In what is seen as a major boost to India-Saudi Arabia defence ties, Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Mohammed Al-Mutair, commander of the Royal Saudi Land Forces, visited India for three days earlier this week.
Top military officers, including Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, had been summoned to make presentations on military uniforms.
A quintessential military commander, Gen Bipin Rawat possessed an uncanny understanding of geopolitical upheavals, calibrated a tri-services military doctrine to make India face myriad security challenges, and is largely credited with bringing down militancy in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.
No casualties were reported in the incident which occurred on Sunday evening.
Three weeks after India handed over a coastal radar system to the Maldives, Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar, chief of the naval staff, met Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and other senior leaders of the island nation in its capital Male with a focus on further boosting the bilateral defence ties.
The death toll in the overnight stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station climbed to 18 on Sunday, with a senior railway official saying the incident occurred after some passengers slipped and fell on others while coming down from a footover bridge.
He suggested that the new structures will emerge within one year's time.
According to the new rules, any serving or retired lieutenant general, air marshal and vice-admiral under the age of 62 years will be eligible for appointment to the post of CDS.
Lt Gen Baggavalli Somashekar Raju will take over as the next vice chief of the Army Staff on May 1, the defence ministry said on Friday.
The air defence command is to be rolled out by the beginning of next year and the Peninsula command by the end of 2021, Gen Rawat told a select group of journalists. The Indian Air Force will helm the air defence command and all-long range missiles as well as air defence assets will come under it, he said.
Singh said the Modi government has changed the approach adopted by previous governments that the border areas are buffer zones between the plains and the potential adversary.
Newly-appointed Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Sunday said his 'utmost and foremost' priority would be to ensure very high standards of operational preparedness to face current, contemporary and future security challenges across the entire spectrum of conflict.
'Ex-Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor joined Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. Kapoor was indicted in the Adarsh scam along with other senior Army officers'
The defence ministry has amended rules to allow the Chief of Defence Staff to serve up to a maximum age limit of 65 years. The changes have been made in the services rules of the army, navy and the Indian Air Force for extension of retirement age of the Chief of Defence Staff to a maximum of 65 years if a service chief is appointed to the post.
The former Chief of Army Staff said India faces the most complex threats and challenges spanning a full spectrum of possible conflict -- from nuclear to sub-conventional -- but asserted that the armed forces are ready to deal with them.
In the video clip, Gen Rawat paid glowing tributes to the Indian armed forces personnel killed in the 1971 war with Pakistan and appealed to the citizens to join the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the victory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Agnipath scheme is an example of necessary reforms undertaken by the Army and accused the opposition of playing politics over the recruitment process aimed at keeping the average age in armed forces young.
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).
From massed band's 'Shankhnaad' to Navy's lilting 'Mission Chandrayaan', mellifluous tunes reverberated across the Raisina Hill in the heart of Delhi as India's rich heritage and towering accomplishments were celebrated during the Beating Retreat ceremony on Monday.
On Saturday morning, the daughters of CDS General Rawat, Kritika and Tarini, collected the ashes of their parents from Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment and reached Haridwar to immerse them in the Ganges.
As India progresses towards formulating its own model of theaterisation, the public must get involved in the debate because in the end, it affects the well-being of the entire nation, asserts Biswajit Dasgupta.
The Army chief said this while addressing the ongoing Naval Commanders' conference.
The move is seen as a gamechanger in guarding the strategically important Indian Ocean Region.
The central government on Monday appointed Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General Manoj Pande as the next chief of Indian Army.
INS Imphal is the first warship to have been named after a city from the northeast, said Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command.
He said China's "growing imprint" will surely increase contestation and competition in the economic domain and it will attempt to keep India engaged on issues relating to the unsettled borders.
The stadium will be named as Neeraj Chopra Army Sports Stadium in Pune Cantt.
Lt Gen Kalita also stated that the Army is constantly monitoring the activities across the border and is well prepared to meet any emerging challenges.
The prime minister was briefed by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan about the various discussions conducted at this year's Combined Commanders' conference.
The defence budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore for 2023-24, up from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore.
The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area.
'Not paying workers enough will end up being self-destructive or harmful for the corporate sector itself.'
'Earlier the planning process was services specific, with others coordinating. 'Now we shall have an apex leader backed by a structure, who is accountable to provide single-point advice, based on best of all options dependent on geographical and situational intrigue, and that too, after validation,' says General Anil Chait (retd), the former central army commander.
The Indian Armed Forces will express their gratitude to all "corona warriors" by conducting fly-pasts, showering petals on hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and illuminating naval vessels, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Friday.
The prime minister was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.
According to convention, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi should be named as General Dalbir Singh Suhag's successor as army chief
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to call another high-level meeting later today, they added.
"The proposal for the appointment of the three joint secretaries of the DMA including Major General Narayanan, Rear Admiral RK Dhir and Air Vice Marshal SK Jha has been sent to the government for final approval," defence ministry sources told ANI. Sources said the DMA has also sent a proposal for the appointment of lieutenant general rank officers for appointment as additional secretaries in the ministry.
Coming down hard on the government for meagre increase in allocation for armed forces in the last few years, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence said the outlay cannot even fulfill the basic requirements of the armed forces.
Speculation are rife that he may seek premature retirement or will be given a new role by the government.
