More than a year after its constitution, a Group of Ministers that examined reports of the prime minister-appointed High Level Committee on alleged Commonwealth Games related irregularities, is in the process of finalising its findings. The GoM, under the leadership of Defence Minister A K Antony, was constituted on August 2 last year and asked to submit its report within three months.
Regretting that corrupt practices were happening despite taking precautions, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said the government will further tighten norms to prevent controversies such as the VVIP chopper deal and rely less on imports.
Close on the heels of clinching the Indian Air Force contract for supply of mid-air refuellers, European consortium Airbus will now bid for the Rs 12,000-crore global tender to be floated by India for procuring 56 medium-lift transport aircraft to replace its vintage Avro planes.
"The boundless contribution of our army to nation building is amongst its greatest legacies. Be it ensuring the nation's territorial integrity, fighting the scourge of terrorism, reaching out to fellow citizens in times of natural calamities, our Army has consistently performed all duties with dedication and professionalism," said President Mukherjee in his congratulatory message.
The Army on Monday said it has initiated administrative action against three officers and three junior commissioned officers for alleged pilferage of special rations meant for soldiers serving in Siachen Glaciers, the world's highest battle-field.
There is seething anger among the senior administration officials -- at State, Commerce and the Pentagon -- and representatives of business and industry that New Delhi's decision was wholly political and much of the finger-pointing was at Defence Minister A K Antony and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Leaking of official secrets of military operations is treason and those involved in it must be punished, the Congress said on Wednesday on the purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and demanded that the prime minister must come clean.
With Pakistan again indulging in cross-border firing and militants making yet another infiltration attempt in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, Defence Minister A K Antony termed the developments a matter of concern and said the ceasefire should be maintained.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister AK Antony and Congress president's political secretary Ahamed Patel were present at the Congress core group meeting in which the Lokpal issue was discussed, sources said
Seeking to downplay a rift between the army on the one side and navy and Indian Air Force on the other over share in new posts as per the Singh report, Antony said an amicable solution would be arrived at soon.
In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "As per the Defence Acquisition Council decision of October 2011, Ordnance Factory Board is to manufacture 155mm Howitzers."
Three hundred and seventy seven personnel in the armed forces are afflicted with the dreaded AIDS, though the government claims the disease is now on a downward slide.
L K Advani, Venkiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley, launched a blistering attack on government after PM Manmoha Singh's speech in Parliament on Friday. Jaitley asked Defence Minister A K Antony to explain how he got Rs 1,000 crores cleared up defence purchases bypassing the Cabinet Committee on Security, while stressing on indiginisation of defence production.
Against the backdrop of controversy over Tatra truck deal, government today told the Rajya Sabha the purchases were made as per the requirement raised by defence forces and action will be taken if any wrongdoing was detected in the ongoing CBI probe.
The ministry had sent a draft proposal for the consideration of the Empowered Group of Ministers to price all domestically produced natural gas -- be of state-run ONGC or private sector Reliance Industries - as per the formula suggested by the Rangarajan Committee.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh summoned Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan to New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the political situation in Andhra Pradesh, including the ongoing agitation on Telangana.
US authorities have been scrambling to establish how many Americans have been killed or taken hostage in the conflict.
Infiltration across the border had not declined, but there had been signs of stability in recent days thanks to stern retaliatory action by security forces along the borders, Antony said.
At a recent Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting, chaired by Defence Minister A K Antony, the urgency in having the second production line was discussed with all seriousness and the nod for the project, codenamed Project 75I, was given, a senior Defence Ministry source said in New Delhi.
The PM held a lengthy two-and-half-hour discussion with Defence Minister A K Antony and officers from the armed forces and the intelligence agencies on ways to prevent recurrences of such terror attacks, government sources told PTI. However, Home Minister Shivraj Patil was missing at the top-notch meet, as he was not called for the meeting, the sources added, indicating that the PM could be "cut up about Patil's handling of the Mumbai terror crisis".
The meeting of the GoM, according to sources, will be attended by several senior ministers, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telecommunication Minister Kapil Sibal.
Executing its mission with honour and pride, the Indian Air Force displayed its firepower at IRON FIST -- 2013 in the august presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday.
Executing its mission with honour and pride, the Indian Air Force displayed its firepower at IRON FIST -- 2013 in the august presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday.
"Non Resident Indians having relevant qualification and experience in Engineering or basic sciences are being inducted into the Defence Research and Development Organisation under a talent hunt scheme," Defence Minister A K Antony informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The talent hunt is being conducted through video-conferencing on adhoc basis and the posts subsequently advertised for regular inductions, he said.
'Countries like Israel said openly that they will hunt people down. We have no such policy.' 'We have always been following the legal process of getting them (people wanted by India) through extradition.'
India has plans to more than double the number of Russian-made Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft in Indian Air Force fleet to 230 by 2015, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has taken a major share of the pie of the Empowered Group of Ministers and Group of Ministers after the exit of Pranab Mukherjee.
Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC on how the American Enterprise Institute, a leading neo-conservative DC think-tank, wants the US to boost its military relationship with India.
Virtually defending the latest incursion by the People's Liberation Army in the Chumar sector in Ladakh, China on Thursday said its troops were patrolling on its side of the Line of Actual Control and asserted that "status quo" should not be changed pending a final settlement.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met telecom minister A Raja and defence minister A K Antony on Monday in an effort to resolve the issue, highly placed sources said, adding that there was no consensus on the spectrum slots to be auctioned.
"We are also enough nuclear capable," Defence Minister A K Antony said.
Recalling his long association with the CWC, the highest decision making body of the party, Mukherjee thanked the party for all the cooperation and for nominating him for the president's post, sources said.
The US made it clear on Wednesday that India's patience would be "limited" if it faces a Mumbai-type attack again, as it warned that Lashkar-e-Tayiba was working in league with the Al Qaeda to destabilise the region and provoke an Indo-Pak military confrontation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari have underlined the need to move step-by-step and find pragmatic and mutually acceptable solutions to India-Pakistan bilateral issue, government told the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi will not be attending the swearing-in of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal Chief Minister in Kolkata on Friday.
In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "17 offset contracts have been signed so far with a value of about $4.279 billion... Offset policy was introduced in 2005. It is a relatively new policy and is in the process of evolution. The first offset contract was signed in 2007."
The EGoM headed by Defence Minister A K Antony was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to consider abolishing the priority ranking in natural gas allocation so that fuel currently consumed by urea plants can also be diverted to fuel-starved power plants.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assets worth around Rs 10.73 crore, double that of last year, but a number of his cabinet colleagues are much richer than him.
The more things change, the more they remain the same! That certainly appears to be the dictum by which the Congress party and its leadership lives and works.
"The joint development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft will mark the start of cooperation in the development of major state-of-the-art new technology weapon systems," Antony said, adding that both India and Russia would have equal financial and technological stakes and issues related to the intellectual property and specific requirement of the Indian Air Force have been resolved.
