The government on Monday clarified that the controversial movement of troops towards Delhi in mid-January was a "routine" exercise, for which no permission was required from the defence ministry. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, who appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, told the panel that the movement of troops towards Delhi was a routine drill and no standard operating procedures were violated as it did not require permission from the govt.
'A firm national resolve can only deter and defeat the nefarious designs of the adversary,' notes Rup Narayan Das.
Wang Yang and Xi Jinping's visits signal the beginning of a major Chinese push to bring about a transformation of Tibet, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
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.
Three navy officers are being terminated from service for divulging secret information on social networking websites such as Facebook and the primary reason for these cases of indiscipline was "moral turpitude", the Union defence ministry has informed a Parliamentary panel.
Less than a month after the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, a Congressional senatorial Committee has passed a resolution recognising Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs will be briefed on Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to recent surgical strikes.
Even though the NIA claims that more than 90 per cent of cases charge-sheeted have ended in conviction, the figure is likely misleading. To date, very few cases investigated by the NIA have resulted in a completed trial, points out former CBI joint director Navneet Rajan Wasan.
A powerful senatorial committee on Wednesday is set to consider a bipartisan resolution to recognise Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, pushing back against China's military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control.
The revelation was made by ISI officials during a three-hour briefing behind closed doors for the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production on Thursday.
United States President Barack Obama has signed into law the $618 billion defence budget for 2017, which enhances security cooperation with India and conditions nearly half of the funding to Pakistan on a certification that it is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani Network.
The government on Friday decided to stand guarantee to domestic financial institutions to settle foreign debts of Dabhol Power Project as part of its efforts to settle the issue and restart the power company.
'The government has sent a clear message to Pakistan: It is no longer business as usual.' 'The rules of the game have changed and a new game is at play,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
In its set of recommendations, the China Committee said that economic sanctions against China in case of an attack on Taiwan will be most effective if key allies such as G7, NATO, NATO+5, and Quad members join, and negotiating a joint response and broadcasting this message publicly have the added benefit of enhancing deterrence.
'A veiled secret of India's defence and strategic culture is the lack of a serious interest in them by the political class. The Indian National Defence University would fill this void,' feels Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd).
Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra's expulsion from the Lok Sabha triggered a political slugfest on Friday, with the opposition calling it a 'betrayal of India's parliamentary democracy' and the Bharatiya Janata Party asserting that it was an 'apt decision' as there was proof of the allegations levelled against her.
'The Prime Minister's remarks that India was conspiring to remove him was neither politically correct, nor diplomatically appropriate,'
In its 29th report, which was tabled in Parliament earlier this week, Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence writes that it is 'startled' to be told that the tank had performed poorly in winter trials, and that it was miles away from meeting the army's requirements.
Uniform Civil Code is aimed at replacing personal laws based on religions, customs, and traditions with one common law for everyone irrespective of religion, caste, creed, sexual orientation, and gender. Personal laws and laws related to inheritance, adoption and succession are likely to be covered by a common code.
Some farmer outfits on Friday threw their weight behind the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) woman constable who allegedly slapped actor and Bharatiya Janata Party MP-elect Kangana Ranaut, saying the entire sequence leading to the incident needs to be properly investigated.
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday said there should be a presentation by the government on what is happening on the India-China border, particularly in Ladakh, where the armies of the two countries are involved in a face-off. Pawar, who is in the national capital to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, said there are other defence-related issues on the table for discussion, but he will make a request that a presentation is made on it.
A committee would be set up by the finance ministry to consider the long-pending demand of ex-servicemen for a 'one-rank one-pension' scheme.
The army also stated that allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation is insufficient.
After Gen V K Singh pointed out critical shortage of tank ammunition in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a parliamentary panel on Monday pulled up the government saying it was alarmed over the way deficiencies were allowed to continue leading to such a situation.
Chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on defence Satpal Maharaj on Sunday sought to downplay the controversy over the alleged unnotified movement of two Army units towards the capital in mid-January, saying such exercises are routinely held.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday.
His word of caution came against the backdrop of demands that the government should present proof about the cross-LoC raids to counter the smear campaign by Pakistan.
Gandhi was in the eye of a storm for allegedly leaking defence secrets to controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma.
'When armies start attacking with clubs and batons, then at some point this can take an escalatory spiral and spin out of control.'
A report by parliamentary standing committee on commerce noted that Indian industry was getting decimated by China dumping its cheap products in India.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, better known as P S Golay, on Friday said that the Himalayan state has incurred damages worth thousands of crores of rupees in the flash flood.
The terrorist attack on a key Pakistani naval airbase last month during which 10 security personnel were killed and two maritime surveillance aircraft destroyed was carried out with "inside support", senior Pakistani military officials told a Parliamentary panel.
Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attended CCS meeting.
Asserting that sovereignty and territorial integrity of China are "sacred and inviolable", the country's national legislature has adopted a new law on the protection and exploitation of the land border areas, which could have bearing on Beijing's border dispute with India.
Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Alam Khattak told the Senate Standing Committee on Defence on Wednesday that RAW had set up a 'special cell' to sabotage the ambitious CPEC.
Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that the Pakistani forces are fully prepared to give a befitting reply to any 'misadventure' from India.
Union Ministers Smriti Irani and D V Sadananda Gowda have been dropped from Inter-State Council, official sources said on Wednesday.
