Jawans taking to social media could be punished: Army Chief

January 15, 2017

New Delhi, Jan 15: Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat today said jawans who take to social media to express their complaints could be punished as their act lowers the morale of those guarding the frontiers of the country.

Armychief

He also said that despite Pakistan's continuous engagement in proxy war against India, "we want to restore peace on the Line of Control". "But we will not hesitate from giving a fitting reply in case of any ceasefire violation," he asserted.

The Army Chief was addressing the Army Day celebrations here, where he awarded gallantry medals to soldiers who showed extraordinary courage while performing duty.

"If any jawan has any grievance, he has been provided with the proper forum to resolve his issue and maintain a balance. If you are not satisfied with the action, then you can contact me directly," Gen Rawat said.

"Aapne jo karwai ki hai aap iske liye apradhjanak hain, aur saza ke haqdaar ho sakte hain (You are violating rules by your act and you could be punished for that)," he said, referring to instances of jawans taking to social media to air their grievances.

"It (airing of grievances on social media) has (negative) impact on the brave jawans who are serving the country along the border," he said.

On the terror menace, he said that in the last few months of 2016, the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir turned very volatile.

"Be it LAC (Line of Actual Control) or LOC (Line of Control), we will take the appropriate action and our soldiers are doing a commendable job at all fronts," he said.

"On the northern front, India wants peace with China. Both sides are adopting confidence building measures (CBMs) so that tension on the border can be reduced. Despite transgressions on LAC, the armies on both sides have improved on mutual coordination," said Gen Rawat.

"I understand that our competitors are aware of our strengths. While being always ready, our policy is to take action at any place and any time. Our efforts to restore peace on the border must not be viewed as our weakness," he said, while warning those who try disrupt peace through terror activities.

The Army Chief inspected the parade at Field Marshal Cariappa Parade Ground here. Marching contingents from six different regiments and display of missile systems such as Brahmos and Akash were among the highlights of the event.

What stole the show was combat demonstration by different schools of infantry which fired medium-range guns, besides battle tanks rolling past the parade.

"87 defence attaches from 35 countries including the US, Japan, Russia, China, Israel and African nations marked their presence at the event," said a senior army official.

The function came to an end with Indian army's 'Janbaaz' motorcycle daredevils performing stunts and a team of paramotorists displaying tricolour and flags of the three defence forces.

Meanwhile, the South Western Command celebrated Army Day by paying tributes to the martyrs at a colourful ceremony in Jaipur.

The area around the Amar Jawan Jyoti reverberated with patriotic military tunes and a display by drummers mesmerised all present for the occasion.

Helicopter display and dances like Bhangra and Naga dances as also a dog show evoked great interest and enthusiasm amongst the gathering.

Wreaths were laid by state industry minister Rajpal Singh Shekhwat and Lt Gen Saranjeet Singh, YSM, Chief of Staff, South Western Command.

In his address, Lt Gen Singh conveyed his greetings to all serving and retired defence personnel of the South Western Command.

He exhorted all personnel to be ready to face the multi-faceted challenges of the modern day battlefield in order to reach the pinnacle of glory.

The 69th Army Day was also celebrated in Mathura where Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, General Officer Commanding Strike 1 Corps, laid the wreath at the war memorial.

Army Day is celebrated every year on January 15 to mark the taking over of command of the Indian Army by the first Indian Commander-in-Chief, Lt Gen (Later Field Marshal) K M Cariappa on this day in 1948.

He took over the reins of the Indian Army from Lt Gen Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief.

Comments

mohammed
 - 
Sunday, 15 Jan 2017

What action you are going to take, for supplying low quality food which is given to our jawans.

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News Network
December 6,2025

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New Delhi: IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced major operational turbulence this week after failing to prepare for new pilot-fatigue regulations issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The stricter rules—designed to improve flight safety—took effect in phases through 2024, with the latest implementation on November 1. IndiGo has acknowledged that inadequate roster planning led to widespread cancellations and delays.

Below are the key DGCA rules that affected IndiGo’s operations:

1. Longer Mandatory Weekly Rest

Weekly rest for pilots has been increased from 36 hours to 48 hours.

The government says the extended break is essential to curb cumulative fatigue. This rule remains in force despite the current crisis.

2. Cap on Night Landings

Pilots can now perform only two night landings per week—a steep reduction from the earlier limit of six.

Night hours, defined as midnight to early morning, are considered the least alert period for pilots.

Given the disruptions, this rule has been temporarily relaxed for IndiGo until February 10.

3. Reduced Maximum Night Flight Duty

Flight duty that stretches into the night is now capped at 10 hours.

This measure has also been kept on hold for IndiGo until February 10 to stabilize operations.

4. Weekly Rest Cannot Be Replaced With Personal Leave

Airlines can no longer count a pilot’s personal leave as part of the mandatory 48-hour rest.

Pilots say this closes a loophole that previously reduced actual rest time.

Currently, all airlines are exempt from this rule to normalise travel.

5. Mandatory Fatigue Monitoring

Airlines must submit quarterly fatigue reports along with corrective actions to DGCA.

This system aims to create a transparent fatigue-tracking framework across the industry.

The DGCA has stressed that these rules were crafted to strengthen flight safety and align India with global fatigue-management standards. The temporary relaxations are expected to remain until February 2025, giving IndiGo time to stabilise its schedules and restore normal air travel.

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News Network
December 5,2025

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New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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News Network
December 6,2025

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With IndiGo flight disruptions impacting thousands of passengers, the airline on Saturday said that it will offer full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests for travel bookings between December 5, 2025 and December 15, 2025.

Earlier in the day, the civil aviation ministry had directed the airline to complete the ticket refund process for the cancelled flights by Sunday evening, as well as ensure baggage separated from the travellers are delivered in the next two days.

In a post on X, titled 'No questions asked', IndiGo wrote, "In response to recent events, all refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment."

"We are deeply sorry for the hardships caused," it further added.

Several passengers, however, complained of not getting full refund as promised by the airline.

Netizens have shared screenchots of getting charged for airline cancellation fee and convenience fee.

"Please tell me why u have did this airline cancellation charges when u say full amount will be refunded (sic)," a user wrote sharing a screenshot of the refund page.

"Well, but you have still debited the convenience charges," wrote another.

Passengers have also raised concerns about the "cancel" option being disabled on the IndiGo app. "First enable the 'Cancel' button on your App & offer full refund on tickets cancelled by customers between the said dates," wrote a user.

A day after the country's largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled more than 1,000 flights and caused disruptions for the fifth day on Saturday, the ministry said that any delay or non-compliance in refund processing will invite immediate regulatory action.

The refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be completed by 8 pm on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

"Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations," it said.

On Saturday, more than 400 flights were cancelled at various airports.

IndiGo has also been instructed to set up dedicated passenger support and refund facilitation cells.

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