248-year-old trigger for change in India’s defence capabilities
ORDNANCE FACTORIES’ DAY
ORDNANCE FACTORIES’ DAY celebrated on March 18 each year in India commemorates the establishment of the first Ordnance Factory in India at Cossipore, near erstwhile Calcutta, in 1801. This day is celebrated to honour the Indian Ordnance Factories’contribution in bolstering India’s defence capabilities.
India’s Ordnance Factories have a long history dating back to the times when the country was under British rule. In 1775, the British established a Board of Ordnance in Fort William, Calcutta, marking the official beginning of Army Ordnance in India. In 1787, a gun powder factory was established at Ishapore, near the then British capital of Calcutta. It started production in 1791.
In 1801 a Gun Carriage Agency at Cossipore, Calcutta now known as the Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore was established and production started on March 18, 1802. This was the very beginning of India’s first industrial Ordnance Factories, which are still operational to this day.
Ordnance Factories are an essential and integral part of India’s defence infrastructure and play a crucial role in ensuring the country’s national security. They provide the Indian armed forces with state-of-the-art equipment that helps them in their day-and-night vigil to defend the country’s borders effectively.
On this day, various programmes and events are organized by the IOFs to showcase their achievements, advancements in technology, and capabilities.The Ordnance Factories’ Day celebrations start with hoisting of the Tricolour and singing of the National Anthem. Then, each of the Ordnance Factories celebrates the day by displaying their products, such as rifles, guns, et al at different exhibitions.
MAIN EVENTS IN EVOLUTION OF OFS:
► 1801– Establishment of a Gun Carriage Agency at Cossipore, Calcutta
► 1802– Production starts on March 18, 1802, at Cossipore
► 1906– The Administration of Indian Ordnance Factories comes under a separate charge as ‘IG of Ordnance Factories’
► 1933– Changed to ‘Director of Ordnance Factories’
► 1948– Comes under Ministry of Defence’s direct control
Indian Ordnance Factories were the only organization in the world which made the entire range of ammunitions from 5.56 mm to 155 mm and weapons from the 5.56 mm INSAS rifle to 155 mm x 45 calibre ‘Dhanush’ artillery gun system.
There were 41 Ordnance Factories in India. However, with effect from October 1, 2021, these 41 production units were subsumed into seven Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). The seven DPSUs are:
► Munitions India
► Armoured Vehicles Nigam
► Advanced Weapons and Equipment India
► Troop Comforts
► Yantra India
► India Optel, and
► Gliders India
These newly created entities are 100% owned by the government
QUALITY CONTROL OF PRODUCTS
Ordnance factories follow a system of multi-layer inspection, quality control and quality assurance before issuing final products to the three Services. The responsibility of inspection of input materials and stage/inter-stage inspection is shared between the factory personnel and Quality Assurance Establishments. An effective and efficient quality management system has been established in the factories leading to production of quality products meeting customers’ satisfaction.
Girish Linganna
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
