India as a sovereign democratic republic completed 75 years of its eventful journey on Sunday, with the stage set at the Kartavya Path in New Delhi for the ceremonial parade during which the country will showcase its military prowess and rich cultural heritage.
The inquiry will focus on the "intelligence" and the "circumstances" on which Saturday's operation was based on.
rediffGURU Major Inderpaul Singh (retd) offers career guidance and helps students and individuals handle challenges in their professional lives.
'No military offensive by Pakistan will end the insurgency in Balochistan without simultaneous, concerted efforts toward political dialogue to de-escalate tensions.'
India has emerged as a 'major power' by achieving outstanding results in economic development and social governance and its transformation as a stronger, assertive country has made it a 'new geopolitical factor', according to a commentary by a Chinese scholar in a state-run newspaper in Beijing.
The Iraqi Prime Minister said that personnel of the country's national intelligence service, working with coalition forces commanded by the United States, had killed the head of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Almost five years later, the three services have still not fully understood that joint/theatre commands are not a discussion point; they are the prime minister's diktat on a military reform measure that is in line with what armed forces around the world have implemented, points out Ajai Shukla.
On the 134th birth anniversary of the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, Utkarsh Mishra revisits three incidents from Dr B R Ambedkar's life that lay bare the deeply entrenched nature of caste prejudice.
The Naxalites, 10 of whom are women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), he added.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been taken into 18-day custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India. Rana was extradited from the United States after years of legal battles and will be questioned to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the attacks.
'The army major was arrogant with power and considered himself as my creator'
According to intelligence reports, the terrorists entered the Akhnoor region through the Battal area, and a wireless set seized from them confirmed their association with the JeM.
The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will not be part of the upcoming Republic Day flypast in India due to the grounding of the entire fleet of ALH-Dhruv helicopters following a crash earlier this month. The grounding of the helicopters is a result of a Coast Guard ALH crash in Porbandar, Gujarat on January 5, which claimed the lives of two pilots and an aircrew diver. The decision to exclude the ALH-Dhruv and Tejas from the flypast comes as a high-level probe panel investigates the cause of the crash.
'Neither are Baloch insurgents capable of breaking up Pakistan, nor has Pakistan learned any lessons from the 1971 debacle that led to the country's dismemberment.'
These promotions will allow General Bajwa to shuffle the deck on the top, but this is likely to be a limited reshuffle, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
General Syed Asim Munir is now firmly ensconced as army chief after the May 9, 2023 upheavals, which were planned by Imran Khan's supporters to destabilise him, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The cultural richness that began from a narrow bank of the Yamuna has continued for over 7 centuries. And you literally go underground for as little at Rs 50 to see it!
'This was a decision taken and executed by Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Both were convinced that the assassination would not be linked to them.'
The solution to Manipur's problems lies in the government giving concessions to Meitis in jobs and education and to accept autonomy for the tribal dominated areas inhibited by the Kukis, suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
'I enjoyed my fiery exchanges with Akshay Kumar, who was extremely gracious and generous when the camera was not rolling. I enjoyed locking horns with him in court.'
'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
'Putin dreams about his legacy. He wants to forcibly restore the Russian empire.' 'Unfortunately, after three years of large-scale war with massive human losses, Putin will not budge from his goal because human life is the cheapest resource in the Russian State.'
In a year bookended by intractable conflicts and geopolitical fragmentation, India focused on ramping up military prowess by broadly firming up defence procurement worth Rs 4.22 lakh crore even as Indian and Chinese militaries completed pulling back their troops from border face-off points in eastern Ladakh.
'Muslims need to work according to strategy and not fall into the trap of Opposition parties.'
There is a shortage of officers at the major and captain levels in the army with over 6,800 vacancies, but the available strength is "sufficient" to meet the current operational requirements, Parliament was informed on Friday.
Ahead of Republic Day, the Indian Army announced on Thursday the addition of two new features to this year's parade: battlefield surveillance systems and a Defebce Research and Development Organisation tableau showcasing Pralay, short-range ballistic missiles.
The Punjab police, which is investigating the matter along with their military counterparts, said according to the information gathered so far, the incident was not a terrorist act. The four personnel, in their mid 20s, were sleeping when the firing took place around 4.30 am near the barracks behind a mess.
For a film with such a grand vision, Sangeet Manapmaan needed more flamboyance to make it a memorable affair, feels Mayur Sanap.
The Army on Friday said the search operation in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri to flush out any hiding terrorists was still underway, a day after two foreign terrorists of proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit including the mastermind behind various attacks were eliminated.
After the occupation of heights by the Indian Army, the Chinese army has deployed around 3,000 additional troops of its combined arms brigade including its infantry and armoured troops near the Rezang la and Rechen La heights.
Gogoi was detained by police in May following an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a Srinagar hotel with an 18-year-old woman.
India's rich cultural diversity, military prowess, economic progress and the strides it has taken in sectors, such as science and technology, were on full display at the 76th Republic-Day celebrations on Kartavya Path on Sunday, in the presence of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
Chimaji Appaji remains one of the foremost military generals of the Maratha Empire who inflicted a crushing defeat on the Portuguese.
It was a joint operation by the army and Jammu Kashmir Police carried out on the intervening night of July 16-17 in the Krishna Ghati Sector of Poonch district, he said, adding arms and ammunition were also recovered from the site.
Assam Rifles personnel vacated a makeshift camp in Manipur's Kamjong district on Sunday, a day after it was vandalized by a mob protesting alleged harassment and restrictions on timber transportation. An understanding was reached between the two sides after a meeting involving civil society groups and Assam Rifles officials. The incident occurred amid ongoing ethnic violence in the state.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
The bench granted the Army time till March 31, 2024 for drawing up a policy pursuant to an earlier direction on the career progression of women officers, and listed their plea in the first week of April next year.
The operation to neutralise the terrorists involved in the encounter that led to the killing of four security forces personnel continued for the second day on Thursday as the police claimed to have "encircled" two Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists in the higher reaches of Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
'Shivaji and Sambhaji followed the gospel of humanity. 'They did not discriminate based on religion, caste, or colour.' 'That is the beauty of Shivaji and Sambhaji's Hindvi Swaraj.'