Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden condemned Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory on Friday.
Two commandos of the special forces were also killed in the rescue operation that was launched after negotiations between the government and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants to end the hostage crisis failed.
Union minister Smriti Irani reacted furiously to the Congress leader's barb at the prime minister over the Rafale purchase and the tense situation in Manipur.
FDI in the defence sector during 2000-2014 has been a meagre $4.94 billion, despite the total FDI flow into the country across sectors standing at $321.81 billion.
Observing that it was dealing with a case which was an "exceptionally painful episode of our criminal justice system", the Supreme Court on Friday convicted former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh in a 1995 double murder case, overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna high court acquitting him.
India is one of the largest defence importers.
The government has allowed the Enforcement Directorate to share information about economic offenders with 15 more agencies, including SFIO, CCI and NIA, a move that will expedite nailing of law-breakers. The finance ministry notified changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on November 22. Through the notification, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which deals primarily with cases of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws, would be able to share data with a total of 25 agencies, including the 10 specified earlier.
Indo-Pacific region. Senior officials from the ministries of External Affairs and Defence, and the US departments of Defence and State met here for the India-US 2+2 Inter-Sessional meeting.
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%. 'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'
The defence ministry has signed off on a national security plan that it cannot fund. Ajai Shukla reports
Fresh trouble seems to be brewing between the defence ministry and the Department of Telecommunications over spectrum and this could put a question mark on the launch of third generation telephony services in the country by March next year.
President Droupadi Murmu will lead the nation in celebrating the Republic Day, and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be the chief guest at the ceremonial event.
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.
Pakistan will explore other options to meet its defence needs if the deal for F-16s did not materialise with the United States, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday said
Top pistol shooter Ankait Tomar was removed from the Indian contingent bound for the ISSF World Championships in Baku a week before its departure because of a "minor scuffle with a fellow shooter", said his father on Sunday.
Defence officials contend that the services do not use spectrum for 'commercial purposes' and therefore do not need to pay for it.
Blinken made these remarks at a joint news conference with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Indian counterparts -- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh -- after the conclusion of the 2+2 Ministerial on Monday.
In most parts of the landlocked northeastern state, items such as rice, potato, onion and egg besides LPG cylinders and petrol are selling at rates much above the ones fixed by the government.
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday evening with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph as heavy rains lashed the coastal region, where several areas plunged into darkness due to power cuts and a large number of trees, electric poles and hoardings got uprooted.
A suspected Chinese spy balloon, said to be the size of three buses, was spotted over the United States' airspace, the Pentagon has said, a development that has further strained the already tense bilateral ties as Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday abruptly postponed his key visit to Beijing.
He said the country needs to have "zero tolerance" for corruption in the administrative ecosystem and this would work for the idea of a developed India.
Here is a timeline of what happened to the Indian Air Force helicopter carrying Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and others that crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday:
The defence ministry had demanded the entire spectrum in the area up to 100 km from the international border. The DoT has rejected this, as also a proposal by the ministry asking for prime towns, including state capitals, to be put under the 'defence interest zone'.
The inter-ministerial battle over spectrum for 3G telecom services has intensified, with the department of telecommunications (DoT) rejecting a claim by the ministry of defence (MoD) that it has not accounted for 10 MHz of spectrum given to DoT at the end of October in the information memorandum (IM). This document provides potential private bidders with details on the auction process slated for January 14, 2010.
The government is open to reviewing all cases of blacklisted defence firms on merit and has partially lifted a ban on Tatra trucks as it prepares a new policy that will allow foreign defence firms to legally hire agents, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were part of a Lashkar-e-Tayiba plan of a major terror attack on the facilities of a Danish newspaper and the National Defence College in India, federal prosecutors have said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that decision on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) should have been taken during 1971 war between India and the neighbouring country.
India and the United States have signed an agreement for cooperation in the development of Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV), in yet another step to further expand bilateral defence and military cooperation.
The Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
There is unlikely to be a rush towards the country unless New Delhi is ready with fairly applied regulations.
The two frontline combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed during a training mission in Morena on Saturday, resulting in the death of a wing commander while two other pilots ejected safely.
The finance minister hiked the total defence expenditure from Rs 203,672 crore in FY 2013-2014 to Rs 229,000 crore for FY 2014-2015. Though the increase appears substantial, it is insufficient to undertake the military modernisation necessary to meet the emerging threats, feels Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Garbine Muguruza's defence of her French Open title ended in tears on Sunday when the Spaniard had to be escorted from the Roland Garros interview room after breaking down following her fourth-round loss to Kristina Mladenovic.
The vacation of additional 2G and 3G spectrum may generate additional revenue of about Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) on the basis of prices according to spectrum auctioned last year, DoT said in a note for the empowered group of ministers.
England will depart for their Twenty20 World Cup defence in Sri Lanka in good heart after squaring the three-match series against South Africa with an emphatic 28-run win at Edgbaston.
Nicholas Pooran's whirlwind 62 from 19 balls powered Lucknow Super Giants to a memorable one-wicket victory off the last ball against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The remarks of the top Biden administration officials this week came amid growing disquiet in Western capitals over India's refusal to directly condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine and its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
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