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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  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,...
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First fighter squadron of indigenously developed LCA to raise on July 1

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  • 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 HAL had two LCA aircraft to form the squadron. HAL will scale up production rate to eight next year, and 16 aircraft in the subsequent year, he added. 
As against the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons, the IAF’s squadron strength has dropped to 33 as MiG series aircraft are being phased out steadily. It means that India’s aircraft numbers are not adequate to execute an air campaign in a two-front scenario. 
The IAF has plans to induct around 350 fighter jets including 120 LCAs by the end of this decade. Of 120 LCAs, 100 will be improved ones that will have mid-air refueling capacity, Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, a unified Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, and beyond--vision-range missiles. HAL will deliver the first aircraft with improvements by 2018. 
The Government had established ADA to manage LCA programme in 1984. The agency was given task of the first flight of LCA in the year 1990 and induction in the IAF in 1995. However, the programme got delayed, and Tejas made its first flight on January 4, 2001. Tejas has done a total of 3,184 hours of test sorties so far. The hot air trials of Tejas were conducted at a couple of places in the country including Nagpur. 

Performance of LCA Tejas 


  • Speed -- 2,205 km/hr 
  • Range -- 850 km 
  • Maximum altitude -- 50,000 ft 
  • ‘g’ Limits -- +8/-3.5 
  • Weight -- 6,560 kg 
  • Capable load -- 3,500 kg 
  • Weapons -- Air-to-Air Missiles, Air-to-Ground Missiles, Anti-ship Missiles, Laser Guided Bombs, Conventional Bombs, GSh-23 Gun, Drop Tanks. 


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