The country's largest stainless steel maker Jindal Steel (Hisar) on Wednesday marked its foray into the defence sector by forging a pact with DRDO for transfer of technology relating to high-nitrogen steel for armour applications.
'She has to get the funds, cut through bureaucratic flab, speed up modernisation, ensure planned acquisitions stick to timelines, make organisational changes and ensure the military is capable of performing the task that it is given,' says Brigadier S K Chatterjee (retd).
The Congress, which was not a petitioner before the apex court, wants the Rafale deal to be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into the price arrived at by the BJP government versus the one negotiated by the previous UPA regime, as also how billionaire Anil Ambani's group with virtually no experience in manufacture of fighter jets was selected as an offset partner for the deal.
The Indian Air Force is monitoring the developments along the western front, he said.
The government on Saturday made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share land border with India to curb 'opportunistic takeovers' of domestic firms following the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which will restrict Foreign Direct Investment from China.
At the heart of Friday's case lay an ICICI Bank loan owed by Mallya's Watson and CASL, for which Diageo stepped in as a backstop so that it could be refinanced by Standard Chartered Bank.
Stressing on the 'Make in India' initiative, a Ministry of Defence appointed committee has recommended enhanced private sector involvement by granting manufacturers tax and import concessions.
Russian Helicopters has scored another billion dollar home run by winning the Indian Navy's tender for 111 'naval utility helicopters'.
Heckling, confrontation and strong-arm tactics don't come to him easily, reveals Aditi Phadnis.
'Our air force can strike them with impunity.'
The project holds strategic significance as Zojila Pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway and remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall.
'India appears to have stood its ground on strategic autonomy by resisting US pressure on Russia, China and Iran, but succumbed to the temptation to walk into a tighter embrace in defence cooperation, a high priority of the Trump administration,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Contrary to reports, the defence ministry has not opened any other deal for investigation besides the AgustaWestland chopper contract, defence sources said on Friday.
One of the most sought after exhibitions in Asia, as many as 549 companies are participating this year with 53 fighter aircraft on display.
'In the case of an India-Pakistan confrontation, the Chinese may undertake more than just posturing, thereby constraining us from deploying adequate forces for decisive results,' warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
United States aerospace major Boeing has handed over first of the 22 Apache Guardian attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force, nearly three-and-half years after a multi-billion dollar deal for the choppers was sealed.
The ministry of home affairs has received more than 20 proposals for foreign direct investment (FDI), including from China and Hong Kong, requiring security clearance between April and May. 'We are vetting some of these proposals which have come from various sectors. One of the applications is from a well known start-up,' an official said. 'We await inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, intelligence agencies, external affairs ministry, and embassies.'
An Italian court, hearing the VVIP chopper deal scam case, has rejected India's request for documents related to the investigations into the matter, arguing that the "information is covered by secrecy".
Prime Minister Modi was hosted by Russian President Putin for a private tete-a-tete at Kremlin during which the two leaders touched upon issues of mutual national interests.
'Instead of wailing about the absence of tax benefits, the private sector should press for an early implementation of the package of measures,' advises A K Bhattacharya.
Amid allegations of bribery attempt in the 197-chopper deal, India has asked the two vendors in the race to extend the validity of their commercial bids till the end of this year, making it clear that the procurement is in for further delay.
As per the agenda, the army officials were to brief the panel on recent surgical strikes in terrorist camps in PoK.
The aircraft flew out from the airbase in the French port city of Bordeaux and will cover a distance of nearly 7,000 km with air-to-air refuelling and a single stop in the United Arab Emirates before arriving at Ambala airbase on Wednesday, officials said.
"U-turn minister" Parrikar had publicly promised, when he was chief minister three years ago, that no more Goa land would be handed over to the Centre.
A top Pentagon official will be heading to India next week to hold intense negotiations with Indian officials on critical defence issues and related areas of collaboration that could be announced during US President Barack Obama's visit to the country for Republic Day.
Ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday staged protest rallies in West Bengal and burnt symbolic copies of the Centre's land ordinance, which it has described as 'black'.
'You could have an additional pool of 15,000-odd qualified and competent doctors.'
'The Indian Navy has sufficient combat power in areas of interest to India that can quickly scale up operations if the need arises.' 'This includes all the choke points leading into the Indian Ocean as also areas within.'
In the wake of Mumbai attacks, when terrorists used sea route to strike the city, the government today took a host of measures, including acquisition of ships, installation of radars and setting up of new coast guard stations, to strengthen security of coastal areas.
A decision on the 26-day session was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Paliamentary Affairs headed by Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday.
The defence ministry stressed that the purchase of 36 Rafales was 'strictly in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure in all aspects.' However, the DPP-mandated process had not been gone through when Modi announced the agreement on April 10, 2015,' observes Ajai Shukla.
With cruise missile and air strikes being India's most likely response to a hypothetical Pakistani terrorist outrage in the future, retaliation from the Pakistan air force is inevitable. That is where the S-400 will come into play, says Ajai Shukla.
"CBI has not investigated into the defence deal concerning the procurement of aircraft carrier Ex-Admiral Gorshkov," Defence Minister AK Antony told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The minister's remarks assume significance as the deal is deadlocked with India still considering the Russian demand for a considerable price hike for the carrier, whose delivery has been delayed by over four years.
'It is almost certainly wrong in assuming that the Modi government will use its strong mandate to undertake some serious reform measures.' 'For it is fairly clear that the government's priorities lie elsewhere, in the powerful home minister's domain,' notes T N Ninan.
A pro rata expansion of that number for 100 Gw means investing that much every year.
President Pranab Mukherjee has given nod to re-promulgation of the controversial land ordinance, which could not be converted into law during the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament, for the third time.
Japan could soon be the second country after the US with which India has a logistics support agreement. Besides the LSA, India and Japan may also sign a maritime domain awareness agreement which would enable the two navies to share information. For example, if a Japanese P-1 maritime patrol aircraft detects a Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean, it would pass on the information to the Indian Navy, reveals Ajai Shukla.
BJP leaders also took a dig at the former Congress president after the apex court asked him to be careful in future while closing a plea for contempt case against him for wrongly attributing certain comments on the Rafale deal to it.
Coal, land, insurance bills are cited as govt's commitment to reforms.
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
