Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Tejas to replace ageing MiG series aircraft in next 15 years The first squadron named as 'Flying Daggers' By Dheeraj Fartode Indian Air Force (IAF) is all set to raise the first fighter squadron of indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at Bangalore on July 1. The first squadron will have only two aircraft as opposed to global standard of 16 aircraft per squadron. It will be 45th squadron ane named as ‘Flying Daggers’ Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) have developed Tejas -- a single-engine compound-delta-wing tailless aircraft -- after hard work of around 30 years and it will replace ageing MIG series aircraft in next 15 years. A top official of the IAF, preferring to be unnamed, confirmed the information and said that Air Marshal Jasbir Walia, AOC, Southern Air Command, would remain present for raising ceremony of the first squadron. LCA Tejas An official of HAL told ‘The Hitavada’ that...