Air Commodore Nitin Sathe discovers how the IAF trained Pakistani air force pilots, during the 1971 War, which led to the birth of the Bangladesh air force.
Twenty two years before Kabir Khan's The Forgotten Army streams on Amazon Prime on January 24, 2020, his documentary of the same name was telecast on Doordarshan. On that occasion, Kabir Khan spoke to Amberish K Diwanji/Rediff.com about Netaji's Azad Hind Fauj and its many battles for India's freedom.
The cover features India's only woman Lieutenant General Madhuri Kanitkar, champion racing driver Alisha Abdullah and Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of India's ODI/T20 women's cricket teams.
The remarkable story of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, will be seen in a film featuring Aamir Khan.
The terrorists were armed with AK-47s, grenades, pistols, knives, many rounds of ammunition. Sepoy Jagdish Chand's weapons were his bare hands and enormous courage. He died, but not before he felled one of them. Archana Masih/Rediff.com speaks to the family of Sepoy Jagdish Chand, one of the 7 soldiers martyred in the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station.
Indians will enter the upcoming Olympics with heightened expectations
'Another friend told me that the Russians had come to their homes, killed their neighbours and raped his neighbour's wife, and they killed even children in Bucha.'
'He destroyed many of our tanks, and finally, it was just the two of us left facing each other with our tanks just 200 m apart.' A tale of valour excerpted from Rachna Bisht Rawat's 1971: Charge Of The Gorkhas And Other Stories.
'China wants to change the status quo of India's Northern Border and proves that it can do whatever it wants in what it perceives as its own territory,' states Claude Arpi.
Is it a divine, sacrosanct university, a holy cow, prohibiting human intervention?
A transgender, a professional diver and a dusky beauty are among the hotties who'll walk at Lakme Fashion Week this season.
Buried in a Kolkata cemetery is an Englishman who served India well during her struggle for freedom. Charles Freer Andrews was a benevolent force that neither the Indians, nor the British could ignore.
In all the noise surrounding the Dok La confrontation, Claude Arpi focuses on a crucial issue that has hardly been covered -- the construction of roads for the armed forces and the local population to reach the most remote border posts.
The Indian women's boxing team won one gold, three silver and six bronze medals at the Asian Championship in Dubai, ensuring that all 10 weight categories featured an Indian medallist.
'These naval sailors should have been given due respect as freedom fighters.' 'February 18, 1946 should be as important as January 26 because that date changed everything.'
'It is only when Beijing sees a country with an infirm political will such as India that it acts up as the PLA has done in eastern Ladakh.'
'The #OrangeArmy has always been on our side through good times and bad and your support gave us the strength to fight!'
'I served the Indian Army and I am an ex-serviceman.' 'I look at this as a battle I am fighting after I left the army.' 'I will not leave till I get her back as my daughter Akhila, and I believe it will happen one day.'
'When war is thrust on you as in 1962 and 1965 or is tempting as in 1971, ensure that all other fronts are kept quiet, leaving your army free to deal with one,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Claude Arpi reveals how Wing Commander Jag Mohan Nath won a second Maha Vir Chakra in the 1965 War.
Given all the turbulence created by Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi's unexpected tirade against Saudi Arabia, it is likely to be business as usual between the two countries, albeit with a bit of caution on the part of both, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'It is advisable for Indian interlocutors to follow the Chinese tactic of repeating the Indian position, both for the record and to test the Chinese negotiator's resolve and intentions.' A riveting excerpt from former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale's The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate With India.
Atique Ahmed is one of the most feared dons of Uttar Pradesh today. There was another don who preceded Atique and had he survived, Atique wouldn't have been around today, recalls Sudhir Bisht.
Dramatic visuals showed fidgety people inside the cable cars that hung in air against the backdrop of a rocky hill cliff that overlooked a densely-forested valley.
'On June 15, 1965, Major A K Afridi of the Pakistan army was captured by Papa's 1 Mahar unit near Vigokot, when he accidently walked into Indian territory.' 'While he was being airlifted to Delhi from Kutch, Major Afridi made a request: He wanted to watch Sangam>, the movie starring Raj Kapoor and Vyjayantimala. It was a request that the Indian Army fulfilled.' 'Major Afridi was sent with armed escorts to watch the movie in Ahmedabad and then sent to Delhi for further interrogation.'
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
'Our biggest problem has been keeping this country together.' 'Nation building is never easy. It is a very difficult task.' 'Even 70 years is not too long a time.'
Diamantaire Mehul Choksi will "only" return to Dominica to face trial for illegal entry into that country when a doctor "certifies" that he is fit to stand trial, the media there reported citing conditions laid down by the Dominica high court while granting him bail. In a major setback to Indian efforts to bring him from the Caribbean country, Dominica high court Judge Bernie Stephenson allowed the businessman to return to Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been living as a citizen since 2018 after leaving India, to seek medical advice from neurologist Hayden Osborne at the Mount St. John's Medical Centre, Dominica News Online reported. Choksi is having a clot in brain besides other health issues such as diabetes and hypertension, his legal team has submitted.
'This is the first time when you see the story of the Azad Hind Fauj through the eyes of the soldiers.'
'Please get us home': An Indian family stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
'The Chinese forces in the narrow Chumbi Valley are currently in the line of sight and fire of Indian forces poised on the ridges along the Sikkim-Tibet border.' 'Aware of this vulnerability, the Chinese have been eyeing the Doklam plateau,' explains national security expert Nitin A Gokhale.
Many fans had Pakistani flags waving from the windows of their cars.
'I criticise the interference of the army in politics.' 'But the people know I am not anti-Pakistan.' 'Public support is my biggest strength.'
'Over one million people served in various battlefronts during World War I. And yet, even today, we know so very little about them.' 'It is absolutely essential to acknowledge this part of India's colonial history,' Santanu Das tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com
'A resurgent Jaish could be a reflection of the Pakistani security establishment's view that with the region moving ever closer to a post-US Afghanistan, it is time to redirect attention to Kashmir.'
'General Sam Manekshaw looked from left to right and said, "Gentlemen, I have come to have a look at you. I am taking a good look at your faces. When I come back after the war is over, some faces may not be here".'
The Indian Navy's flagship carrier, the INS Viraat will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the nation for 30 glorious years.
'In a war of guerrilla resistance from 1682 to 1707, the Marathas destroyed the foundations of the Mughal empire.' 'Shivaji was dead, but his example and ideals survived and were the main source for inspiration for the Marathas in their desperate struggle with the mighty Mughal empire,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), the well known military historian.
The 1971 war reaffirmed the importance of inspirational senior leadership in battle and heralded the emergence of a new fighting class amongst officers and men of India's armed forces.
The festering dispute over the accession of Jammu and Kashmir stands out as one of the world's most volatile fault lines that divides regions, countries, societies, communities and ethnic groups, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs, on Sheikh Abdullah's 39th death anniversary.
