Governments in most of the world saw their approval ratings dip as they struggled to contain the raging virus, which hit economy hard everywhere, but Indian politics followed a different script, with the outgoing year marking further shrinking of a rudderless Congress while the ruling BJP soared riding on Modi's enduring appeal.
During the World War, Singh fought alongside the Allied Forces in North West Frontier province, Eritrea, Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), Libya, Egypt and Italy.
Thousands of defence personnel are working overtime to rescue lakhs of people still stranded in the floods in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian Air Force on Monday reiterated that it shot down an F-16 jet of Pakistan Air Force during the February 27 aerial combat and showed radar images of the engagement to assert that it has 'irrefutable evidence' of downing the enemy jet.
The remarkable story of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, will be seen in a film featuring Aamir Khan.
The 13 IAF personnel have been identified as Wing Commander G M Charles, Squadron Leader H Vinod, Flight Lieutenants L R Thapa, M K Garg, Ashish Tanwar and Sumit Mohanty, Warrant officer K K Mishra, Sergeant Anoop Kumar, Corporal Sherin, LAC (leading aircraft man) S K Singh, LAC Pankaj, and non-combatants Rajesh Kumar and Putali.
'A conventional war is not in fashion today and not seen as being able to deliver the objective.' 'Perhaps surgical strikes that are deeper, this time not on Pakistan's terrorist facilities, but on Pakistan army facilities.' 'The nation has to be prepared for losses.' 'War is not something that can be pussyfooted around.' 'If we go for limited number of posts in Kashmir, these are very difficult posts to capture and very difficult operations.' 'Be prepared for 200 to 300 killed.'
The Malegaon blasts case has opened the proverbial can of worms. After the alleged involvement of right wing Hindu fundamentalists, the arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit on Wednesday has managed to rattle the top brass of the government and the Indian Army.Several residents of this textile town in Maharashtra are now demanding another investigation in the 2006 serial blasts, which claimed 37 lives.
'Insignias or not, Dhoni's will remain the deadliest pair of gloves behind the stumps,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
India's national security strategy needs to be revised periodically since the global and regional geopolitical situation is dynamic, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Just 21 then, a young air force officer looks back at the 1971 war, which was like a baptism by fire in the fauj.
Responding to cyclone Hudhud, the armed forces have repositioned their resources to assist the civil administration to launch rescue and relief operations in the affected regions of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Pakistan government has put on hold an order to bring the powerful ISI under the control of the interior ministry that had raised hackles of the President and the military, saying further deliberations are needed on "coordinating intelligence efforts".
Two Army personnel were injured in the gunbattle.
Tawang is very much a part of India, and if the present Dalai Lama decides one day to take rebirth in Tawang, the Indian government will openly welcome him and support him, notes Claude Arpi.
Two years after Major Akshay Girish sacrificed his life fighting terrorists in J&K, his mother wonders why his valour wasn't duly recognised.
Hours after the attack on Wednesday morning on the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters in Kaushambi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioned the miscreants' motive and wondered whether they wanted to kill him and Prashant Bhushan because of the latter's remarks on Kashmir.
The former home minister also "disproved" the belief that surgical strikes can end cross-border terrorism.
The state-of-the-art indigenous missile targeting an UAV 'Banshee', was fired from the launch complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore on Tuesday afternoon.
'We will raise our voice against AFSPA,' the JNUSU president said at an event.
Three security personnel were killed and two others injured on Wednesday night when Naxalites blasted a police outpost building at Vishrampuri in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
"We strongly condemn the allegation levelled by Shyam Manav... Hypnotism does not possess the power to make a person do violent act," said the spokesperson of the Sanstha, Abhay Vartak, at a press conference in Mumbai.
'Will it lead to a full-scale war? I doubt it.' 'But I do think there will be some kind of limited conflict.'
IAF officers say they are keen to serve justice quickly and make an example of those found guilty of operational lapses.
With flood waters receding, the armed forces have stepped up its rescue operations in Jammu and Kashmir
The unique BrahMos weapon system on numerous occasions has established its supremacy in the world of supersonic cruise missile, a statement by the BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia, said.
While the army and air force allow permanent commission for women, the Navy has limited women officers only to short service commission of 14 years.
'Jaish e Mohammed has been allowed to resurge through supported terror actions in J&K in a deliberate tactic by Pakistan, if only to reduce the international pressure on the Lashkar e Taiba leadership after 26/11,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'A couple of hours before the H-Hour, the Kupwara division opened small arms and mortar fire on posts opposite its area of operation.' 'This was a diversionary tactic.' 'As Pakistani forces began to react to the firing, special forces teams began to slowly cross the LoC into PoK.' Nitin Gokhale reveals how planning for the surgical strikes began hours after the Uri attack.
LTTE's political wing chief, V Nadesan, on Thursday said that the group was ready for a ceasefire now, while accusing the Sri Lankan government of 'abrogating' the six-year-long ceasefire, which came to an end early this year.
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'
Rider Padam from Nepal overcame the tough terrain and 70 fellow challengers to win the fourth edition of the Hercules MTB Himachal mountain biking race on Monday.
Maithripala Sirisena was considered so meek and self-effacing that he appeared no threat to anyone. What a mistake his rivals made!
The increase in violence along the Line of Control in the last few weeks indicates that despite the olive branch offered by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, hard-line elements in Islamabad are in no mood to become friendly with India.
The famous Meenakshi temple in Madurai in Tamil Nadu is on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's hit-list, fears the Intelligence Bureau.
The CH-47F version of the Chinook that India is buying from the United States is a high-tech marvel.
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
'In the case of an India-Pakistan confrontation, the Chinese may undertake more than just posturing, thereby constraining us from deploying adequate forces for decisive results,' warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
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