Edit below overview about Ludesar

OverView of Ludesar

Ludesar youth find it hard to follow legacy Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service A war memorial in Ludesar village, near Sirsa. Photo by Amit Soni Ludesar (Sirsa), July 7 Youths of this remote village, 25 km from Sirsa, are proud of their native village, which has earned the epithet of dwellings of valiant and intrepid persons, but find it tough to match the new trends to join the armed forces. As far as location is concerned, it is closer to Rajasthan with its Hanumangarh district nearly 17 km from here. “We want to emulate the path shown by our elders, but lack of adequate exposure and communication gap holds us back from joining the Army”, said a youth, Ranbir Singh, with a determined look. The village has an array of memorials announcing the legacy of its gallant persons, which keep its youth steadfastly attracting to join the forces to guard the nation. Inhabitants call the memorial in their lingo bahaduria. Rewarding the contribution of its men in the World War I, the then British Indian Army erected a memorial in the middle of the village to commemorate their sacrifice. It is inscribed, “From the village 41 men went to the great war 1914-1919. Of these two gave up their lives. Besides, the then British government with a view to win hearts of the people had waived off tax of the village. After the end of the World War II, the British government had to once again acknowledge the sacrifices of its natives by raising another memorial. The second memorial has an inscription in Hindi. It informs that in the World War II (1939-1945), as many 101 men from the village participated. Of them 11 had martyred. Majority of the villagers are involved in agriculture and youngsters cherish to join the Army. But the village elders rued that the number of serving men from the village fell drastically since the end of open recruitment about two decades back. Post-Independence, they contributed in various wars. As many as 42 of them had taken part in the 1962 Indo-China war. While in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, 36 men from the village had participated. Of them Vijay Singh had sacrificed his life. Five of its men had gone to join the Indian National Army raised by Subhash Chandra Bose. They were Bala Ram, Maman Ram, Badri Ram, Tulsi Ram and Ram Krishan. Surya Devi, sarpanch of the village, said Bala Ram, who died nearly three years ago, had demanded installing of a symbolic tank in the village to commemorate bravery. But the demand was never met. She said currently not more than 25 persons were in the defence forces. However, the district administration is in the process of beautifying the memorials with a grant of Rs 1 lakh.

Edit below overview about Ludesar