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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
"We are also enough nuclear capable," Defence Minister A K Antony said.
It was after a gap of two decades that saw such an occasion where MPs of the upper house enthralled their fellow colleagues at a dinner hosted by Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for 72 retiring members.
"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.
The Kiev-class warship, for which India signed a contract with Russia in 2004 for $974 million, was originally scheduled for delivery in 2008.
Chidambaram took a dig at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Queried on the similarities Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on involvement of "internal elements" in Mumbai attacks and comments by Pakistani leadership, he said, "You should ask Narendra Modi whether he and Pakistan are in contact with each other." According to Chidambaram Modi's comments were uncalled for.
A longstanding demand for voting rights in India by millions of Non Resident Indians may finally see the light of the day with a group of ministers clearing a draft bill on the issue, paving way for its consideration by the Union cabinet.
Hours before the arrival of Defence Minister A K Antony in Beijing for high-level talks, a hawkish Chinese General on Thursday warned India against provoking "new trouble" by increasing its military deployment at the border.
Engaged in a territorial dispute with China, Japan on Thursday sought to rope in India's support over "the recent Chinese provocative actions" saying a message needs to be sent to it collectively that status quo cannot be changed by force.
The sensors are operational with radar stations fitted at Tarapur, Korlai, Tolkeshwar and Devgad as part of the chain of static sensors project by the Coast Guard.
Young Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi has been nominated as a member of the key Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence in order to groom him as a future leader of the party and give valuable parliamentary experience.
Pakistan has climbed down from its demand for a United Nations probe into killing of Indian soldiers on the Line of Control last week and the tension has eased since the talks between top military officials of the two sides.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, who met in New Delhi over the last two days, also decided to take forward the joint fifth generation combat jets and mutirole transport aircraft projects over the next 10 years, under which India would get about 250-300 FGFAs and 45 MTAs
As many as 327 army personnel committed suicide during this period
Building up on strategic partnership forged in July, India has agreed to transfer 5,000 naval spares to Vietnam to make its several ageing ships operational. The announcement was made by Defence Minister A K Antony in Hanoi on Monday during his meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phung Quang Thanh. Antony is on a three-day visit to Vietnam.
Newly appointed Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma is is approachable and friendly, not forbidding, say his former colleagues.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal on Monday took up the issue of control over Shimla's Annandale grounds, on which his government is at loggerheads with the army, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said he would meet Defence Minister A K Antony also on the issue.
The Defence Ministry has launched an inquiry after receiving an anonymous envelope containing four pages of leaked draft field trial report of 145 M777 Ultra-Light Howitzers to be procured for the army, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday conferred with his top colleagues as Uttar Pradesh government sought nearly 50,000 central paramilitary personnel for tackling any possible law and order problem after the Allahabad high court judgment next month in the Ayodhya title dispute.
The most important changes in DPP-2008 relate to the new offset policy, which will immediately impact offset proposals for India's Rs 47,000-crore purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
The government,on Monday, ruled out induction of women into combat duties in the defence forces as of now but said the streams for women officers are being expanded continuously.
Army chief General V K Singh's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the state of affairs in the service on Wednesday rocked the Rajya Sabha with opposition members forcing two adjournments during the Question Hour.
Army chief General V K Singh's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the state of affairs in the service on Wednesday rocked the Rajya Sabha with opposition members forcing two adjournments during the Question Hour.
A victory in Karnataka could signal to Congress allies that it is not fully out of the reckoning, reports Renu Mittal
Hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party questioned the government on foreign policy and asserted that New Delhi must not resume talks with Islamabad, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday assured that appropriate steps will be taken in the matter concerning the killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch District.
The National Investigation Agency has prepared a template for interrogation of suspects of terror funding, which has been circulated to the concerned authorities in all states and Union territories.
With the floating of fresh tenders, the army would lose the benefit of procuring towed guns at the price levels of 2002-2003, which were in the range of Rs 10-12 crore per gun, as against the current price of approximately Rs 25-30 crore per gun.
Japan also reported that five of those missiles landed in its exclusive economic zone, understandably causing grave concern.
Committing to maintain peace and tranquility on the boundary, India and China on Saturday agreed that it was an "important guarantor for growth in ties and in this context pledged to early conclusion of negotiations on a proposed pact aimed at avoiding flare-ups on the border.
The Pakistani military on Wednesday rejected India's contention that its troops had attacked an Indian patrol and killed two soldiers, claiming that it had carried out ground verification and 'found nothing of this sort happened'.
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