What some of our leaders were up to on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were planning to attack an Indian Army Agniveer recruitment rally.
The three services are reeling under a shortage of 1,35,784 personnel, with the Army having the maximum vacancies at 1,16,464, according to details provided by the government.
The government should keep the interest of unemployed youth paramount and bring out various policy aspects of this initiative, Varun said.
This is the first time since Independence that a new operational branch is being created, Chaudhari said in his speech on the occasion of 90th anniversary celebrations of the IAF.
All equipment from the Army which were part of the Republic Day celebrations are made-in-India, Chief of Staff Delhi Area Maj Gen Bhavnish Kumar had earlier said.
The Army will formally kick-start the process for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme within two days by coming out with an initial notification for the enrolment, senior military officials said on Friday.
The prime minister was briefed by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan about the various discussions conducted at this year's Combined Commanders' conference.
What is the lure of a government job? The answer is India's worst kept secret: Job security. And among the many government jobs desperately sought after is in the armed forces. Which is why the riots by aspiring armed forces job seekers against the government's Agnipath scheme should not really be surprising, points out Harishchandra.
In the confrontation in Doklam, where Indian and Chinese soldiers were lined up eyeball-to-eyeball, senior Indian commanders recount they could sense the uncertainty in the Chinese. While Indian soldiers had to be restrained from pushing the Chinese troops back, our chief interpreter heard the Chinese officers threatening to open fire on PLA soldiers who wavered or withdrew, reveals Ajai Shukla.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
Rains failed to dampen the spirit of Beating Retreat ceremony held at the historic Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Sunday as Indian classical tunes played by bands of the armed forces filled the air, marking the end of Republic Day celebrations.
The ceremony will begin with the massed band's "Agniveer" tune which will be followed by the enthralling tunes like "Almora", "Kedar Nath", "Sangam Dur", "Queen of Satpura", "Bhagirathi", "Konkan Sundari" by pipes and drums band, the defence ministry statement said.
'The next war will be fought by China-Pakistan against India and we have to fully be prepared. We must read the writing on the wall.'
Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Friday termed the Agniveer model as the single biggest human resources management transformation in the Indian military and said that protests in parts of the country over the newly launched Agnipath scheme are happening due to misinformation and misunderstanding.
The challenge is to enhance opportunities for people to generate livelihoods through entrepreneurship, both big and small, argues R Jagannathan.
Road and rail traffic was partially affected in some regions on Monday during a 'Bharat bandh' called against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, while protests appeared to taper off in many states, with authorities stepping up security and imposing curbs after days of unrest.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday alleged that the Indian Army was using caste as a factor for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme, drawing a swift rebuttal from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who rejected the charge as a "rumour".
Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani's meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coming to power and said "magic" happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.
The armed forces said on Tuesday that "credible" information on the Agnipath scheme recently has dispelled misinformation about the initiative and asserted that youngsters preparing to become soldiers have returned to physical activities at several places.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
For the BJP, the RSS' organisational heft is a prized asset, considering the slew of elections it faces this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2024.
During the hearing, one of the petitioners said his plea has a pan-India effect to which a three-judge bench asserted that pan-India does not mean the apex court will have to hear everything, adding it would be appropriate to have a considered view of the Delhi high court.
The recruitment process can be changed by the State midway if it is in public interest, a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said
Of the 612 trains affected, 602 trains were cancelled, including 223 mail and express trains and 379 passengers trains, the Railways said in a statement.
The deceased, an unfortunate first casualty of the ongoing protests against the Centre's new recruitment policy for the Armed forces, hailed from Dabeerpet village in Warangal district of Telangana.
In a projection of India's growing maritime prowess, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday addressed the top naval commanders onboard the country's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in the Arabian Sea and witnessed a mega wargame, amid China's increasing military posturing in the Indian Ocean region.
Gandhi, who met a cross section of people from Jammu and Kashmir during his yatra, said J-K has the highest level of unemployment in the country.
Siachen 1987 reveals for the first time the Northern Army's 'intent' to use Siachen as an excuse to capture the strategic town of Skardu in PoK, notes military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Even as Union ministers allay misgivings over Agnipath, figures show a meagre 2.4 per cent of the ex-servicemen who applied for a government job could get one as the Centre and the states have been unable to recruit against the reserved quotas. Public sector undertakings (PSUs), ministries, and officials of Sainik Boards have blamed it on the lack of skill among ex-servicemen. They say veterans' inability to qualify in selection exams is one of reasons for this. Also, non-recognition of qualifications obtained from the military are reasons why their recruitment has remained significantly low, pushing them towards low-skill jobs.
'Given the possibility that our unstable northern and western borders may become 'live' at short notice, any major systemic change which impacts combat effectiveness should be brought about in a cautious and progressive manner.'
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Opposition candidate in the July 18 presidential polls, Yashwant Sinha, held his first campaign strategy meeting on Wednesday at the Nationalist Congress Party office in New Delhi and said a "rubberstamp President" will not work in the country.
The JD-U also accused the ruling BJP of having "authoritarian" tendencies and destabilising non-BJP governments in several states, including Delhi and Jharkhand besides Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra earlier.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad granted two weeks' time to the petitioners to respond to the Centre's stand on the matter.
In an army that favours officers who have spent the bulk of their service years doing counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, General Anil Chauhan is that rarity: A China specialist who has logged plenty of service years along the Line of Actual Control and the McMahon Line with China.
Trains were set afire and blocked, and public vehicles attacked as protests over 'Agnipath' swept across several places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu on Thursday amid partisan political voices in favour and against the new recruitment scheme for the defence forces that has set off a firestorm.
'We're hitting at the core strength of our armed forces.'
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
'In Punjab, disappointment among the people about the AAP government has already set in.'
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