Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday said all members of the Union cabinet are equal, comments that come in the midst of a stand off between the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on issues including the Number 2 slot to Sharad Pawar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said the Tatra scam was the second biggest after the Bofors scam and demanded immediate resignation of Defence Minister A K Antony for allegedly patronising corruption. "This (Tatra) is the second biggest scam after the Bofors scam and it has exposed the fact that the weapons of our soldiers are not up to standard," BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar told a press conference.
Terming the recent leak of Army Chief General VK Singh's March 12 letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as "anti-national," Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said he and the defence ministry would take the strongest possible action against those responsible for the leak under Indian law.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said that expenditure on defence is bound to increase as the armed forces need to have access to the latest technologies and equipment to counter any threat. "With the projected growth of the Indian economy expected at a trajectory of 8-10 per cent for the next two decades, expenditure on defence in absolute terms is bound to increase," Antony said.
Army chief General V K Singh's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the state of affairs in the service on Wednesday rocked the Rajya Sabha with opposition members forcing two adjournments during the Question Hour.
Army chief General V K Singh's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the state of affairs in the service on Wednesday rocked the Rajya Sabha with opposition members forcing two adjournments during the Question Hour.
The government on Monday denied media reports that the army had unauthorisedly deployed phone tapping equipment in the capital and said that such stories are being spread by some retired officials.
Indication to this effect came as Antony was allocated the seat next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
The National Investigation Agency has prepared a template for interrogation of suspects of terror funding, which has been circulated to the concerned authorities in all states and Union territories.
With the exit of Pranab Mukherjee from the Council of Ministers, Sharad Pawar's name was listed after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the official website of the Prime Minister's Office, triggering speculation on Thursday as to whether he was now the number two in the government.
India has strengthened its military power since the 1962 China-Indian war and is now fully capable of defending itself, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Thursday. "Infrastructure in the northeast is not up to our satisfaction but it has improved a lot as compared to the past. India of 2012 is not India of that period. We are now capable of defending every inch of our country," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of the Indian Navy.
Three days after denying that Defence Minister A K Antony's office was bugged, army on Monday admitted that "some abnormality" was noticed which it claimed later turned out to be malfunctioning of an instrument.
The issue between the Army and the Indian Air Force for controlling attack helicopters was a "family problem" and the government was in the final stages of finding a solution for it, Defence Minister A K Antony said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
"The Letter of Request (LoR) for procuring 145 Ultra Light Howitzers for the Indian Army through the Foreign Military Sales route would be issued in October," a Defence Ministry official told PTI on Friday.
The government accords top priority to secure the international border in Arunachal Pradesh that has borders with China, Bhutan and Myanmar.
Adarsh Society's members have approached the defence ministry and the Central Bureau of Investigation, seeking quashing of the FIR filed in the alleged multi-crore scam in the housing society, in the wake of a judicial probe of the Maharashtra government which had stated that the land belonged to the state and not the defence forces.
Ahead of the talks next week with Pakistan on Siachen, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday sought to lower the expectations, saying that no "dramatic announcement or decision" should be anticipated. He said India will stick to its stand on the issue at the defence secretary-level talks in Islamabad on June 11-12
"China has increased their military capabilities and spending more on defence," Defence Minister A K Antony said at a Security Forum in Singapore
Amidst the anti-corruption campaign by civil rights activists, Defence Minister A K Antony, on Wednesday said politicians, bureaucrats and others holding key positions are not ready for the "transition to transparency" and contended that this was creating problems.
India has conveyed its concern to China over the presence of Chinese personnel in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK) and asserted that it was consistently strengthening its capabilities in the eastern sector to meet any challenge.
A day prior to his retirement, Army Chief Gen V K Singh on Tuesday sought to downplay the controversies surrounding him, saying there is "no misunderstanding" between him and the defence ministry. He also said Defence Minister A K Antony was "very clear headed" in supporting the armed forces.
The defence minister will also be on board the country's latest indigenous stealth frigate INS Shivalik and witness the live firing of lethal missiles including the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, Defence Ministry officials said in New Delhi on Monday.
After he failed to get any relief from the high court before army chief's retirement, Lt Gen Tejinder Singh on Tuesday approached Defence Minister A K Antony for taking disciplinary action against Gen V K Singh for issuing an alleged defamatory press release against him.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assets worth around Rs 10.73 crore, double that of last year, but a number of his cabinet colleagues are much richer than him.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday said it would be difficult to have "permanent cooperation" in Indo-Pak relations without Islamabad dismantling terrorist camps functioning in Pakistan.
In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "As per the Defence Acquisition Council decision of October 2011, Ordnance Factory Board is to manufacture 155mm Howitzers."
Unhappy over the initial report, Defence Minister A K Antony has asked Army to take immediate "corrective" steps to see that incidents like the clash between jawans and officers at a firing range near the India- China boundary in Nyoma, Ladakh do not recur.
Breaking his silence on the age controversy surrounding Army chief Gen V K Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said he was "sorry and sad" over it and left it to the Supreme Court to decide the matter.
For the first time ever, the government has announced the number of Indian soldiers who have laid down their lives in the Siachen sector, ever since the Indian army made its first headlong rush to secure that strategic area in the summer of 1984.
Speeding up the military modernisation process, the defence ministry on Friday cleared procurement projects worth over Rs 7,000 crore including the long-pending acquisition of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers from the United States under a Rs 3,000-crore deal.
Attacking the government over defence preparedness and shortage of equipment, the Bharatiya Janata Party specifically targetted Defence Minister A K Antony in Rajya Sabha saying his "no work, no mistake and clean image" was a dangerous policy.
Seeking to turn the tables on the Opposition, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said that the present government has not purchased a single new Tatra truck and the current deliveries were being made as per the contract signed in 2003.
Admitting delay in construction of the navy's indigenous aircraft carrier, the government on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the launch of the ship is now expected to take place next year.
The government will "seriously" consider a proposal to bar senior officers of defence forces from taking up private job for five years after retirement, the Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday against the backdrop of a retired Lt General's alleged role as a lobbyist.
Against the backdrop of controversy over Tatra truck deal, government today told the Rajya Sabha the purchases were made as per the requirement raised by defence forces and action will be taken if any wrongdoing was detected in the ongoing CBI probe.
A source in the Congress party has said that the name of the next presidential candidate from the UPA would surface by May 25. Renu Mittal reports
In a first, India has seized a bank guarantee worth Rs 224 crore furnished by an Israeli defence vendor for breach of integrity pact after the company was blacklisted for alleged involvement in graft cases related to ordnance factories.
Sending a strong message to "wrongdoers" in the armed forces, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday warned of "strictest possibile action" against those indulging in acts of corruption.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal on Monday took up the issue of control over Shimla's Annandale grounds, on which his government is at loggerheads with the army, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said he would meet Defence Minister A K Antony also on the issue.
Antony asked the commanders to be more vigilant and to take appropriate steps in the light of Sunday's developments in Afghanistan which saw a series of suicide bomb attacks, defence ministry officials said.
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