Wife of Galwan hero begins her training in Chennai OTA
NEW DELHI: Wife of Naik Deepak Singh, one of the 20 Galwan braves, killed in a skirmish with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in June 2020 has started training at the Chennai-based Officers Training Academy (OTA), officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Hindustan Times had reported on February 5 that Rekha Devi, 23, was set to pursue an army career after clearing the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview to join the OTA.
Naik Deepak Singh of the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment was posthumously awarded Vir Chakra (VrC) by President Ram Nath Kovind in November 2021.
VrC is India’s third highest wartime military honour after Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and Maha Vir Chakra (MVC).
Rekha will train at the academy for nine months before she gets a short-service commission (SSC) in the army as a lieutenant. She reported at OTA for training on May 17, the officials said. SSC women officers are now eligible for permanent commission.
Rekha, who hails from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, will join a growing list of military wives who have chosen to pursue a career in the armed forces after their husbands were killed in combat.
The wives of soldiers killed in action are granted exemption from appearing for the Combined Defence Services Examination, conducted by Union Public Service Commission (USPC), to qualify for the SSB interview. They are also entitled to age relaxation though Rekha did not need it. OTA aspirants have to be in the age bracket of 19 to 25 years.
Rekha had received her husband’s VrC at an investiture ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on November 23, 2021.The other Galwan heroes posthumously honoured at the ceremony were the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, Colonel B Santosh Babu (MVC), Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren (VrC) of 16 Bihar, Havildar K Palani (VrC) of 81 Field Regiment and Sepoy Gurtej Singh (VrC) of 3 Punjab. Havildar Tejinder Singh (VrC) of 3 Medium Regiment was the only living recipient of the wartime honour awarded for uncommon courage during the brutal clash at the Galwan Valley.
The skirmish brought the India-China bilateral relationship to a breaking point and the incident still casts a shadow on the ongoing negotiations for the disengagement of rival frontline soldiers along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh where the Indian Army and PLA have been locked in a standoff for more than two years.
Naik Deepak Singh, a medical assistant, saved the lives of more than 30 Indian soldiers by administering timely treatment during the seven- hour deadly conflict near Patrol Point-14. According to Indian estimates, around 40 PLA troops were killed in the skirmish although China officially claims only four of its soldiers lost their lives.
The first wave of fighting in Galwan Valley erupted around 6 pm on June 15 after Colonel Babu led a squad of 30 soldiers to a location near PP-14 to verify if PLA had removed some structures erected in the area despite an understanding reached on June 6 by top Indian and Chinese military commanders on a disengagement plan to reduce rising border tensions.
The squad, however, found that a few tents and an observation post were still intact and the Chinese soldiers had not retreated from PP- 14. The Indian soldiers confronted the Chinese troops, who refused to remove the installations and vacate the area, triggering a violent clash that involved more than 600 soldiers at its peak.