Badly designed software?
Much is written about user experience and usability testing. A front-age headline news today in DNA reports on usability problems in the IIM entrance test:
The computerized CAT test posed many challenges for aspirants this year. More than the test, it was the computer glitches during the examination that gave students anxious moments. Several CAT centres across the country faced some problems after alleged server failure. Exam centres in Ahmedabad also reported some troubles though not of similar nature. Saturday was the first day of the ten day CAT test.
Some candidates were upset with the two hour advanced reporting time, while others said they faced problem logging in to begin their test.
…
A statement by the managing director of Prometric India, Soumitra Roy said, “The CAT 2009 has certainly not been cancelled in any of the test centres. In fact, thousands of tests were successfully delivered in hundreds of test centres throughout India.”He further said that to accommodate the maximum number of candidates, Prometric and IIMs delayed the start of the morning session by about half an hour. “As a result of some isolated technical issues some candidates tests are being rescheduled and provided a new appointment via email and SMS,” said Roy.
The CAT candidates were also unhappy that they did not have the option to begin the test from the section of their choice. This was because students could not directly go to a section of their choice.
They had to either attempt the questions in sequence or keep on clicking and skipping each question to reach the desired section.
Many students were also confused about how to close the review window which allowed the candidates to review unanswered questions. Many students prematurely ended the test by clicking the end test button assuming it to be the button to close the review window.
TOI does not mince words:
Prometric’s claim that glitches were “isolated cases” and the half-hour delay was to “accommodate the maximum number of candidates on the first day” rang hollow in the face of the barrage of complaints that came in from across the city.
While both the sessions at the Management Education and Research Institute (MERI), Janakpuri had to be called off for a later date, during the morning session of examination at the Asia Pacific Institute of Management, Sarita Vihar there were some 24 cases of technical problems reported. At the Fortune Institute of International Business, Rao Tula Ram Marg, there were 20 complaints, at Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research there were 15 and at the Institute of Management and Development, Okhla there were 13 reported cases of technical problems during the test.
Despite repeated attempts no one from Prometric or the CAT committee came on record to give the exact number of students who had suffered on the first day of the ten day examination. Prometric e-mailed a statement that said: “As a result of isolated technical issues some candidates are being rescheduled and provided a new appointment via email and SMS.”
The reports are not accurate enough to give any indication of what the problem could have been.
Nuclear safety breach?
The Hindu reports what could have been a stray incident:
About 55 workers of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, had to undergo medical treatment after they were exposed to an excessive radiation dosage when they drank water that had been mixed with tritium, a highly radioactive substance.
Top officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited blamed the incident on “an insider’s mischief.” They alleged that “an insider had mixed tritium in drinking water in a cooler kept in the operating island of the first unit” at Kaiga. The incident took place on November 25, when the first unit (220 MWe) was under shutdown for maintenance.
Asked specifically whether security was so lax at the plant that a worker could access a bottle containing tritium, an authoritative official said there were sampling points in the reactor building from where workers took vials containing radioactive substances to the chemical laboratories for analysis.
DNA carries a report which gives a hint of greater seriousness:
Although hospital authorities have denied the reports of radioactive poisoning and said that they have cleared the staff, sources told DNA that out of the 40 taken to the hospital only six of them have been discharged and one person had been tested for severe level of
radioactivity.Director of nuclear power corporation Dr Nageshwar Rao and an elite panel of seven nuclear experts from the atomic energy regulatory board of India have rushed to the spot along with some safety experts.
One expert told DNA that the panel will investigate the incident, especially the report of an alleged leakage of Tritium from the plant.
Some more context from this report by MSN:
The contamination was detected when some of the affected employees felt a change in the pattern of urination.
When the employees were rushed to hospital and tested, the samples confirmed radioactivity. The employees though were normal and they got back to work soon.
Heavy water molecules are extremely toxic and can prove fatal if consumed.
Investigations are on to establish how the drinking water was contaminated.
Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar said,” This is a serious matter that is being investigated. I suspect foul play and someone has surely played mischief “, in an interview to a TV channel.
Treating dementia
Meet Paro. He's a robotic seal developed by Japanese researchers to help dementia patients feel that they have companionship and a feeling of security, without the responsibilities of a living pet. Made to emulate a live pet as much as possible, he can cuddle, nod and blink his big black eyes. Paro is currently being tested with patients in Baden-Baden and there are already 1,000 robot seals deployed in long-term care homes in Japan. (<a href="http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-49231-6.html">From Der Speigel</a>)
Dubai-ous loans
From WSJ comes this report:
The cost of insuring Dubai’s sovereign debt against default surged for the third day in a row as the fallout from Dubai World’s restructuring announcement continues to fuel a flight from risk.
It now costs $664,000 to insure $10 million of Dubai sovereign debt against default for five years, up from $541,000 at Thursday’s New York close, according to data provider CMA. The cost of insuring the emirate’s sovereign debt has now more than doubled since Dubai World’s announcement Wednesday that it was seeking a six-month “standstill” on its debts with all lenders.
Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. The state-controlled conglomerate is the largest corporate entity in Dubai, with interests in real-estate and ports.
The news also continues to affect other countries in the Middle East, in particular neighboring Abu Dhabi, which has also seen the cost of insuring its sovereign debt shoot up. It now costs $183,000 to insure $10 million of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign debt against default for five years, up from $160,000 at Thursday’s New York close.
“The credibility of the region and the way business is conducted there [has] been shattered, and the view that “the Ruler will always pay up”–that state-owned enterprises are effectively guaranteed by their sovereign paymasters–will no longer be taken as a given,” said Suki Mann, deputy head of credit research at Societe Generale SA.
It is important that the situation is clarified rapidly, and it is likely to get worse before it gets better, Mr. Mann said.
… and meanwhile from India this report from an unlikely source for business news, DNA:
Reacting cautiously to Dubai debt crisis, markets today recovered from day’s steep losses but still ended lower by over 220 points, with investors and economists and all foreseeing India perhaps gaining on the latest unravelling in the financial world.
Continuing its overnight sharp losses, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened lower and in a knee-jerk reaction to Dubai debt repayment crisis further posted a sharp over 600-point losses on aggressive selling, primarily in realty and banking counters.
However, the trend was quickly reversed after the government said the crisis should not have any major impact on factors like employment and exports, which boosted the investor confidence. The Reserve Bank also said developments and the extent of the problem need to be studied which also boosted the confidence.
…
Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan ended sharply lower by between 1.10 per cent to 4.84 per cent. The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange dropped further by 63.80 points or 1.27 per cent to close at 4,941.75 from its last close.
Google informs us that BSE also stands for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, aka mad cow disease.
Nov 28
Hindu quotes the labour minister:
Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Saturday there was no reason to worry about Indian emigrants losing work following the financial crisis in Dubai.
Asserting that there was no panic situation regarding the Indian workers, Mr. G. Ravi told reporters after calling on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Secretariat, “We are not worried. My information from Indian associations, the Consulate and ambassador is that there is nothing to worry.” He added that “[for] one day, the Indian stock market made a show [as if] everything is over.”
He recalled that following the global economic meltdown, about one lakh Indian workers returned to the country last year and early this year. Many of them had gone back.
He pointed out that most of the emigrants in Dubai belonged to four States – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.
Bloomberg reports on the panic in the USA:
Most U.S. stocks fell this week as speculation Dubai will default on its debt spurred concern that the recovery in the global financial system will stall, overshadowing fewer American jobless claims and more home sales.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lost more than 3.4 percent. They helped send financial institutions to the biggest drop among 10 industries in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after Dubai World, the state- controlled company with $59 billion of liabilities, said it’s seeking to delay debt payments. Alcoa Inc. slumped 3.6 percent as the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodities fell for the fourth time in five weeks.
Among S&P 500 companies, 273 declined and 224 rose this week. The S&P 500 added less than 0.1 percent to 1,091.49 after climbing to a 13-month high on Nov. 25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.24 points, or 0.1 percent, to 10,309.92.
“Investors are selling into a vacuum,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, which manages $214 billion. “The collateral damage that will take place from the Dubai fallout is unknown. You’re not going to know until the pros get back next week.”
One year on
In the aftermath of the massacre in CST, Mumbai
One year back, almost to the hour, we began to hear stray rumours of shoot outs in Colaba; rumours that quickly gelled into reports of a terrorist attack like nothing seen before. Before we went to sleep we saw the dome of Taj burning, Karkare and Salaskar were known to be dead, and a large number of travellers in CST had been murdered. One year on, here is what people have to say.
ET notes:
So far at least 10 books have been published related to the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people died during a bloody three-day rampage by 10 Islamist gunmen.
One of the books, “Warzone Mumbai,” by novelist Mrityunjay Bose, recalls the horror experienced by those caught up in events last year.
Another is called “Mumbai under Siege,” written by Indian television journalist Nikhil Dixit and providing a minute-by-minute account of how the assault unfolded.
The 10 heavily armed militants stormed two luxury hotels, a tourist restaurant, a Jewish centre and a railway station last November.
Soon after the attack, scriptwriters, directors and producers rushed to register over 30 projects with the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association, assigning them titles like “The Taj Encounter” and “Taj Terror.”
One movie “Total 10,” focusing on the lone gunman captured during the attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, is set to hit movie screens soon while a number are in production.
Today there were memorial services in many places in the city. Apart from these, media also covered the changes over the last year. ZeeNews has an opinion on ten changes for the better, and ten neglected areas; but these views seem to be copied from the Home Minister’s briefing:
So what have been these ‘fix it’ solutions…
First, the National Investigation Agency has been created and Unlawful Activities Act strengthened. The NIA is the nodal around which all agencies have begun working, specifically in terror related cases.
Second, and perhaps the most important has been the improved information sharing between intelligence agencies at the HQ level. Chidambaram has put a daily joint meeting with intelligence chiefs as a mandatory fixture in his schedule. There is also a better middle-level contact between spy units, so that a lead gathered by one is followed by another.
…
What remains to be done…Despite all these measures, there are still some chinks in our security armour, a fact which even Chidambaram admits to.
…
Third, other areas that remain unattended are the tardy police forces, which don’t even have basic guns leave alone automated weaponry, which they have to face in case of a terror attack. They also require some serious professional training to deal with terror situations besides the basic maintenance of general law and order.Fourth, police forces and security agencies are also handicapped due of outdated infrastructure. We are unable to acquire sophisticated weapons, new vehicles and other equipment, as procurement is terribly slow and continues to be tied down in red tape.
Financial Express takes a very clear-eyed view:
However, an year down the line, the army’s and police wish list remains far from fulfilled, for the necessary reconnaissance and surveillance equipment, that would keep the country alert towards another such terror attack.
Even the establishment of a maritime cum coastal security set up, possibly from the Indian Navy, to provide India’s vulnerable coastal areas a security template to prevent future attacks coming in from the sea, is yet to be implemented intotality. The story in terms of technology acquisitions is an equally dismal one too. Indian defence purchases are projected to double to more than $40 billion by 2012; and then to around $80 million a decade later. But little of that is likely to go towards internal security, an area that requires immediate attention. Part of the confusion lies in the fact that India’s armed forces wish to prepare for another Indo-Pak or a Sino-Indian war, but one that is unlikely to happen, preferring internal security—and the battles against terror—to be left to the police forces. And the police is hopelessly ill-prepared or equipped to do so. Very little if anything at all, has been done to acquire the necessary technology to equip India’s police forces, to avert another 26/11 type of attack.
For instance, the police and paramilitary forces do not have the protection system for their personnel or their vehicles. In an era when a terrorist will at least carry the automatic AK-47’s, our police men still carry antique bolt action rifles, that are slow and tedious to operate. While a terrorist uses sat-phones and GPS navigational systems, the policeman has VHF radio sets that cannot function in cities like Mumbai with high rise buildings. And as lethal explosives are now a norm amongst terrorists,our hapless policemen have few sensors with the small teams that is a key to the quick responses that battling terrorism requires. And training simulators haven’t even been seen in a police station. In short, we cannot expect the police to stall a terrorist attack.
The article is longer, and worth reading.
DNA quotes the police commissioner of Mumbai:
Attributing the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes to the “failure of security agencies to meet such eventuality”, joint police commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria, who probed the audacious attack case, today said many lessons have been learnt in the aftermath of the siege.
“We never imagined that attacks like 26/11 would ever happen and thus we were not prepared… It was a failure of imagination. Many lessons have been learnt. But now, we are well-equipped to deal with terrorism”, Maria said in an interview to PTI on the eve of 26/11 anniversary.
One wonders whether the police have trained their imagination further, because the next attack, when it comes, will not be the same. It will be something even more horrifying.
The Sydney Morning Herald writes:
The Indian Government has boosted spending on national security by 50 per cent since the attack. The changes include:
- Establishing a new National Investigation Agency to focus on the terrorism threat.
- Increasing Mumbai’s police force by 1000 to 43,000.
- Installing hundreds of closed circuit TV cameras in the city.
- Expanding the anti-terrorism commando outfit, the National Security Guard, and creating four regional hubs so troops can be deployed quickly.
- Upgrading the capacity to patrol coastal waters.
The Mumbai attack also highlighted the need for India’s intelligence agencies to work more effectively with foreign counterparts. This was underscored when the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the US President, Barack Obama, announced closer co-operation on counter-terrorism in Washington on Tuesday.
43,000 policemen in a city of 20 million people is one policeman per 465 people. Even if each policeman were active and dependable, it wouldn’t make Mumbai a very safe city.
Nariman House last year
Xinhua reports on the events that were planned for today in Mumbai:
India will hold a series of activities Thursday to commemorate the first anniversary of the Mumbai attacks which killed more than 170 people, reported the Indo-Asian News Service on Wednesday.
The events will include a candle-light vigil, a police parade, an all-religion prayer meet at the Gateway of India in central Mumbai, facing the Taj Mahal Hotel which was controlled by the terrorists one year ago for three days, said the report.
A memorial service will also be held at the Chabad House where terrorists targeted its Jewish residents, and people from all walks of life will remember the victims and heroes of the Nov. 26 terror attacks, according to the report.
Students from all over India and Bangladesh under the banner of International Youth Peace Camp will pay homage to the victims at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station in central Mumbaiwhere terrorists opened fire, killing many people.
The memorial service at the Gateway was at 4 PM. People were arriving to light candles till late at night.
Lighting candles near the Taj
The Washington Post remains skeptical:
While some improvements in security have meant there has not been another attack by Islamist militants since Mumbai, the country’s many chaotic cities and its 1.2 billion people make it almost impossible to plug all security loopholes.
“I can’t say there won’t be another attack or a blast,” said D. Sivanandan, Mumbai’s police chief. “But if something happens, our response will be quicker and better.”
The challenges Mumbai faces in preventing militant attacks are echoed in other Indian cities crippled by an underpaid and under-trained police force and a bureaucracy unable to respond quickly to the new threats.
In Mumbai’s main train station, one of the 10 sites gunmen attacked and claimed most of their 166 victims last year, door-frame metal detectors remain unmanned. Luggage are not checked. Mumbai’s coastline, breached by the gunmen, is still largely unprotected.
“Nothing has changed. We are no better off than we were on 26/11,” said Ajai Sahni, a senior security analyst at the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.
“The fact that there hasn’t been another major attack in the last year has nothing do with how good we have become; it’s about the greater pressure on Pakistan.”
India has refused resumption of peace talks with Pakistan and sought to bring international pressure on Islamabad to act against the militant groups operating from its soil including the Lashkar-e-Taiba that it blamed for the attack last year.
It has also raised its defense budget by a fourth and allowed private firms to hire paramilitary forces.
Police chief Sivanandan points to recent additions like quick response teams, speedboats, combat vehicles and a hub for elite commandos as measures taken to improve preparedness.
The Telegraph (London) analyzes the threat to India:
How serious, however, is the risk of another major terrorist attack on India? And how likely is it that such an attack could precipitate a regional crisis?
First, there is a mass of evidence that jihadist groups in Pakistan are indeed planning operations. Last month, the FBI detained two men of Pakistani origin, Tahawwur Rana and David Headley, on multiple charges, including plotting attacks against India. Police in Bangladesh have arrested three Lashkar operatives who they say were planning to blow up India’s diplomatic mission in Dhaka.
Second, infiltration by jihadists across the volatile Line of Control in Kashmir has shown signs of escalation, sparking off repeated skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani troops. More than 40 violations of a ceasefire put into force in November 2003 have been reported: no great imagination is needed to see that a renewal of hostilities over the region could precipitate a repeat of the 2001-2002 crisis, when a jihadist attack on India’s parliament took the two countries to the edge of war.
Third, even as Pakistan battles Islamist terrorists on its soil, it has shown little interest in dismantling the jihadist infrastructure directed against India. Lashkar’s offices, like those of other anti-Indian groups, are still open. In December 2008, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions against Lashkar’s parent organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN promised that his country would proscribe the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. A year on, that hasn’t happened.
VOA reports:
Sahni says India still has one of the world’s lowest ratios of police per capital. At the time of the Mumbai attacks, the city had about 40,000 police officers for its population of 20 million people, or one officer for every 500 people. “When it comes to investigative capabilities, when it comes to modern policing capabilities, when it comes to adaptability to using modern technologies, they are a pretty sad bunch. And then there is not enough of them,” he said.
He says India also still lacks the naval resources to adequately patrol the 2,600-kilometer coast from which the attackers launched their three-day siege. “Figure it out, for every 50,000 or 60,000 boats on the seas on an average day, you have got maybe 50 vessels,” he said. “And two planes buzzing around overhead looking for what? Do terrorists fly a flag?”
In memory of the terrorist attack, students paint a wall with handprints
Finally, our very own ET has this to say:
When terror hits at the heart of the fledging luxury industry in India — the high street lobbies of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Trident — it’s not surprising that the aftermath is not pretty. Since 26/11, many international luxury brands have changed hands in India, some have exited, many are seeking new alliances, and some have put expansion plans on hold. And both hotels are feeling the difference….
Trident’s Galleria, where the Gucci store took pride of place with a sweeping, sea-facing view, is today undergoing renovation having changed partners.
The Taj’s luxury corridor is also quiet, as Louis Vuitton closed after Diwali to prepare for its new avatar by Christmas . Lights are also out in stores like Burberry, Fendi and Girard Perregaux though Bvlgari, Moschino and Ermenegildo Zegna are holding tight for now.
In answer to that, I can only remind you of a report which I came across almost a year back in DNA:
Twelve-year-old Afroze Ansari, lying in ward 17 of JJ Hospital, does not know that he is an orphan now. His parents, Mohammad Abbas, 60, and Rakila Khatun, 55, succumbed to bullet injuries in the terror attack at CST station. Ansari sustained a bullet injury on his shoulder while his elder brother Mehboob, 15, was hit on his left thigh.
Mehboob, who was discharged from Nair Hospital on Sunday, found out about his parents only after reaching their Mumbra residence. The family was heading for Patna to celebrate Bakri Eid.
“I am waiting to meet my mother. She is unwell. That’s why she has not come to see me,” said Afroze.
I looked for a follow-up report for many days. There was nothing. Those who died in CST, mainly migrant workers and their families, led unremarked lives. Even in death they are not seen as individuals. Their families presumably still live with the trauma of 26/11. Exactly 60 years after the adoption of the constitution, the Indian state does not care. You and I do not do enough for them.
Gafoor, Patil and history
CNN-IBN reported some time ago:
He was the man who was to lead the fight against the terrorists who held Mumbai hostage on November 26, 2008. But he Hassan Gafoor was found wanting and he was removed as Mumbai’s top cop days after the attack.
Now, almost exactly a year after the attack, Gafoor has blamed his own officers for taking almost three days to flush out the terrorists.
In an interview to The Week magazine, the former Mumbai police commissioner has said: “A section of senior police officers refused to be on the ground and take on the terrorists. By doing so, they chose to ignore the need of the hour. K L Prasad refused to come to the Trident and decided against hitting the roads. Devena Bharti, K Venkatesham and Parambir Singh did not appear keen on responding to the situation.”
The officers who Gafoor has named are furious and are thinking of taking legal action against him.
Legal action would have been good; each party would have had to put their case in the public domain. Unfortunately, that action, if it took place, has not been reported in the media. Instead, as we learn from HT, the situation is now being dealt with administratively:
The Maharashtra government is likely to serve a showcause notice to former Mumbai police commissioner Hassan Gafoor on Monday, for a media interview in which he claimed some senior police officers had hesitated to respond during the 26/11 terror attack.
This comes after Home Minister R.R. Patil took exception to Gafoor’s remarks. On Sunday, he confirmed to the media that he has asked Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar to investigate, and ask Gafoor for an explanation.
While Patil himself had to resign in the wake of the public fury that followed 26/11, an inquiry committee headed by former cabinet secretary Ram Pradhan said Gafoor had shown lack of vision and leadership during the crisis.
Patil got back his job as head of the Home Department in the new government that took over earlier this month. Given 26/11’s impact on Patil’s political career, Gafoor’s remarks – coming just as the state prepares for the first anniversary of the attack – were not what the minister wanted to hear.
The details of such departmental enquiries seldom appear in public.
National Police Mission
Googling the NPM threw up a single relevant entry, this undated news from Hindu. Since the report speaks of Shivraj Patil as home minister, it is more than a year old.
Nearly three years after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveiled his government’s ambitious plan to set up a “National Police Mission” to transform the police forces in the country, Union Home Ministry is still in the process of firming it up.
In preparation towards implementing the National Police Mission, the Home Ministry constituted six micro-missions which were dealing with subjects like human resource development, community policing, communication and technology, infrastructure, new processes, proactive policing and future challenges.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil presided over the second meeting of the police micro-mission on Friday and asked the members to pay attention to futuristic requirements, including the necessity to prepare for the possible use of radiological, biological and chemical substances by anti-national elements and terrorists.
Restricting the search to news threw up a few more hits. The most relevant was another undated entry from Hindu. This one can be dated to Nov 25, 2009 on internal evidence.
On the eve of the anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Union government said the challenge faced by India today was from terrorist organisations that were not only equipped with the latest technologies and have immense access to funds, but were having the active backing of various external agencies.
…
A Model Police Act, drafted by an expert committee in 2006, which provided for well-defined duties and responsiveness and sensitivity of the police towards public and accountability to the rule of law was sent to the States for consideration. Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttarakhand either framed New Police Acts or amended the existing ones.The National Police Mission was also set up with the aim of equipping the police to think creatively and help it transform itself from a reactive to a proactive organisation.
A telling remark on the lethargy of the home ministry is that four years or more after the National Police Mission was “unvelied” there is no public document on the web about it.
Presumably the police have not heard about it, or even about the model police act.
The flying rashtrapati
HT lets loose a new version of the English language in this report:
Accompanied by Air Chief Marshal P V Naik and Air Marshal P S Bhangu, President Pratibha Patil arrived at Lohegaon air base at 9.35 and accepted guard of honour. IAF officials again brief her about the sortie and Pratibha Patil started walking towards Sukhoi 30 MKI – in a specially made military green colored G-suit around 10.30 am. She was introduced to the staff and the plane took off at 10.55 am.
President was confident and comfortable when she climbed the staircase and waived hands to the staff and the media persons, who had gathered in large number. Before Sukhoi MI 130 took off, in which President was sitting, two Sukhoi planes took off to escort President’s plane. Another plane also left after President’s Sukhoi flew in the skies.
Pratibha Patil was in the skies for almost half an hour. Her plane landed around 11.28 am when she was again greeted by IAF officials and Presidential staff. Wing Commander S Sajan, who was pilot of President’s plane, helped her to alight from the staircase.
PTI reported this nice piece of advertisement by the Russian president:
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today congratulated President Pratibha Patil for her 30-minute sortie on a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet, describing it as a ‘heroic act’ and a ‘bright symbol’ of bilateral relations .
“The Russian President, who has previously flown in Sukhoi Su-34 frontline bomber, is well aware of the gravity and strain endured in such flights, expressed his earnest admiration at, without exaggeration, the heroic act of Pratibha Patil,” the Kremlin said in statement.
