India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously-developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II and Dhanush ballistic missiles in separate trials, boosting the armed forces' operational readiness.
The Covid pandemic has left a question mark on how the central government manages its staff.
'I do not agree that the intent was to send a political message to China that the US treats friends and foes alike.' 'In any case, such acts do not ruffle a feather in China,' observes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The Chief of Army Staff is scheduled to hold extensive talks with the top civilian and military brass of Nepal including his counterpart General Purna Chandra Thapa on a range of key issues such as further boosting the management of the nearly 1,800 km-long border between the two countries.
Bad management, an exhausted government vigilance mechanism, delay in roping in private players, relaxing norms, and over-dependence on antigen tests may be the reason behind the surge, reports Shine Jacob.
Xi ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios, scale up training and battle preparedness, promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, without mentioning any specific issues that posed a threat to the country.
The political row had erupted after the National Democratic Alliance government inked the Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016 to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.
A fresh political war of words erupted on Tuesday over the Rafale issue as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress leadership of corruption citing claims of a French media report on 'commissions' being paid during the United Progressive Alliance rule and said the Indian National Congress should be renamed 'I Need Commission' party.
"Government has decided to appoint Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC presently Vice Chief of Air Staff as the next Chief of the Air Staff," defence ministry's principal spokesperson, said on Twitter.
Gen K M Cariappa was the first Indian Army chief to be decorated with the title in 1950.
The fleet landed at Al Dhafra airbase on Monday in the United Arab Emirates after flying for over seven hours from the Merignac airbase. It was the only stopover by the jets while flying from France to India.
The Centre held that seniority is not the sole criterion for selection.
Within the army, there is growing concern that New Delhi will allow the Chinese to retain the territory they have occupied in the last month.
The official told the reporters during a conference call on Friday, ahead of the next week's 2+2 India-US Ministerial in New Delhi, that the Trump administration was providing support to India through defence sales, joint military exercises and information sharing.
Thimpu apparently didn't think it necessary to take Delhi into confidence. Bhutan is loathe to getting dragged into the geopolitical rivalry between India and China. And for Beijing, this was too good an opportunity to be missed to thumb its nose at the powers-that-be in Delhi, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Troops of India and Indonesia participated in joint army exercises in Mizoram.
Easy availability of drones has increased the complexity of security challenges and the Indian military is developing capabilities to effectively deal with the threats, be it from State-sponsored elements or by states themselves, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Thursday.
By the year 2027, which marks the centennial of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, China will build a fully modern military, a goal that is in alignment with the national strength and will fulfil the future national defence need, state-run Global Times quoted Chinese analysts as saying.
In India, 39 per cent of the sample of a survey said 'very comfortable' for a woman heading the government, higher than 34 per cent who replied with 'very comfortable' for a woman heading a company. However, men are less accepting of such appointments.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It's time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve the people, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
It has been argued that India should have held back on disengagement from the Kailash Range, using that as a trump card to force Chinese concessions in areas such as Depsang, where they hold the advantage.
Interacting with state chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world's biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people vaccinated so far in over 50 countries in around a month.
As per the sources, the discussions between the two sides include pulling back tanks and armoured vehicles from their present positions, and some development in this regard is likely to take place in the next few days.
The Chhattisgarh high court on June 11 had passed two separate orders and granted interim reliefs in the same FIR lodged against Singh and Patra while noting that averments in the FIR reflected that 'by the tweets, Congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is purely political rivalry between two political parties'.
The swing-wing fighter has been the backbone of ground-attack fleet of the Air Force for several decades
Who took the decision for the prime minister, the nation's single most popular leader, to take the road route when they should have already known about the farmers' protests and also the grave risks involved, when and how, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Agni-I missile is equipped with sophisticated navigation system which ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision.
'They will try more rounds of military level talks and move it to the diplomatic and political domain to see if there is a possibility of a solution -- and like the CDS said if that does not happen, we are prepared.'
The Army, the National Disaster Response Force, police and the fire force along with the locals began rescue operations on Sunday morning at Koottickal and Kokkayar panchayats where over a dozen people are listed to be missing due to numerous landslides accompanied by heavy downpour since Saturday.
Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month against the social distancing protocol imposed by the Centre to curb the spread of the deadly disease.
The agreement would divert China's attention and keep them busy in the Pacific theatre, probably resulting in a reduction in threat perception in our area of interest in the Indian Ocean, notes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
She has a total of over 500 hours of incident-free flying, of which 380 hours are on the Hawk Mk 132 jet.
Today, the Ladakhis and Tibetans have been joined by the Sikhs, the Madrassis, the Garhwalis, the Rajputs, who are well trained psychologically and otherwise, to defend the nation, observes Claude Arpi.
'China's military is expected to deploy full throttle its new equipment including J-20 stealth fighters, drones, medium range missile systems, surveillance and others to continue to put psychological pressure on India,' warns Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, JNU.
'It will be a repeated folly to ever think that China will not attack us.'
A peek into the Indian Army's Exercise Topchi exercise at the School of Artillery in Deolali
He will be the first former Chief Justice of India to be nominated to Rajya Sabha. Former Chief Justice Ranganath Misra was also a Rajya Sabha member but he was elected on a Congress party ticket.
A major rank official of the Indian Army died during a training exercise in western sector near the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan.
The clear assertion by New Delhi came ahead of a fresh round of Lt General-level talks between the Indian army and the Chinese PLA which government sources said is set to take place within the next two days.
The heightened state of alert was only relaxed after Wang met his Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a second source said.