On this day, a year back, 20 Indians soldiers were killed by Chinese soldiers at Galwan Valley, and India remembers their martyrdom.
The Galwan battle is known as the deadliest clash in 45 years led to a months-long military standoff with China and at least 11 rounds of military talks.
The Indian Army on Tuesday paid homage to 20 soldiers killed in a face-off with China in Galwan Valley along the disputed border in Ladakh on this day last year. 20 Indian soldiers, mainly from the 16th Bihar Regiment including its commanding officer
The fierce battle, which took place is notable for the first time in 45 years that a soldier has died along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
What Led to the Battle
The crash transpired after Commanding Officer Col Santosh Babu found out that Chinese soldiers did not fully follow through on the de-escalation process agreed upon by both sides during the initial talks.
After this, a fight took place on a narrow precipice and some Indian soldiers fell into the confluence of the two rivers, Galwan and Shyok rivers. The soldiers who fell into the river died of hypothermia. During this brutal battle, there was stone pelting and physical clashes with barbed wire and iron rods and later discovered that the Indian soldiers were massacred barbarically as the Chinese soldiers charged on them.
The Indian Army released details of all 20 soldiers declared killed in action. Among them was Ankush, a 21-year-old sepoy born on 4 November 1998. Sepoy Ganesh Hansda was even younger at 20 years. Sepoy Kundan Kumar Ojha died just days before his 27th birthday on 18 June.
Sepoys Gurbinder, Chandan Kumar and Gurtej Singh were 22 years old, while Sepoy Rajesh Orang had just turned 26 on 5 April. Sepoy Ganesh Ram had turned 27 on 28 April and Sepoy Chandrakanta Pradhan was 28 years old.
The full list of the martyred soldiers is given below
Commanding Officer Colonel Bikumalla Santosh Babu from Hyderabad, Telangana
Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren from Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Naib Subedar Mandeep Singh from Patiala, Punjab
Naib Subedar Satnam Singh (driver) from Gurdaspur, Punjab
Havildar (gunner) K Palani from Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Havildar Sunil Kumar from Patna, Bihar
Havildar Bipul Roy from Meerut City, Uttar Pradesh
Naik (Na) Deepak Kumar from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh
Sepoy Rajesh Orang from Birbhum, West Bengal
Sepoy Kundan Kumar Ojha from Sahibganj, Jharkhand
Sepoy Ganesh Ram from Kanker, Chhattisgarh
Sepoy Chandrakanta Pradhan from Kandhamal, Odisha
Sepoy Ankush from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh
Sepoy Gurbinder from Sangrur, Punjab
Sepoy Gurtej Singh from Mansa, Punjab
Sepoy Chandan Kumar from Bhojpur, Bihar
Sepoy Kundan Kumar from Saharsa, Bihar
Sepoy Aman Kumar from Samastipur, Bihar
Sepoy Jai Kishor Singh from Vaishali, Bihar
Sepoy Ganesh Hansda from East Singhbhum, Jharkhand
The Army issued a statement that it was “firmly committed to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation”.
Some soldiers were missing, as some had fallen into the freezing river in the valley, but the Army did not mention this in its statement nor mentioned the injuries or deaths sustained by the Chinese side.
The bodies of the soldiers were taken by a military aircraft from Leh and carried by road to their respective hometowns.
After this, 70% India-China Trade Grew in the Pandemic Years 2020 and 2021
While anti-China sentiments were rising, the feeble attempts to ban tiktok and other Chinese products failed as the Government of India did not “ban” China but carried out a robust two-way trade with China in 2020-21, even as global trade declined when nations across the world went into lockdowns due to COVID-19.
India’s imports from China were strong at the previous year’s level and exports soared. China also emerged as India’s largest trade partner as the value of transactions between the US and India collapsed.
Reports reveal that India imported goods worth $65.21 billion from China in 2020-21, according to provisional estimates published by the ministry of commerce and industry. Imports in the previous year were worth $65.26 billion. Exports from India to China climbed 27.5 percent from a year ago to $21.19 billion.
India remembers these brave soldiers who sacrificially gave their lives for the nation. Notably, the Prime Minister’s silence on the soliders’ martyrdom was conspicuous on Twitter.
The Indian Army says:
Remembering the #Bravehearts of #Galwan
Maj Gen Akash Kaushik, Officiating GOC #FireandFuryCorps laid a wreath at #Leh War Memorial & paid homage to #Bravehearts who laid down their lives at #Galwan on 15 Jun 2020 while fighting for the #Nation.#IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/qMayWT8mhY
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 15, 2021
DK Shivakumar President, Karnataka Congress said:
This day a year ago, 20 Army bravehearts sacrificed their lives fighting for India's sovereignty at #Galwan.
Since then, Govt has held 11 rounds of talks with China but no results.
Remembering the valour and supreme sacrifice of our jawans on their death anniversary.@adgpi pic.twitter.com/KyDn77FGOv
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) June 15, 2021
A big salute of utmost respect to our brave Galwan Heroes who sacrificed their lives for us.
Jai Hind! #Galwan pic.twitter.com/RQNypOUccy— Mohanlal (@Mohanlal) June 15, 2021
The Galwan River flows from the disputed Aksai Chin region administered by China to the Ladakh region of India. It originates near the caravan campsite Samzungling on the eastern side of the Karakoram range and flows west to join the Shyok River. The point of confluence is 102 km south of Daulat Beg Oldi. Shyok River itself is a tributary of the Indus River, making Galwan a part of the Indus River system.