Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat's Jaisalmer visit cancelled, to remain in Delhi

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat's tour to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan has been cancelled and he will remain in New Delhi. General Rawat was scheduled to go to Jaisalmer for the fifth edition of Army Scout Masters Competition, which will be held from August 5 to August 16.

Apart from the Indian Army, the forces of Armenia, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Sudan are taking part in the competition. The participating teams arrived in India between July 24 and August 3. The opening ceremony is on August 5 with the schedule as follows: August 6-7 Stage I - Infiltration & Ambush Exercise By Night, August 8-9 Stage II - Scout Specialist's Course (Morning & Evening Sessions), August 10-11 Stage III - Scout Trail Obstacle Course (Morning & Evening Sessions), August 12-13 Stage IV - Small Arms Firing (Morning & Evening Sessions), August 14 Stage V - Exfiltration & Flotation Swimming & Flotation by Day & Exfiltration march by Night. August 15 is a reserve day with the closing ceremony on August 16.

According to the Indian Army, the Army Scout Masters Competition is designed to promote co-operation, collaboration and team spirit among the contestants and facilitate sharing of best practices, technology and hardware. The five stages of the competition will test the marksmanship, navigation skills, endurance and teamwork amongst the teams under an international panel of judges, experts and arbiters.

The Army Scout Masters Competition will be conducted under the established format of competition amongst Scouts and will offer unique challenges and opportunities keeping in mind the spirit of adventure, courage, comradeship and true spirit of the Army Games.

Its aim is to enhance international military to military and technical co-operation between the countries participating in the Scout Masters Competition. The competition promotes the prestige of military service in general and scouts in particular and assists the proliferation of best practices in field training amongst the participant states.

It also develops competitiveness amongst scouts participating in the competition, display combat capabilities and characteristic of modern type of weapons, military equipment and technical means of reconnaissance.