The permission to allow the Chinese ship comes amid strains in ties between India and Maldives after its new President Mohamed Muizzu came to power and made Beijing as his first port of call early this month after assuming office.
The prime minister had gone on a similar meditation exercise in a Kedarnath cave after the 2019 poll campaign.
The 44-year-old politician, who was among the final three contestants in the Labour Party's leadership contest against her boss in January 2020, has been serving in his shadow cabinet ever since.
Sourav Ganguly lauded Rohit Sharma's leadership qualities for India's unbeaten run in the ongoing T20 World Cup final
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
One of the 22 Indian crew manning a crippled cargo ship which collided against a bridge in Baltimore has suffered a 'minor injury' while the rest are all safe aboard the vessel, owners of the Singapore-flagged ship said on Wednesday.
The Indian Navy plans to acquire a sizeable number of unmanned aerial and underwater platforms in the next few years to significantly ramp up its surveillance capability in the backdrop of China's increasing forays into the Indian Ocean region, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.
The Indian Navy, which regards itself as the 'net security provider' in the Indian Ocean Region, has also stepped up to the plate, with a warship stationed at all times off the Gulf of Aden for counter-piracy tasks. 91 Indian warships have been deployed in the region since 2008, patrolling high risk areas where piracy was rampant.
'Does 99 percent guarantee character and capacity for an independent awareness of life or does it make you -- barring exceptions -- a compliant careerist beholden to governments and corporations?' 'What kind of political and social choices would such minds make?' asks Shyam G Menon.
The mega procurement proposal will shortly be placed before the Defence Acquisition Council, the defence ministry's top body on procurement, they said.
Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer on Saturday said India's gesture to renew the quota to allow the export of certain quantities of essential commodities for his nation signifies the longstanding bilateral friendship and the commitment to further expand trade and commerce.
A list of lesser-travelled destinations in India that you must explore this year!
India and the Maldives on Friday agreed to set up a core group to further deepen their partnership as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 'productive' meeting with newly-elected Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and discussed ways to enhance the bilateral friendship across diverse sectors.
She, however, refused to disclose the exact figure of the Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives, stating the details would be shared at a later date, Sun.mv news portal reported.
Indian Navy's elite marine commandos on Friday rescued 21 crew members including 15 Indians from a bulk carrier in the North Arabian Sea and sanitised it in a swift operation while responding to an attempted hijacking of the Liberian-flagged vessel by around five-six armed personnel.
Vouching for preserving its independence and sovereignty, Muizzu made a firm commitment to ensure that the Maldives remains "free of any foreign military presence."
It is the first mega exercise involving the two aircraft carriers after induction of the indigenously-built INS Vikrant in September.
'Tensions and dialogue are likely to go hand-in-hand with China.' 'The goal should be to cultivate power so that one can negotiate from a position of strength.'
ISRO said the upper stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - C37 (PSLV-C37) re-entered the earth's atmosphere on October 6, 2024 and the impact point was the North Atlantic Ocean.
Singh said the warship's commissioning will boost India's maritime power.
In a step towards diversifying its resource base and securing green energy minerals, India is poised to launch its first-ever offshore mineral auction in the first quarter of 2024, announced Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository portal. The government plans to hold auctions in March, offering 10-15 blocks for bidding. Meanwhile, the ministry of mines is currently developing rules and regulations for offshore mining.
'Our greatest enemies lie within us Kama -- selfish desires; krodha -- anger; moha -- attachment; lobha -- greed; madha -- pride and matsarya -- envy. Life is a constant battle against these dark forces. An enlightening excerpt from Priya Arora's book, Rama: A Man of Dharma.
The Indian Navy has appointed the first woman commanding officer in a naval ship in sync with its philosophy of 'all roles-all ranks' for female personnel, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday.
Indian Navy on Wednesday said its ships and aircraft remain 'mission deployed' for maintaining enhanced surveillance and undertaking maritime security operations.
The Indian government sources said Muizzu, in the meeting, brought up the issue of Indian military personnel present in the Maldives for operating aircraft for medical evacuation and to counter drug trafficking.
The defence ministry on Thursday accorded its approval to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator drones from the US to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the frontier with China, people familiar with the development said.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts, with the goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station, a top American diplomat said Friday.
In a significant move, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has accorded approval for the procurement of more than 200 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and associated equipment for the Indian Navy at a cost of around Rs 19,000 crore, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The warship is packed with a plethora of sophisticated sensors, modern radar and weapons systems such as surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missiles, according to the Indian Navy.
India is likely to experience below-normal monsoon rainfall this year, with a 20 per cent chance of drought due to the end of La Nina conditions and the potential for El Nino to take hold, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said on Monday.
A year after a Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 and the ensuing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, India's trade with most West Asian countries has largely escaped any major disruption, except with countries like Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. However, repeated flare-ups of geopolitical tensions in the region continue to drive up shipping and logistics costs.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday said it was now "highly unlikely" that any debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane will be found on the ocean surface, as he announced a more intensive underwater search
The Indian Navy rescued the hijacked Iranian fishing vessel 'Al-Kambar 786' and its crew after more than 12 hours of intense coercive tactical measures as part of an anti-piracy operation on March 29.
India and China have held their first diplomatic talks since withdrawing troops from two face-off points in eastern Ladakh, reflecting on the lessons learned from the border row to prevent future incidents. The two sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas, prepare for the next meeting of Special Representatives on the boundary question, and highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military levels. The talks come after the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points, following an agreement finalized in October 2022.
vThe longest duration cyclone over the north Indian Ocean had developed over the Bay of Bengal and weakened over the Arabian Sea between November 8-23, 1977 with a life period of 14 days and six hours.
India-France synergy is poised to open vistas of collaboration between the two countries, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The southwest monsoon season concluded on Saturday with India receiving 'below-average' cumulative rainfall -- 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm -- in an El Nino year.
A strategist and a quintessential political leader with grassroots connect, Rajnath Singh is credited with expanding the Bharatiya Janata Party's organisational network in the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s and the subsequent decades.
Indian and Russian officials have discussed Indian-Russian cargo transit along the Northern Sea route, joint projects in Arctic shipbuilding and possible training of Indian sailors for polar navigation.
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