Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday concluded his four-day visit to Moscow leaving for home without meeting with President Vladimir Putin. He is the second senior Indian minister to have visited Moscow in one week who the president hasn't met, the other being External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Sri Lanka on Sunday said it will release information on those detained by the country's forces since the end of the war with the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam, ahead of External Affairs Minister G L Peiris' visit to the US.
The prime minister is likely to sign key agreements in various sectors with both the nations.
The Cabinet Committee on Security today took stock of the situation arising out of the Pune bomb blast and is understood to have discussed issues related to the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan gave a brief account of the four-month-long standoff and said the Chinese side attempted to transgress the Line of Actual in several areas of the western sector since mid-May.
Such a course would require a Constitutional Amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament. Even assuming that the INDIA combine comes to power at the Centre next year, a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha could way off the mark for them, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mishra and Doval hold the rank of a Cabinet minister.
The defence secretary was responding to a question from Congressman Joe Wilson, a friend of India in the Congress who, of late, has been critical of India deciding to take an independent position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs will be briefed on Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to recent surgical strikes.
The Indian Navy is keeping a close eye on Iranian merchant vessel MV Assa, anchored for over a month off the coast of Kerala.
The three-member committee was constituted following a direction from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently abroad, government sources said. However, the defence forces have now agreed to accept the pay scales with the existing 'anomalies', but would wait for a decision from the committee in which Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram would be members.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will head a six-member United Progressive Alliance -Samajwadi Party Coordination Committee. The committee has Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony as its members.The constitution of the Committee indicates that the SP, like the Left, would support the government from outside. The development also suggests that they would exert influence like that of the Left.
Civil servants, armed forces and paramilitary personnel will get to rejoice this Independence Day with the government all set to approve the Sixth Pay Commission report in its Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
Among those attending the meeting from the government side were Defence Minister AK Anthony, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal. The Left parties were represented by the Communist Party of India's A B Bardhan and D Raja, and the CPI-M by Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri
Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh continues to be on life support systems after he was operated upon for a head injury at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi after he had a fall at his residence.
It was their first conversation since Indian-origin Sunak took charge as British prime minister on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to go ahead with the scheduled Indo-Pak meeting after the blast at Pune's German Bakery that has so far claimed 10 lives, is not an easy one for him, with two key ministers of his government opposing the move.
While there is no change in the strength of the Modi-led CCPA over its two tenures, what has changed is its profile.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay, however, refused to comment whether there was reduction of Indian troops at the tri-junction between India-China-Bhuta.
The US is "fully alive" to the dangers involved in India's neighbourhood, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met his British counterpart Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit here and discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in areas like green hydrogen, renewables and clean technology, economy and defence.
The 10-member GoM headed by external affairs minister and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will include defence minister A K Antony, Home Minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, communications minister A Raja, railway minister Lalu Prasad, chemical and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan, law and justice minister H R Bhardwaj, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Russia President Vladimir Putin on Monday described India as a great power, a friendly nation and a time-tested friend and echoed common concerns over terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime as he held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Washington, DC, ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden and discussed a broad range of issues of bilateral, regional and global importance, including the Indo-Pacific.
"Since home minister has called a meeting of the chief ministers on internal security on Januray 6, I hope to take over before that so that I could represent J&K as the chief minister. But we have few formalities. The governor's rule has to be revoked before that," Omar Abdullah said.
Fifteen Cabinet ministers and 28 Ministers of State were sworn-in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening.
Trump congratulated Modi on his election victory and said that the two countries would work together in many areas including military.
According to observers, with pro-China Rajapaksa winning the election, the result will have a bearing on India's presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making inroads.
This is probably the first time Rahul Gandhi is attending this committee's meeting since being nominated to the panel last year after Lok Sabha elections.
During Vajpayee's tenure, he was there as an indispensable insider, witness to every action that had an impact on history: Pokhran-II (nuclear tests in 1998), the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indo-Pak Agra Summit in 2001, intense engagement with the United States on nuclear issues besides the Kandahar hijack.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a five-day visit amid attacks on Indians in that country.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will be meeting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York on September 25, to apprise her about the Indian concerns over diversion of US aid by Pakistan for strengthening its defence against India, according to sources.
Speaking to media persons outside his South Block office in New Delhi, Tharoor said: "We know Pakistan has been misusing US aid for years. I am not surprised by former President Musharraf's statement. This confirms India's stand on the misuse of aid. The United States should monitor aid given to Pakistan more carefully."
The stalemate still continues over the China-bound United Arab Emirates Air Force aircraft detained at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International airport in Kolkata after arms and ammunition were found on board as the Customs authorities are yet to get green signal from the Ministry of External Affairs.
A joint statement released on Thursday said both sides exchanged views in an 'open and constructive' manner to resolve the 'relevant issues' and that it was agreed to maintain 'security and stability' on the ground in the region.
While the Modi government had jump-started its second innings taking one major decision after another, there is a deep sense of loss in the party over the demise of Swaraj and Jaitley.
India and the United States on Monday night reached an End-Use Monitoring pact on defence equipment and technology, as they vowed to push their strategic ties with Washington giving an assurance that its policy on enrichment and reprocessing technology will not affect New Delhi.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where violence is continuing over the Amarnath land row.
Only the future will tell if Modi can leave his mark on the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, it is both a challenge and an opportunity for India's diplomacy, notes Rup Narayan Das.
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