Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
Several Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday attacked the government over a media report claiming that a key Adani group investor is also co-owner with the conglomerate in a defence firm.
The industry ministry on Monday proposed foreign direct investment up to 74 per cent in the defence sector from the present 26 per cent, stating urgent upgrade of equipment in the armed forces was needed as a bulk of them suffered from obsolescence.
The Union defence ministry has rejected former Army Chief Gen VK Singh's plea to get a copy of an army report on the activities of the controversial Technical Support Division, set up during his tenure.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday concluded a crucial visit to Male, assuring the country's top leadership that the Maldives remains an important partner of India in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region.
India and Canada have mutually beneficial political and economic linkages. The two countries should get together and find a solution. The expulsion war should, in the meantime, be a guarantee against any deterioration of the situation, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, the first Indian head of mission to be ever expelled by any country.
Research and development (R&D) spending by BSE 100 companies has grown steadily, rising from 0.89 per cent of revenue in FY20 to 1.32 per cent in FY24, averaging around 1 per cent over the period in-between, according to data compiled from Bloomberg and company annual reports. Also, these companies more than doubled their R&D spending in absolute terms over these five years: From Rs 25,041 crore to Rs 63,072 crore. While this reflects a prioritisation of innovation, corporate R&D investment remains relatively conservative.
The central government's Great Nicobar development project, proposed around an unprecedented transhipment port, will be executed to keep environmental impact minimal, and is essential as it is of national importance, the government has said amid calls to abort the controversial project due to ecological concerns, the Centre said in an official statement.
The Defence Ministry on Saturday said it would probe allegations of the Army spending Rs 1.17 crore on golf carts from special funds. Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General slamming chiefs of the Army's Northern and Western Commands for alleged misuse of special financial powers during April 2002 and August 2007, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said that "irregularities, if any, will be addressed."
The defence minister, however, said the matter is under the domain of the Union home ministry and it will take appropriate decisions.
During the meeting, Gantz emphasised the opportunity to invest further in defence cooperation between the two countries.
The contracts for the procurement of the platforms and weapons systems were signed in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, under whose guidance these deals fructified, an official readout said.
When the internal security situation spirals out of the control of the provincial law and order machinery, the CAPFs can be called in, providing a security buffer before the Army is deployed.
Will Modi 3.0 also see theaterisation of India's armed forces?
The reservation would include a 10 per cent horizontal quota for Agniveers in the posts of constable, mining guard, forest guard, jail warden, and special police officers.
Since April this year, the ministry of defence of the Russian Federation has stopped recruiting citizens of a number of foreign countries, including India, into the military service, it said.
Gen Pande was to retire from service on May 31.
Singh said India has the strength to take stern action against cross-border terrorism and Pakistan has started realising it.
Bharat Electronics (BEL) reported excellent results for the January-March quarter (Q4) of FY24, which were driven by decent EBITDA margins and higher PAT as well as good revenue growth. Order inflows were also good. BEL is a major beneficiary of the policy of defence indigenisation.
Ahead of his much-anticipated visit to conflict-torn Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India firmly believes that no problem can be solved on the battlefield and it is ready to extend all possible cooperation for the restoration of peace and stability in the region.
However, the Maldives government has no intention of removing the doctors from India at Senahiya, a media report said.
For the modernisation of the armed forces, the Finance Minister allocated an additional Rs 5,000 crore.
Denying any differences with the defence ministry on his age issue, Army chief General V K Singh on Tuesday said it was his "personal" matter and had nothing to do with the organisation. "It is a purely personal issue and I desist from making any public comment on the issue. When there were no differences (with the defence ministry) at any point of time (on the age issue), how can they be now," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
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.
In a video posted by the spokesperson of the ministry of defence on 'X' on Saturday, Smriti shared her memories of her husband and how they became soulmates.
Notwithstanding the financial constraints, the defence ministry has been on a drive to procure and upgrade military assets over the last five years for which it spent a whopping amount of Rs 3.25 lakh crore.
The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has kicked off a row with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.
China on Monday signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives to provide free military assistance to foster "stronger" bilateral ties with Male, weeks after President Mohamed Muizzu set a deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his island nation.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
'We are in a dilemma if the central government supports this ethnic violence and Biren Singh.'
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
'The odds were stacked against us.' 'Through it all, we were determined to overcome and prevail we did!' Wing Commander Shailesh Singh on the high-risk flying mission for which he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra.
The troops of these two units are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Bari during which they discussed defence and security cooperation and hoped for further enhancing the defence industrial collaboration.
MLA of the ruling CPI-M and actor M Mukesh was on Tuesday formally arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the rape case against him on a complaint by a female actor.
India's indigenous defence complex is at a crucial moment where a resolute decision could make it a genuine supplier of high-end artillery equipment, writes Ajai Shukla.
The defence ministry on Friday scrapped a scam-tainted tender worth over Rs 6,000 crore to procure 197 light helicopters from foreign vendors and decided to allow indigenous players to manufacture these choppers for the armed forces.
The spokesperson said India has "always advocated constructive, solution-oriented, and practical engagement with all stakeholders to achieve a negotiated settlement to this conflict".
A defence ministry staffer, involved in the corporate espionage case, was remanded to one-day police custody.
Similarly, Pakistan has shared the names of 43 civilian prisoners and 211 fishermen in its custody who are Indian or are believed-to-be-Indian, the MEA added.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances