The memorandum of understanding on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country.
Rajnath said the opposition parties were trying to cover up their own "mistakes and weaknesses".
'A month after assuming charge, Parrikar promised a policy within six months to "end or at least reduce" terrorist infiltration across the Line of Control.' 'However, infiltration continued apace, leading to high-profile terrorist attacks in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, and Uri.' 'During this phase, he made the controversial suggestion that India should fight terror with terror, hinting at supporting terror groups to strike in Pakistan,' observes Ajai Shukla.
A piece of slightly negative news can cause a serious setback, warns Debashis Basu.
'If you see another 1000-point correction, people may start panicking.'
The principal director of plans, policy, and resources management for the Maldives National Defence Force, Colonel Ahmed Mujuthaba Mohamed said that discussions are underway for withdrawing Indian troops from the Maldives.
The Information Support Force was regarded as the revised version of the PLA's Strategic Support Force, established in 2015 by the Chinese military to deal with space, cyber, political and electronic warfare to fight what was described as "informationised wars".
The scheme is aimed at slashing the salary and pension bills of the three services, which have been increasing rapidly.
There are 88 military personnel manning the three Indian platforms that have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years using two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.
India's doctrinal policy shift in combating terror by carrying out the Balakot air strikes inside Pakistan, appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff and hastening work on military modernisation marked a new beginning in 2019 in dealing with complex security challenges.
The secretary defence production wants to make India (currently the largest importer of weaponry) one of the world's top five defence manufacturers and a global leader in artificial intelligence and cyberspace.
Inaugurating the Defence Expo in Thiruvidanthai in Tamil Nadu, Modi said the Defence Procurement Procedure was revised with many specific provisions for stimulating growth of the domestic defence industry.
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
At interactions last week with senior officials from the Reserve Bank of India, select banks gave feedback on two key bond market concerns, namely, recent volatility in the rupee-dollar exchange rate and heavy losses incurred on floating rate government bonds due to a demand-supply mismatch, sources told Business Standard. The discussions were held ahead of the RBI's next monetary policy statement, scheduled on August 5. Indian banks are large holders of government securities because of a regulatory mandate to set aside a certain percentage of deposits in sovereign bonds.
Defence experts want defence expenditure to be at 3% of GDP, which they consider minimum to counter the two-front threat from China and Pakistan, internal insurgencies, and dominating a 7,500 km coastline and the Indian Ocean beyond. What Arun Jaitley has given India this Budget is 2.16% of GDP, observes Ajai Shukla.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
To boost Make in India in defence production, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said foreign direct investment limit in defence manufacturing will be hiked to 74 per cent from 49 per cent while some weapons and platforms will be banned for imports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the people have given his government a mandate for stability and continuity for the third consecutive term after seeing its work of 10 years and accused the Congress of trying to build a narrative that it has defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing an event in New Delhi, Gen Pande also said the recent global developments have underscored that the security of the nation can neither be outsourced nor be dependent on the largesse of others.
Indian-American Vikram Singh has been appointed to a key Pentagon position to look after entire South and Southeast Asia.
The Agency said it has delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on Thursday.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Jim Mattis in his resignation letter to the US president wrote that he deserved a defence secretary whose views were better aligned with his on these and other subjects.
On the night of July 5, the Tigers launched their first kamikaze operation. Miller took the wheels of the explosive-packed truck, smiled at everyone as he turned the ignition key and drove it slowly towards the Sri Lankan military camp. A few moments later all of Jaffna heard a thunderous explosion that brought the complex crashing down in clouds of dust. Miller had given birth to a deadly tactic that Prabhakaran would employ time and again with devastating consequences to Sri Lanka -- and India. A fascinating excerpt from M R Narayan Swamy's must read new book, The Rout Of Prabhakaran.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
However, the Army, in a statement, said since Singh's cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot injury, no guard of honour or military funeral was provided, in accordance with the existing policy.
The BJP's strategy seem to be to wean away allies from the Congress, in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, and maybe later in UP, Bihar and elsewhere, though in slow doses, but without wooing them into a new alliance. The idea seems to be only to weaken the INDIA bloc from within -- and leaving it at that, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The United States Department of Defence has announced that it will pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13, pending Congressional authorisation and appropriation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
Shares of public sector enterprises have corrected by up to 22 per cent month-to-date until March 19, 2024. Analysts attribute this steep fall to the valuation exuberance seen after a sharp run in these counters last year and suggest investors remain selective regarding the stocks in this space. "The rally in public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks has been stretched and sharp, although it is somewhat justified by improvements seen in earnings, operations, balance sheets, and overall profitability.
Afghanistan is "heading towards civil war" and terror group Al Qaeda "will probably come back" as the security situation in the region continues to deteriorate, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Friday.
The stock of commercial vehicle (CV) company Ashok Leyland is up 46 per cent in the past three months, gaining despite worries about a slowdown in sales volume. Brokerages have a mixed view on the country's second-largest medium and heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer. The company reported steady March quarter results and its valuation, focus on growth and medium-term prospects are positive, but some brokerages are cautious, given near-term demand concerns and the risk of competition increasing in the industry.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
'India represents one of the top opportunities with robust growth, solid fundamentals, and openness to foreign investment.'
Senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, asserted on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete his full term if elected to power, refuting the Aam Aadmi Party's claim that Modi wants Shah to succeed him after turning 75 next year.
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).
Indian policymakers must realise that in buying small quantities of equipment, it becomes hard to start manufacturing them in India, explains Ajai Shukla.
Stung by the alleged scam in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, the defence ministry is now busy tweaking the defence procurement policy that it hopes to unveil in mid-April this year.
The defence minister has 20 months to learn the military's ethos, culture and to publicly bat for an organisation that feels increasingly marginalised and underappreciated.
Gen Rawat will be able to serve as CDS for a period of up to three years after the government amended the rules extending the age of retirement to 65 years.
