All the candidates were made to stand with their bags, under a tree and officer in-charge was giving motivating lecture and started announcing chest numbers of recommended(selected) candidates.

A bus to take them back to railway station had come. Ajay was thinking about catching first seat in the bus, so that he gets a window seat of his choice. Ajay was fiddling with his bag and getting ready to board the bus. Suddenly officer in-charge shouts "chest number 24!, chest number 24!"

Sukhdev pats on Ajay "Hey Bugger! tum select ho gaye ho" ( hey Ajay! you are selected).

Unfortunately that day chest number 26 was not called and Sukhy sadly went back. Ajay was in dilemma and was thinking "is this for real? "

Sukhdev really went on to sad mode. Sukhy felt like he was cheated!

Destiny of young boys:

Anyhow days went by Sukhdev left his dream and joined a local engineering college as he did not have any backup plans. Ajay joined NDA. As both of them were in different boats which they did not desire, they struggled. Struggled  a lot.  Ajay struggled to cope up with physical fitness challenges and Sucky had to sit for long, to study. 

Days went by, now Ajay is commander Ajay, a submariner, a strategist , a researcher. With number of decorations commander Ajay is doing well off in his career in Indian Navy. On the other side Sukhdev has his own investment firm, home, number of cars and a beautiful wife right in the city of New York. 


The moment of surprise:

One day, Ajay was coming back from his 45 days submarine sail at sea. He was in blue Dangri, stinking, sweating, extremely tired and had not taken bath for last few days. As he enters hall of his home, he sees a well suited Khalsa man having tea. They both were dumb struck for a while, then came back to reality.

It was evening at 1600 hrs, Ajay tells "Hey Sukhdev, Nahake aata hu" (Hey Sukhdev, I will take bath and come back). 

They sat in the sea facing balcony at 1700 hrs sipping drinks and munching on snacks. Talks went on till 2330 hrs. Ajay's wife call both of them for dinner.

At the end of the talk they realize, they both are living each others dreams, exchanged!

Sukhy says " hey bugger! you are living my dream-life and I am jealous of you for that"

Commander Ajay replies "so you are sukhy! I am jealous of you too!" 

Water fills up in both of their eyes and silence persists.


                                                       ***************************


The question asked by Commander Ajay to defence aspirants was

 

"On August 23rd,on the SSB conference day, did Sukadev loose something? Or Ajay gained something? Or both of them gained/lost anything?"


The same question goes for you, let us know your opinion in the comment section below. 

 

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Monday, October 19, 2020

AFSPA - lecturette SSB

What is AFSPA?


AFSPA stands for Armed Forces Special Power Act, implemented first ever time on 11 September 1958 at northeastern region of the country to suppress the growing violence. With the implementation of this act in any state/part of state, army personals will get some special power to tackle the disturbers/insurgents. Which include arrest of suspicious personal without any warrant; shoot specific group or personal with prior warning or searching suspicious vehicle etc.

So far its been implemented in various parts of North eastern region, Punjab/Chandigarh region and Jammu and Kashmir. In other side its also been one of the controversial acts due violation of human rights, some even compare it with Rowlett act of British era. 


Why is it criticized?

AFSPA has been mainly criticized on human right violation and scope misuse of it. There are so many legal suits against army personals on human right violation, fake encounters and even rape. Several commissions of UN raised questions about AFSPA and On 31 March 2012 it also asked India to terminate the law.


CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT AFSPA


If we see into criticality of situation at disturbed areas and incapability of internal forces (police) it is a necessity to deploy Armed forces. If deploy our mighty forces then there should be less of restriction to operate efficiently. So If there are two laws to be followed (civil legality and its own uniform laws) before attacking against radical elements isn’t it an extra hurdle imposed on our Armed brothers?


What can be done? some of the opinions;

1)The concept of AFSPA is made basically to control whenever police or any other state's internal forces fail to control the disturbed situation; So it is essential to have armed forces involvement until we better equip/empower/better train our police;

2)Indian army is moral army and it rarely commits misbehavior, but after all army consists of human and humans commit mistakes. So it is essential to have some investigative body to keep the human arrogance in check.

3)So it is better to setup a court of investigation to analyse the situation after committing, which reduces confusion. other central forces would be better like if army conducts ops then navy or AF intelligence people can conduct investigation.

4)Whenever and wherever it is unnecessary it should be taken off. Government (both central and state) and army and police should collectively sit and take decisions related to AFSPA.

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Friday, June 7, 2019

AFSPA: The law of controversy



    Full form of AFSPA is Armed Forces Special Power Act.
         It is a bill passed by both Lokhasabha and Rajyasabha and duly signed by president on 11 September 1958. This has been mainly passed considering increase in violence in northeastern region of the nation. Later it was implemented in various other parts of the nation including Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently during Lokhasabha election(2019) congress party has also made into news by mentioning revocation of AFSPA from all the parts considering its misuse. Before discussing it lets understand some facts about AFSPA by answering series of questions,

What is AFSPA?

AFSPA stands for Armed Forces Special Power Act, implemented first ever time on 11 September 1958 at northeastern region of the country to suppress the growing violence. With the implementation of this act in any state/part of state, army personals will get some special power to tackle the disturbers/insurgents. Which include arrest of suspicious personal without any warrant; shoot specific group or personal with prior warning or searching suspicious vehicle etc.
So far its been implemented in various parts of North eastern region, Punjab/chandighad region and Jammu and Kashmir. In other side its also been one of the controversial acts due violation of human rights, some even compare it with Rowlett act of British era.

When is AFSPA proclaimed?

Before proclamation of AFSPA at any region that particular state or part of it has to be considered as “disturbed area”. This is done as per the section (3 ) of AFSPA. The proclamation is generally done by ministry of home affairs by seeking opinion of that particular state.
                The causes of disturbance could be misunderstanding between communal sections based on caste, religion, color or social status. The increase in insurgency or radical/antinational groups whichever is threat to national security could be cause of disturbance. In general failure of internal administration or incapability of internal forces (police force) to handle the instability causes disturbed status to be implemented and hence AFSPA to be implemented to aid local police force.


If a area is declared once it security/part of administration will be under control of armed forces at least for 3 months according to its regulations.

What are the special powers given to forces?

Armed forces will get so many special powers and provision against civil laws. Notable among them are enlisted below,
·       Any suspicious personal can be arrested without any warrant provided arrestee should be produced to local security personal (police station in general) as soon as possible.
·       Any private place/house/private premises can be searched without any search warrant.
·       Force can prohibit or restrict gathering of 5 or more than 5 people.
·       Armed forces will get a power to open fire at anybody/any group if it is found suspicious provide force should warn beforehand.
·       If a person found cause of disturbance repeatedly the army can force that person till death.
·       Any militant or insurgent found hiding at any house, building or shelter army has got a power to blow it to neutralize such elements.   
·       If at all any vehicle found suspicious it can be stopped at anywhere and anytime to search it.  
·       If at all any armed force personal found committing wrong action he/she is not liable for leagal action according to civil laws.

What are the places AFSPA has been implemented so far?

·       Assam and Manipur, 1958
It all originated because of naga national councils rebellion at northeastern India and increase in violation because of the same so to control that critical situation on 11 September 1958 the Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958 has been implemented at selected regions of northeast India. The act is still intact at few places of Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. It is expected to revoke soon after applied period without any extension.

·       Punjab and Chandigarh, 1983
Due to similar causes The Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act has been proclaimed on 15 October 1983 and it has been withdrawn in 1997 approximately after 14 years of its proclamation.

·       Jammu and Kashmir, 1990
Considering increase in insurgency in Jammu Kashmir region and to control the same The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act has been proclaimed in September 1990 and it is still untouched. This is most controversial implementation of AFSPA so far.


Why is it criticized?

AFSPA has been mainly criticized on human right violation and scope misuse of it. There are so many legal suits against army personals on human right violation, fake encounters and even rape. Several commissions of UN raised questions about AFSPA and On 31 March 2012 it also asked India to terminate the law.
Many of politicians also have forced to terminate AFSPA including P. Chidambaram and Saifuddin Soz.  There are politicians and groups of other pole too who are constantly supporting it.
There have been considerable protests held against it. I am sure you must be heard name of Irom Sharmila and her hunger strikes against AFSPA implementation.




Should it be totally removed?

You must have heard recently during Lokhasabha election (2019) congress party has also made into news by mentioning revocation of AFSPA from all the parts considering its misuse. 

If we see into criticality of situation at disturbed areas and incapability of internal forces (police) it is a necessity to deploy Armed forces. If deploy our mighty forces then there should be less of restriction to operate efficiently. So If there are two laws to be followed (civil legality and its own uniform laws) before attacking against radical elements isn’t it an extra hurdle imposed on our Armed brothers?

Think over it and give your thoughts in the comment section below.

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