Ending the suspense over the modernisation of airports, the empowered group of ministers took a final decision on Tuesday on the Rs 5,400 crore (Rs 54 billion) projects at Delhi and Mumbai Airports, contracts for which would be awarded by January 31.
'Tibetans will participate in future conflicts with India (in all probability, some were already present in Galwan).' 'As nobody in India would like to have a deadly fight with Tibetan soldiers and officers, the issue needs to be closely followed,' observes Claude Arpi.
Dr Seema Rao has trained over 20,000 Indian soldiers. And has never been paid for it. Here's her super-inspirational story.
The 145 M-777 guns, manufactured by the BAE Systems, are being taken to Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan for test firing.
"The contract for the detailed design would be signed soon and that will be a major milestone. It should be signed in the second half of the year," a top official involved in the negotiations with Russia on the project said.
The Inter-Ministerial Group on restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airports asked global consultant ABN-AMRO to shortlist the bidders, ten of whom have expressed interest in modernising these airports, by Thursday.
Industry bodies said the decisions will help attract much-needed capital, create jobs, encourage collaboration and benefit cash-starved small and medium enterprises.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The external affairs minister, delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture, also made it clear that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is 'unacceptable' to India.
"Our armed forces have shown utmost restraint in tackling terrorists in Kashmir Valley despite grave provocations," he said in his address on the All India Radio on the eve of Independence Day.
The ministry had on Friday decided to replace Chatterjee as joint secretary and acquisition manager (Air), in-charge of handling the chopper deal, which is facing cancellation in view of bribery allegations, and the multi-billion dollar 126 combat aircraft deal of the Air Force.
This is perhaps the first categorical statement by the government on the fate of the 29 people on board the IAF workhorse.
Some organisational changes are likely in some of the key army formations.
The armed forces are facing a shortage of over 52,000 soldiers with the Army topping the list with over 21,000 vacant posts, the government said on Wednesday.
However, flow of funds, would naturally rest on economic growth, reports Ajai Shukla.
'In India, China's capacities to conduct new types of warfare is critically underestimated,' says Claude Arpi.
"INS Kiltan strengthens our defence system and will be a shining armour in our 'Make in India' programme," Sitharaman said.
Citing China's example, he said a powerful military will enhance India's strategic clout.
Government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General has slammed the Navy, defence ministry and a state-run shipyard for the protracted delay in carrying out refit of submarine INS Sindhukirti because of which the force was unable to operate one of their lethal platforms since June 2004.
'Defence funding is channelled to State-owned research organisations where scientists are merely bureaucrats holding meetings and sending out minutes of meetings and press releases, but have long ago stopped any innovative work.' 'Unless this tragedy is fixed, India's chances to create world-conquering and job-creating new industries are slim,' says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Sitharaman said keeping morale of forces at the highest level was among the priorities of the government.
The army is planning to procure 100 self-propelled artillery howitzers and three Indian vendors, including two private companies, have been selected for trial of their equipment, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha on Monday.
'India should not be taken by surprise if the Biden administration seeks China's cooperation at some point,' alerts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government is looking into the complaints about the procedure to determine the winner of the multi-billion dollar combat aircraft deal, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Thursday while admitting that there was no money to sign such a big deal in this fiscal.
The artillery pounds targets and keeps the enemy's head down, preventing them from firing at attacking troops.
'In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy.'
"Terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights: of life, peace and prosperity," Swaraj said.
The 1975 batch IAS officer joined the BJP after his retirement in 2013.
'Landmark developments herald the end of two decades of stagnation in the army's modernisation plans,' notes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Indians must remember that Pakistanis hate losing to India, at war or in cricket, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
The Global Times, in an editorial, titled 'Sitharaman greeting sends warm signal', said that the Indian defence minister's traditional 'namaste' greetings to the Chinese soldiers conveyed her hope for peace along the border and "unwillingness to see a new stand-off," adding that this was an attitude of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government at the Centre.
'An ASW corvette without towed array sonar and an ASW helicopter is nothing more than a feeble joke,' says a retired navy commodore.
'If you behave like a nail, the adversary will behave like a hammer.'
'Make in India is one of the priorities identified by Minister Sitharaman and this is our great weakness,' warns Vice Admiral Premvir Das.
Not just Vietnam, but other countries in the region like Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, have also expressed an interest in acquiring the BrahMos cruise missile. Debalina Ghoshal explains the significance of the move.
The document titled 'Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order' stated that the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been followed in procurement of the Rafale aircraft.
'Should the two armies clash in a conventional battlefield, the advantage will pass more and more to the Indians as the battle progresses,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
