The government has appointed Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani (Retd) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who shall also function as the secretary to the government of India, department of military affairs, with effect from the date of assumption of charge and until further orders.
The plan includes three such formations: A China-focused Northern Theatre Command, a Pakistan-focused Western Theatre Command, and a Maritime Theatre Command.
Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani (retd) has been appointed as India's next Chief of Defence Staff, succeeding Gen Anil Chauhan. Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has been named the next Chief of the Naval Staff, succeeding Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi. Lt Gen Subramani's primary mandate will be to implement the military theaterisation plan and bolster tri-services synergy.
India should not stay on the margins of this initiative. There should be a serious debate about what would be in India's best interests asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'Nehru was an idealist, he was certainly a visionary in one way, but Mao Zedong was not. Mao Zedong was a very down-to-earth strategist. He wanted to take Tibet, to take the plateau, to take the rivers, to take the minerals.'
We, Indians, forgot that for Pakistan, Kashmir dispute and blood feud with India is the raison detre for its existence. It is also the excuse with which the Pak army keeps its grip over the state. Peace in Kashmir and between India and Pakistan is against the interests of the Pak army, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (Retd).
Apple CEO Tim Cook expresses strong optimism about the Indian market, citing its potential for growth and the company's recent successes in the region.
There are enough people at the top decision-making level in Tehran who are still willing to negotiate, provided Trump can create the right setting for the negotiation to acquire a dynamic of its own, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran if a deal is not reached before the ceasefire ends, while Pakistan urged both sides to extend the truce and pursue diplomacy.
'Nepal today is far more aware, self-confident, aspirational, and assertive.' 'India's policy so far has not been geared to this shift. It is time to redraw our Nepal strategy.'
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
Trump's outburst comes amid escalating tensions between the US and its northern neighbour, following recent remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Pakistan's Foreign Office has refuted media reports suggesting that its efforts to facilitate peace talks between the US and Iran have stalled, calling the reports baseless and speculative.
R Praggnanandhaa leads a fearless new generation at the Candidates 2026 as veterans face a shifting chess landscape ahead of a world title clash.
The ceasefire is still technically holding, to the extent that no overt hostilities have been reported yet, but the rhetoric has hardened dangerously. The week ahead will also clarify whether the Islamabad failure was a negotiating tactic or whether Washington has genuinely locked itself into a position from which the only exits are climb-down, escalation, or the slow bleed of a new status quo that nobody chose and nobody controls. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
The clock on the ceasefire is running out. But everyone's already whispering about round two, possibly as soon as this weekend.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
West Asia conflict triggers sharp sell-off in Indian markets, with realty, banking and auto stocks leading losses amid energy shock fears.
It may now be time to question the price India is paying for Israel's disregard of the serious undermining of India's energy security, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Russia and China on Saturday condemned the United States airstrikes on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
Today's situation in the Shaksgam Valley is the consequence of what happened in Gilgit in 1947. But is India ready to militarily get back its territories? asks Claude Arpi.
India has gained the least since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and was penalised the most, while the US, China and the European Union emerged as the biggest beneficiaries from the war.
US President Donald Trump indicated the possibility of further military operations against Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export hub, claiming previous strikes had significantly damaged its infrastructure.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
'We need to give Pakistan something serious to think about on its eastern front -- that is the only way to actually help Afghanistan right now.'
India should resist knee-jerk responses to tariff volatility in the US and instead use the current geopolitical churn to build manufacturing scale at home, former G20 Sherpa and former chief executive officer of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday.
'Our diplomacy should have been focused on preventing war and avoiding the inevitable disruptions it would cause, posing a real risk to India's growth story,' asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Amid escalating tensions with Iran, President Trump is urging nations dependent on Middle Eastern oil to deploy warships to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard critical global energy supplies.
'No, India and China were not about to go to all-out war over a few rocks of Galwan.' 'The full picture of what went on at the highest level between two heads of State will not be known for a very, very long time and rightly so,' points out Colonel Anil A Athale, former head of the history division, ministry of defence.
'Without ground troops the US will not be able to oust the Iranian Islamic regime. Political change does not happen just by using bombs or planes.'
Fight on toward goals that keep receding, or exit with most objectives unmet. Trump is agitated, his poll numbers falling below the Plimsoll line, his base fractured between those who back the war and those who remember that he campaigned on ending them.
The well-fought defensive battles in Aksai Chin and eastern Arunachal, in remote and forbidding locations such as Galwan, Rezang La, Gurung Hill and Walong, effectively halted Chinese advances not once but twice during the campaign. These engagements, fought with grit and without adequate support, were not immediately known to the world in 1962, points out Dr Kumar.
The Indian and Chinese militaries held a fresh round of high-level military talks focusing on maintaining peace and security along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
'As the PLA higher command is almost dismantled and instability spreads, India needs to be prepared for any eventuality,' cautions China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
'When a technology is this fundamental, a country should have its own version of it, rather than relying on whether someone else chooses to build it for you.'
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
If Xi Jinping can establish control over the PLA Ground Force, relations between India and China will settle down to an even keel. The next few weeks will show whether Xi has finally succeeded in gaining control over the PLA Ground Force. That could bring about the substantive shift in India-China relations that both our leaders have been working for, observes Ambassador Prabhat Shukla.
India should simultaneously prioritise domestic exploration and production of more oil and gas in the country, and ensure we retain diversified suppliers for imports, points out former foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai.
Restoring weighted tax deductions and adopting a petty patents regime can foster firm-level innovative activity critical for competitiveness, points out Nagesh Kumar.
The new US national security strategy signals a retreat from global dominance while reaffirming continuity in India's role in Indo-Pacific security and Quad cooperation, points out former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
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