Was the defence minister kept in the dark with the PMO directly dealing with the then defence secretary in the matter of General V K Singh's birth date? Was the trust deficit between the government and the then army chief so wide that instead of communicating directly with General Singh and the defence minister, the PMO and other arms of the government were depending on half-baked inputs from the Intelligence Bureau?
Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said that India has placed an order of purchase for a ship with the United States and that the same has already arrived and been inducted into the Indian Navy. He said the Indian Navy has assessed her residual life to be over 10 years. He also said India has not purchased any landing platform dock from Russia.
With the floating of fresh tenders, the army would lose the benefit of procuring towed guns at the price levels of 2002-2003, which were in the range of Rs 10-12 crore per gun, as against the current price of approximately Rs 25-30 crore per gun.
The Indian Army is short of over 11,387 officers, Union Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Amid India's apparent willingness to pay more for Gorshkov, a high-level Indian team is in Moscow to inspect the Russian aircraft carrier in a fresh bid to break the deadlock over its delivery.
The Sukhoi crash on April 30 in Rajasthan today caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha, forcing Defence Minister A K Antony to come out in favour of the air superiority of the IAF's fighter jet.
For Indo-Pak talks to succeed, Islamabad will have to put an end to cross-border terrorism, Antony said, while addressing top army commanders here for their bi-annual conference.
The minister's clarification comes in the wake of reports of the army's internal records showing two different dates of birth of the general, who is in line to take over as the next army chief in November 2009 after the retirement of the present incumbent General Deepak Kapoor.
The government has given the nod for the purchase of six C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore from the US.
Besides Dr Singh, the meeting was attended by Defence Minister A K Antony, Army Chief J J Singh, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and others.
Antony said the government would take all 'humanly possible' steps to protect the rights of fishermen.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said BrahMos supersonic cruise missile would be inducted in the Air Force, besides Army and Navy.
"We have to be constantly alert, otherwise there is danger lurking at the sea coasts," he told a press conference after the maiden Fleet Review of Coast Guard ships.
The procedure for purchasing 126 multi-role combat jets for the Indian Air Force is in the final stage and will be completed shortly, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Wednesday.
In a bid to help India meet an acute shortage of spares for its armaments, Russia has offered to set up a depot in the country, the first of its kind, to cater to the requirements of the three defence services. The proposal of the Russian government was being examined by the government.
The army has re-deployed 3,500 troops from Misa in Arunachal Pradesh to Sibsagar and Dhemaji districts, where many Hindi-speaking people were gunned down.
Senior Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony on Sunday alleged that disengagement in both the Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso Lake areas and the creation of a buffer zone was a 'surrender' of India's rights.
Two days after constituting a 10-member Group of Ministers on Telangana, the government reorganised the panel, dropping Minister of Human Resource Development M Pallam Raju and bringing in Defence Minister A K Antony. The number has also been brought down to seven.
Giving his assessment of the situation in Kashmir, General Singh complimented the army for bringing down the level of violence in the state.
Seeking to downplay a rift between the army on the one side and navy and Indian Air Force on the other over share in new posts as per the Singh report, Antony said an amicable solution would be arrived at soon.
The government carries out a review of the defence procurement process every two years to make changes gained from experience and to incorporate new contract clauses for probity.
Three hundred and seventy seven personnel in the armed forces are afflicted with the dreaded AIDS, though the government claims the disease is now on a downward slide.
The figures, placed in Parliament, do not reveal if such a large number have been injured in conflicts the country has had to face since Independence or otherwise.
Singh's reaction came after a recent media report alleged that a few leaders of the UPA-II dispensation tried to establish a false narrative that the Army in 2011-12, then headed by him, was planning a "coup" to usurp the then Manmohan Singh government.
Antony has asked Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt to furnish the report by Friday.
Six aviation majors are bidding for the Indian deal, which according to defence experts could run up to anything between six to eight billion dollars.
That is not our policy, but at the same time we can't close out eyes to what is happening in the surroundings," said Antony, who apologised to the troops for not speaking in Hindi.
Defence Minister A K Antony said the highest incidence of suicides, 328 cases, had been reported from the Army, mostly from personnel engaged in counter insurgency operations.
The tanks with new systems will be imported from Russia at an estimated cost of Rs 3,900 crore and are likely to be inducted over the next two years, army officials said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced last week in Imphal that the government was considering amendments in AFSPA, which has evoked resentment from a cross-section of the people of Manipur where it is in force.
"We are also enough nuclear capable," Defence Minister A K Antony said.
The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday night rubbished as "mischievous" the reports that a statement on the killing of five Indian soldiers on the Line of Control was changed at its behest. "Such allegations being made are mischievous and have no basis," a PMO spokesman said.
Among the long queues of voters, there were some famous faces too who exercised their franchise.
The Congress has alleged that the government caused loss of over Rs 41,000 crore to the exchequer and endangered national security by bypassing the state-run HAL in favour of some businessman "friends".
Indicating that all 18 crew members in the ill-fated submarine INS Sindhurakshak have died, Defence Minister A K Antony today said treating it as a "special case", compensation would be given to their families.
Scheduled to be launched by Defence Minister A K Antony's wife Elizabeth Antony, the carrier will be named after Vikrant, India's first aircraft carrier, Naval Staff vice chief Vice-Admiral R K Dhowan said.
The only business that the House could transact was laying of official papers on the table of the House.
The Congress on Thursday dismissed an opinion poll predicting party vide-president Rahul Gandhi as the third choice for prime ministerial prospect, terming it inaccurate.
The Congress leader also raised questions over the security along the Line of Control with Pakistan, saying the incident has affected the prestige, respect and morale of the Indian Army.
P Chidambaram proposed that Sonia should be made the party's interim president.
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