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The year 2019 is being observed as the ‘Year of Next of Kin (YoNoK) by Indian Army.

In this connection, Gajraj Corps commander called on Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati on Wednesday.

The main objective of Year of Next of Kin (YoNok) is to reach out to the next of kin of battle and physical causalities, veterans and serving personnel along with spreading awareness of the various welfare schemes being undertaken by the government for the next of kin of those.

Towards this end, the Gajraj Corps has planned activities to be undertaken in a phased manner throughout the year.

As part of phase one, an awareness campaign has been undertaken with the aim of making the next of kins aware of 2019 being observed as the YoNoK.

An interactive session under Project SAMBHANDH was organized in their Headquarters on Tuesday to address their grievances wherein, Col V Shankar, SC(Retd) interacted with the NoKs, Veterans and troops of 4 Corps through a lecture.

Colonel V Shankar, SC (Retd) is involved in a 1000 days, one man philanthropic endeavour under ‘Project SAMBANDH’ wherein, he connects with next of kins of Indian Army, with an aim to assist them in availing all the entitlements applicable.

The interaction was based on case studies along with the relevant data specific to the formation/ regiment/ geographic area.

A total of 60 next of kin and 100 ESMs besides, 1421 serving Army personnel benefitted from the interaction.