An open letter to Defence Minister A K Antony on the threat from China and the need for upgradation of our defence research and production by Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
With the army chief's allegation of bribe offer kicking up a storm, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said he had asked General V K Singh to take action but he did not want to pursue the matter for unknown reasons.
Stepping up pressure, Congress MPs from Telangana on Tuesday sought an "early decision" from the party high command on their demand for a separate state.
India will establish a joint mechanism with China in the next few months to resolve border issues while taking steps to modernise its military infrastructure in the face of Beijing "aggressively" shoring up its defence set up along the Line of Actual Control, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.
The reality is that Indian defence modernisation is lagging behind and the government and the present defence minister is largely responsible for the sad state of affairs today in the military realm.
With coastal security becoming a major area of conern, India's first Coast Guard Academy would be set up at Azheekkal near Kannur in north Kerala, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Sunday.
Singh, 80, had floated the PLC last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister, but his party failed to win any seat in the state assembly polls.
In a sensational case, defence ministry authorities have detected alleged bugging of the office room of Defence Minister A K Antony and Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been asked to probe the matter.
Defence Minister A K Antony has sacked a senior Navy officer for having sexual relations with a Russian woman in Moscow as head of the Indian team overseeing the refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov there.
Lessons have been learnt from the experience in the age row involving General V K Singh but there was no strain in relations between the government and the army over the issue, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Friday.
After the Environment Ministry recommended demolition of the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said he would take a decision on the issue after getting the Central Bureau of Investigation report. "We will take a decision after the CBI inquiry is over," he told mediapersons in New Delhi.
Indian Army Chief Gen V K Singh seems to have won the first round in the legal battle on the age row with the Supreme Court on Friday saying the manner in which his statutory complaint was rejected by the government "appears to be vitiated".
Laying the blame on the army's doors for the controversy over Gen V K Singh's age issue, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said it occurred because the force kept two sets of his date of birth for 36 years and maintained there was no civil-military confrontation.
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday addressed senior defence commanders in New Delhi in the wake of a deteriorating security scenario in the South Asian region, especially in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
China's massive military lead over India has never been starker. On Tuesday, amidst fanfare, Defence Minister A K Antony travelled to Bengaluru for a milestone in the development of India's 'Tejas' Light Combat Aircraft, a fourth-generation fighter that is still two years away from full service. The same day, an advanced, fifth-generation stealth fighter -- so far only speculated about, as the J-20 -- made its first flight in China.
'General Singh does not have the reputation of a greedy, grasping, man. Far from it, and his word along with the records should have carried weight with the government. Unfortunately, the pettiness of the ruling class has pushed the senior officer to a corner where not wanting to, he has had to approach the civilian courts as a last resort.'
India and Russia will sign a pact on Thursday to extend their military cooperation programme till 2020 as Defence Minister A K Antony and his counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov discussed a wide range of issues, including the upgrade of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
The Defence Ministry is looking for an "alternative site" for constructing the National War Memorial as the armed forces' proposal to build it at India Gate complex has been rejected by the government.
With Army Chief Gen V K Singh dragging the government to Supreme Court over his age issue, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the matter.
Defence Minister A K Antony today made it clear that India is not paranoid over China and said the relationship between the two countries is improving and getting better even though the border dispute existed.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said the government and the armed forces will not spare any person found guilty of wrongdoing in the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai.
Pakistan has violated Indian airspace 23 times in the last three years, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. "Indian air space has been violated 29 times by foreign aircraft during the period between December 2007 and November 2010. These include 23 occasions by Pakistan, thrice by China, twice by the United States and once by Bangladesh," Defence Minister A K Antony said in written reply to a query.
Seventeen members, including new and re-elected ones, took oath in Rajya Sabha, which reassembled after a month-long break, on Thursday.
India on Wednesday said the terror attack on a naval base in Karachi was a cause of serious concern, particularly with regards to the safety of nuclear arsenal in Pakistan, but it does not want to overreact.
A decision by the Congress party on Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's resignation in the wake of an embarrassing housing scam in Mumbai is expected to take some more time.
Maharashtra's beleaguered Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after his name cropped up in a controversy surrounding the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai. Earlier, Sonia met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel, All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi and Union minister Prithviraj Chavan over the issue.
Amid different views expressed by the law ministry and the attorney general on the issue of Army Chief V K Singh's age, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday maintained suspense on it, saying whenever the government took a view, it would be announced.
Amidst controversy over the issue of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said that the final decision on it would be taken by the Unified Command Headquarters in the state.
General James Jones (retired), President Barack Obama's national security adviser, announced his decision to step down from his position, which would be taken over by his deputy Tom Donilon.
Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, who met in New Delhi over the last two days, also decided to take forward the joint fifth generation combat jets and mutirole transport aircraft projects over the next 10 years, under which India would get about 250-300 FGFAs and 45 MTAs
As India goes ahead with its plan to modernise the armed forces, US has pitched for India to buy defense equipments from American companies. "We think we have the finest military hardware in the world, and if India is upgrading its defense capabilities, they should buy American," State Department spokesman, P J Crowley told reporters.
The Cabinet Committee on Security today took stock of the situation arising out of the Pune bomb blast and is understood to have discussed issues related to the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.
With the government of India inclining towards Union Defence Minister A K Antony's adamant stand that the controversial and contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act should neither be diluted nor withdrawn, the issue was not raised by either Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram, or even Congress chief Sonia Gandhi during Wednesday's all-party meeting on the Kashmir crisis.
A decision on Kashmir will be taken by the centre after Wednesday's all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.
A top military official, Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash, allegedly involved in the Sukna land scam faces court martial with the Union Defence Minister A K Antony asking army chief General Deepak Kapoor to initiate disciplinary action against the officer.
India and South Korea have entered into a five-year defence cooperation accord by signing two memorandums of understandings on sharing of military expertise and technology.
Veena Kohli, mother of Captain Sumit Kohli who died under mysterious circumstances in 2006, on Saturday met Defence Minister A K Antony and demanded an independent probe into her son's death. Kohli, who was accompanied by her daughter Namrata and her advocate Major Guneep Chaudhary, appealed to Antony to provide justice to the family as she believes her son was murdered at the Army residential complex in Jammu and Kashmir by his fellow officers.
The issue of constituting a mechanism for the wide ranging consultations promised by the Centre on Telangana is expected to come up on Friday at a meeting of the Congress core group headed by party president Sonia Gandhi.
On the eve of an all-party meeting on Telangana, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday said the Centre should follow its announcement on creation of a separate state with a resolution in Parliament but set no deadline for it.
A week after government auditors exposed Army supplying stale food to jawans, Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday gave an assurance that efforts were in progress to improve quality of rations given to them.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances