Five people in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district were killed after a jeep that was part of a convoy of Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju hit an autorickshaw on Thursday afternoon.
Senior Congress leader and Union Minister Pallam Raju has voiced his opposition over carving a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh and said it was becoming apparent there was no unanimity among MPs and MLAs in the state.
Young MPs show interest in joining Territorial Army
Aimed at boosting the Coast Guard's (CG) surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities along India's western coast, a new CG Air Enclave will be made operational on Thursday at Porbandar in Gujarat.
Union Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju's maternal aunt Susheela Devi was found dead in mysterious circumstances in her apartment in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Suspecting foul play, the city police have booked a murder case. Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan said that Susheela Devi's jewellery was found missing. Susheela Devi used to live alone. A realtor had visited her at approximately 2 pm today. The police suspect that her murder took place after the realtor left
Terming the Armed Forces Special Powers Act as an 'essential instrument,' Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju on Tuesday said the army was being 'demonised' and made a 'scapegoat' in Jammu and Kashmir affairs which are mainly linked to the peoples' 'aspirations.'
Human Resources and Development Minister M M Pallam Raju, who was minister of state for defence when the deal for procuring 12 choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica was signed in 2010, Wednesday said he can "vouch for the integrity" of former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, whose name has surfaced in the scam.
The defence ministry on Thursday denied reports of any difference with armed forces and said the government is working in harmony with the three services.
India will continue to train Sri Lankan defence personnel at its establishments, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said on Monday, notwithstanding opposition by parties from Tamil Nadu.
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 ministry is expecting a 15 to 20 per cent increase in its budget allocation for the next fiscal due to rise in expenditure on its modernisation drive and commitments following pay review.
The Ministry of Defence has decided to retain decades-old barriers against allowing India's private sector a meaningful role in defence production. Minister of State for Defence Production MM Pallam Raju has revealed that the MoD had scrapped its plan to nominate leading defence players from the private sector as Raksha Udyog Ratnas (RuRs), or Champions of Defence Industry, thus granting them the same status as Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factories
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh unfurled the National Flag on the ramparts of the Red Fort on Sunday to celebrate the 64th Independence Day. After unfurling the tricolour, Dr Singh addressed the nation.
India is planning to expand the bluewater capabilities of the Navy with more indigenously built platforms, which can carry out underwater surveillance and anti-submarine warfare operations, minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju said on Wednesday.
The first batch of indigenously built T-90 Bhishma tanks was flagged off by Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju in Avadi near Chennai on Monday. \n\nThis group, consisting of ten T-90 tanks, was also inducted into the Indian Army.\n\nLieutenant General Dilip Bharadwaj, Defence Ministry Secretary S K Sinha, Heavy Vehicles Factory officials and important army officials took part in the rolling out ceremony of the T-90 tanks.
India on Tuesday said conscious fostering of terrorism from across the border was not helping Indo-Pak ties and asked the neighbour to contain it.
There was no need to be alarmed over reports suggesting that Pakistan was digging tunnels along its border with India, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said on Monday.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday elicited the views of their junior cabinet colleagues and Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana statehood demand, which has virtually divided the party on regional lines.
Ruling out the possibility of Naxals shooting down the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Union Minister M M Pallam Raju on Thursday said the mishap that claimed Reddy's life took place due to bad weather."The possibility of a Naxal strike on the chief minister's helicopter is ruled out completely. It was an accident due to bad weather. There is no hand of Naxalites," Minister of State for Defence Raju said.
Accepting that there are gaps in the capability of the armed forces, the defence ministry on Wednesday said that it will take cognisance of the concerns expressed by Army Chief General V K Singh and will address those issues.
Whether the Indian army gets military hardware from defence PSUs or from foreign companies is not a matter of much concern, but it must be received in time, Minister of State for Defence Mallipudi Mangapati Pallam Raju tells Saubhadro Chatterji.
Not willing to give up on the age issue, General V K Singh has filed a statutory complaint with the defence minister seeking a reexamination, in a first by an army chief.
With the prestigious National Defence College in New Delhi being one of the prime targets of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the government on Wednesday said that "adequate precaution" was being taken to safeguard the military institution.
Government on Wednesday termed the action of Army Chief Gen V K Singh going to the Supreme Court for settlement of his age issue as an "unfortunate development" and "not a healthy precedent".
"The demand stands already examined in detail and was not found acceptable due to administrative, financial and legal reasons," minister of state for defence M Pallam Raju said in a written reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha. The minister, however, added that the government was examining if it can make improvements in pension given to pensioners.
Terming Pakistan's action against terrorism as an 'eyewash', India on Monday said the civilian government there was 'not strong enough' to act against terror on its own."What they are doing right now is not enough. It looks like an eyewash. I think the civilian power centre in Pakistan is not strong enough to act on its own. We are not confident and happy over the steps taken so far," Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told reporters.
Recent incidents of terror attacks in Pakistan have highlighted gaps in the neighbouring country's security establishment and India is concerned over the possibility of its nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said on Wednesday. "We share the worldwide concern about the nuclear arms falling into wrong hands and particularly so in Pakistan," he said.
Indian defence public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is among the 1,393 exhibitors from 40 countries participating in the biennial airshow that began on Monday.
The Army on Tuesday said its Court of Inquiry into the alleged scam involving a private land adjacent to Sukhna military station near Darjeeling was 'still in progress' and no conclusions have been drawn in the probe against the three Lieutenant Generals being questioned in the fraud.
As many as 2,098 persons have been apprehended this year while they were trying to sneak into to the country from Bangladesh, government told the Lok Sabha.
With Pakistan saying that there was no delay on its part in prosecuting people behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, India on Wednesday said Islamabad should not try to score "petty points" on the issue and help in bringing the perpetrators to book.
With reports from Jammu and Kashmir indicating Chinese hold over Indian territory in Ladakh, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju on Monday said India 'need not be alarmed' as talks were in progress to settle border disputes. He also gave the benefit of doubt to China on reports of Chinese produced arms finding their way to militants in the Northeastern states.
India on Thursday ruled out the possibility of carrying out any surgical strike on terror camps inside Pakistan, but asserted that adequate measures will be taken to ensure that its interests are protected. "No, no," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju.He told reporters, "We will take adequate measures to see to it that our nation is safe, our citizens are safe, and our interests are safeguarded."
India on Tuesday said that Pakistan was failing miserably in controlling terrorism by categorizing terrorists as "good" and "bad" and that it needed to deal with the terror issue in an even-handed manner.
The first batch of India's indigenously built state-of-the-art T-90 main battle tanks, with features like protection from nuclear attack, were handed over to the army at a function in Avadi near Chennai on Monday. The batch of ten tanks, each costing around Rs 14-15 crore, rolled out of the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi and were inducted into the army by Minister of state for Defence M M Pallam Raju.
Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said it has been recommended that provision be made for NCC junior division/junior wing in the private schools having classes VIII to X/XII at the time of application for registration by the education boards. The plan could be initially rolled out for CBSE and ICSE affiliated schools and later extended to schools under the state education boards.
"The frontier of space, which includes utilisation of satellites, will continue to be a growing area of warfare. India has stated in the past that it is against militarization of space. But space assets have to be utilised in warfare in the years to come and we are also preparing for it to take adequate counter measures," Raju said.
The government will "not dilute" the presence of army in Jammu and Kashmir till the situation did not stabilise there.
"One of the reasons we give aid and platform and radar and things like that is to make sure that we are the dominant powers in the Indian Ocean Region," Union Minister of State for Defence, M M Pallam Raju told reporters in Begaluru.
"Army steps in only when things go out of control... It is not a situation the Army would like to be in. But whenever it is necessary and in the interest of the nation, we step in," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told media persons in New Delhi.
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