Rear Admiral Sinha said that the western fleet is committed to keeping the Indian Ocean stable and free of piracy by cooperating with its maritime neighbours like Oman.
C Raja Mohan, Strategic Affairs Editor with the Indian Express, analyses the unfolding geopolitical change in the Indian Ocean and dwells at some length on the challenges that it poses for India's foreign and security policies.
The total allocation to the defence sector is 12.9 per cent of the total budget of the government of India for the financial year 2024-25.
Muizzu's request came when India's Union Minister Kiren Rejiju paid a courtesy call on the new president at the latter's office, the Maldivian President's Office said in a press release.
Here is an explainer on the functioning of the seven-year-old body.
Following a high-level meeting in New Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, India agreed to replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10. The first batch left the island nation well before March 10.
US envoy Eric Garcetti on Thursday said he respects that India likes its "strategic autonomy", but in times of conflict, there is no such thing as strategic autonomy, even as he pitched for forging a stronger partnership between New Delhi and Washington.
Building relations in the Indian Ocean, New Delhi has gifted naval vessels to Mauritius, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, even as China eyes the same locales.
A Maldivian minister, who was suspended in January for her derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has now mocked the Indian flag after including parts of the flag in an altered campaign poster of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), according to a media report on Monday.
The Indian Navy's P8I maritime patrol aircraft on Thursday located a Chinese fishing vessel that capsized three days ago in the Indian Ocean, officials said.
The southwest monsoon season concluded on Saturday with India receiving 'below-average' cumulative rainfall -- 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm -- in an El Nino year.
The Indian Navy rescued the hijacked Iranian fishing vessel 'Al-Kambar 786' and its crew after more than 12 hours of intense coercive tactical measures as part of an anti-piracy operation on March 29.
A Yemeni jet with over 150 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean, off the island nation of Comoros, officials said on Tuesday.Yemenia Flight 626 was on its way to Moroni, the capital of Comoros, from Yemen's capital Sanaa. According to officials from the national airline Yemenia, the plane crashed approximately an hour before reaching its destination. There was no news about the fate of the 154 people on board.
India is likely to experience below-normal monsoon rainfall this year, with a 20 per cent chance of drought due to the end of La Nina conditions and the potential for El Nino to take hold, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said on Monday.
In a significant move, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has accorded approval for the procurement of more than 200 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and associated equipment for the Indian Navy at a cost of around Rs 19,000 crore, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
A siren giving a warning about tsunami erroneously started playing from the Early Warning Dissemination System at Porvorim near Panaji, triggering panic among the local residents, an official said on Thursday.
The Indian Navy, which regards itself as the 'net security provider' in the Indian Ocean Region, has also stepped up to the plate, with a warship stationed at all times off the Gulf of Aden for counter-piracy tasks. 91 Indian warships have been deployed in the region since 2008, patrolling high risk areas where piracy was rampant.
The quake has hit the same place where a quake triggered the Asian tsunami on December 26.
Titanic Director James Cameron has reacted to the demise of five individuals, who were aboard the submersible Titan that was destroyed in a 'catastrophic implosion' during an exploration dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.
India and the Maldives on Friday agreed to set up a core group to further deepen their partnership as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 'productive' meeting with newly-elected Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and discussed ways to enhance the bilateral friendship across diverse sectors.
'If you ask me where I want my career to go, I have been saying this for a long time: I want to do a K-drama. I want to be in Korea doing a love story, full of romance.'
Ten to 20 days of heatwave are expected against the normal of four to eight days in the entire April-June period.
Moody's Ratings on Tuesday said India's growing water shortage can disrupt farm and industry sectors and is detrimental to the credit health of the sovereign as rising food inflation and decline in income may spark social unrest. It said decreases in water supply can disrupt agricultural production and industrial operations, resulting in inflation in food prices and hence can be detrimental to credit health of sectors that heavily consume water, such as coal power generators and steel-makers.
The mega procurement proposal will shortly be placed before the Defence Acquisition Council, the defence ministry's top body on procurement, they said.
On Thursday, in his first interview with the local media since assuming office, Muizzu said India was instrumental in providing aid to the Maldives and has implemented the "greatest number" of projects.
In a step towards diversifying its resource base and securing green energy minerals, India is poised to launch its first-ever offshore mineral auction in the first quarter of 2024, announced Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository portal. The government plans to hold auctions in March, offering 10-15 blocks for bidding. Meanwhile, the ministry of mines is currently developing rules and regulations for offshore mining.
The Indian Navy's specialist team had protected them from nine armed pirates, and completed sanitization and seaworthiness checks of fishing vessel Al-Kambar.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has officially confirmed that 2023 is the hottest year on record by a huge margin, smashing global temperature records.
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India and Iran on Monday signed a 10-year contract for the operation of a terminal at the strategically important Chabahar port in Iran, a move that will boost regional connectivity as well as trade ties. This is the first time India will take over the management of an overseas port that will also have a multiplier effect on trade among India, Iran and Afghanistan as efforts continue to directly tap the potential in Central Asia, bypassing neighbouring Pakistan.
The Sittwe deal is more significant than Chabahar in Iran, where India has rights to operate only two terminals and not the port itself.
The second batch of Indian military personnel manning a helicopter gifted by India to the Maldives has left the island nation as demanded by him, President Mohamed Muizzu has said.
'Modi knows the people here are opposed to this project, but he is using the might of government to push this port down our throats.'
Vouching for preserving its independence and sovereignty, Muizzu made a firm commitment to ensure that the Maldives remains "free of any foreign military presence."
India-France synergy is poised to open vistas of collaboration between the two countries, notes Rup Narayan Das.
As the year 2023 comes to an end, a look at some newsy events that shaped the world in the first half of the year.
Before Jim Sarbh arrives with the second season of Made In Heaven, he makes a quick stopover to the Maldives.
All arrangements, including heavy security, are in place for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 45-hour stay at the famed Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari on Thursday, as he would sit on meditation at the place named after the revered Hindu saint.
The compulsion behind India and Japan to deepen security cooperation is in response to China's growing political and economic clout and its assertive behaviour in disputed areas. This has been the key driver for bringing both India and Japan closer in the domain of security cooperation, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
