The planes would now officially be inducted on October 8 into the IAF when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visits France but the planes would start arriving in India only in May 2020 after validation of the India Specific Enhancements and training of pilots and personnel.
A member of India's gold medal-winning team of the 1948 London Olympics, he was 85 and leaves behind two daughters and a son.
Farmer leaders on Monday started their day-long hunger strike against the Centre's new farm laws and said protests will be held at all district headquarters later in the day, even as more people are expected to join the ongoing agitation at Delhi border points.
BJP general secretary in-charge of Haryana Anil Jail also appealed to the Jats who have been protesting in Haryana to call off their agitation, which has badly hit life in the region, and return to their homes as their demands have been met.
A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
Khattar's test report came positive on Monday, six days after he had attended a meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who was later found infected with the virus.
Military officials, on the condition of anonymity, said the arrival of the Rafale jets will significantly enhance the IAF's overall combat capability and will send a clear message to India's 'adversaries'.
While Singh slammed Khattar for stopping farmers from moving towards the national capital, terming it as 'totally undemocratic and unconstitutional', the latter told the Punjab chief minister to stop 'inciting innocent farmers'.
She dared PM to fight the polls on issues like development rather than "divert" the people's attention.
The air force has moved its critical frontline assets including the Sukhoi-30MKI, Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighter aircraft fleet to advanced positions where they can fly in at a very short notice to carry out operations.
"Our investigations in the various cases against Dera Sacha Sauda are over," a senior CBI official told PTI in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
A look at the top 10 tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
It said the final induction ceremony will take place in second half of August. 'The first batch of five Indian Air Force Rafale is likely to arrive in India by end of July.The aircraft will be inducted at Air Force Station Ambala on July 29 subject to weather,' the IAF said.
Khemka, as per the latest orders of the Haryana government, has been posted as Secretary, Archaeology and Museums Department and Director General, Archaeology and Museums.
As per earlier plans, Balakot operations in-charge and current Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa was to travel to receive the plane on September 19-20 from France.
Members of various organisations on Friday held protests at Ambala in Haryana and Delhi against the proposed screening of controversial film Messenger of God featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the lead role.
Very light rains and thundershowers occurred at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh though, and a fresh warning of heavy showers was issued in Himachal Pradesh as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in several parts of the country, including the northern region, over the next six-seven days.
In Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to lightning strikes rose to 42.
The commanders are also expected to specifically deliberate on deployment of first batch of around six Rafale fighter jets which are expected to join the IAF's fighter fleet later this month, they said.
As the case gets nastier by the day -- with the coverage on some news television channels getting shriller and uglier -- Namrata Thakker finds out more about the woman at the centre of it all.
Haryana Tourism would have its first floating restaurant at Jansui Waterworks, about 15 km from Ambala City on the Ambala-Kaithal highway. Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala would lay its foundation stone on Wednesday.
Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said on Sunday that farmers have waterproof tents but they cannot protect them from biting cold and waterlogging.
While all international and national flights were on time in Delhi, fog continued to disrupt train services.
The IAF has been maintaining that the Rafale jets would significantly enhance its combat capability.
'The Pakistanis were not the mujahids or terrorists as claimed initially.' .'They were trained soldiers who held state of the art anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down our airplanes.'
"If he wants to come alone or with just a few people, there is no problem. He can come a 100 times, we have no objection. "But if he comes with a big crowd from Punjab to disturb Haryana's atmosphere, then we will not permit. We are not going to allow that," Vij said.
Sources said a high-level team of the Indian Air Force is already in Paris to coordinate with the French officials on the handing over ceremony.
The minister said the lyrics of the song did not make any mention of the large number of freedom fighters who launched an armed struggle to free the country.
Most of the farmers have brought at least two trolleys with each tractor with one of them carrying ration and other essentials and the other being used to accommodate the protesters.
Aviation turbine fuel accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total operating cost of an Indian airline.
Today, the two countries, ruthlessly divided by the Radcliffe line that pierced their very heart, grapple with the political challenges of the present. Yet, when friendships develop there are no borders, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
Emotions ran high as the farmers performed ardas (prayers) and havan to thank the almighty and started their 'victory march' from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur protest sites to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in convoys of tractors, bedecked with colourful flowers and lights and blaring songs of jubilation.
The Haryana Police has told the Punjab and Haryana HC that the section on gang rape had been added to the FIR in the case.
The Congress leader, dressed in black pants and a white kurta, was seen sitting on the footpath and asking migrant labourers near the Sukhdev Vihar flyover about their ordeal.
The political row had erupted after the National Democratic Alliance government inked the Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016 to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.
The direction came after incidents of violence and stone-pelting were reported from Jammu city.
Services of about 300 trains, including premier ones like Rajdhani, Shatbadi and Duronto, were severely affected due to collapse of the Northern grid in the early hours on Monday, causing inconvenience to passengers.
Cases related to sexual assault and other crimes against women continued to pour in twin states of Punjab and Haryana including those allegedly involving cops, even as police claimed to have become "over sensitive" to gender-related offences in the wake of Delhi gangrape episode.
A trade union leader was killed in Ambala in the wee hours as the two-day nationwide strike called by the 11 trade unions began on Wednesday.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 pm on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
