Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pitched his ‘vocal for local’ campaign in an entirely new domain – that of the canines. Calling for the adoption of “fabulous” Indian dog breeds, Modi said they are cheaper to raise and adapt better to the Indian environment even as he revealed that the Indian security forces too were increasingly inducting these local breeds.
The country came to know about the Army dogs after Modi praised their role in sniffing out explosives, mines and terrorists besides disaster relief operations. In his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’, Modi named two dogs ‘Sophie’ and ‘Vida’ — who were awarded Chief of Army Staff commendation cards on August 15 this year — saying these trained canines received this honour because they performed their duties diligently while protecting their country.
‘Vida,’ the dog from an Army Dog Unit located in Northern Command, was conferred the medal for detecting five mines and one grenade buried underground. ‘Sophie’ of Special Frontier Force (Bomb Disposal Squad) sniffed out the presence of initiator/accelerant which could have been hastily used to fabricate an IED, thereby saving precious lives.
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Source: The Pioneer