'Pakistan is no longer a front-burner issue for America.'
The Maha Kumbh, billed as the world's largest gathering, concluded on Wednesday after 45 days, with lakhs of devotees taking a dip in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers. Despite a stampede that killed at least 30 people, millions continued to visit the Kumbh, seeking salvation through the ritual bath. The event saw a mix of faith, tradition, and technology, drawing pilgrims and tourists from across the globe.
In a year bookended by intractable conflicts and geopolitical fragmentation, India focused on ramping up military prowess by broadly firming up defence procurement worth Rs 4.22 lakh crore even as Indian and Chinese militaries completed pulling back their troops from border face-off points in eastern Ladakh.
What must India do now?
All civilian drone operations will be restricted only during day time and flying will be restricted within visual line of sight which usually would be 450 metres, the regulation says.
The MQ-9B predator armed drones -- 10 each for three services -- is seen to be a key part of India's national security and defense needs.
Take our word... the technologies/gadgets mentioned here are the latest drones. And the drone is not going to die soon. These would, of course, be the trendsetters in the days to come...
The entire flight -- from take off to landing -- was fully autonomous, which means it was on auto-pilot, Omnipresent Robot Technologies Founder and CEO Aakash Sinha said.
An opportunity to enter a burgeoning sector at a low valuation and favourable policies are propelling some of India's largest corporate groups to scoop up drone start-ups. "Indian corporations lost the race in aerospace and space tech. "No one wants to miss the bus this time. "These are seasoned businessmen and they realise that the market cap of tech companies with problem-solving capabilities will exponentially rise in future," says Vipul Singh, CEO of Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS).
Biographies of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda, Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and writer and freedom fighter Pandit Shriram Sharma have been included in the curriculum.
The possibility of the use of weaponised drones for terrorist activities against strategic and commercial assets calls for serious attention by the global community, India has told the United Nations General Assembly, a day after two explosives-laden drones crashed into the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Jammu airport.
Naval assets take years to build, and therefore, not only is futuristic force planning essential, but indigenous projects must also be put into the pipeline, technologies developed and contracts for assets signed regularly so that the Indian Navy always remains a future-focussed force, asserts Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).
'The message that we intend to leave with at the end of this trip is one of real gratitude for the friendship and the close partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have enjoyed over the last four years, but also one of tremendous optimism because we see a lot of opportunity in the future.'
In order to have protection against drone attacks, all the three defence forces including the Army, Navy and Air Force have signed contracts for acquiring DRDO-developed anti-drone systems.
It's a strategic approach in which the country's military and defence mechanisms evolve continuously in tandem with emerging threats. The new strategy anticipates events and prepares to counter those proactively.
The Army signed a $20-million deal with the Infosys-backed drone maker recently.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 26,058 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto, auto-components and drone industry to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday. The PLI scheme will incentivize the emergence of advanced automotive technologies' global supply chain in India.
'The terrorists are using better technology to secure their communication.' 'It does appear that excessive reliance on technology led to a weakening of human intelligence.'
The Army is looking at procuring the LUHs and LCHs to replace its ageing fleets of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.
The ICMR has been permitted to use drones up to a height of 3,000 metre to deliver vaccines, the ministry's statement added.
The recent drone scare at London's Gatwick airport has exposed the lack of preparedness against drones, says Pranjal Sharma.
From the drones show to projection mapping show, this year's ceremony also presented quite a few firsts.
Zerodha and True Beacon co-founder Nikhil Kamath, along with Abhijeet Pai, has invested in Omnipresent Robot Tech through their investment arm Gruhas Proptech. This round also saw co-investments from Kavin Shah, and other individual high networth individual (HNIs), according to a statement released on Thursday. However, the amount invested by Kamath and Pai has not been disclosed.
However, the tender criteria demands that an entity must be eligible to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations in order to become eligible. Currently, no drone companies are eligible to do BVLOS operations, reports Arindam Majumder.
In a first, a grand drone show will dazzle the sky above the national capital during the Beating the Retreat ceremony to be held at Vijay Chowk on Saturday as part of the country's 73rd Republic Day celebrations.
Addressing an event in New Delhi, Gen Pande also said the recent global developments have underscored that the security of the nation can neither be outsourced nor be dependent on the largesse of others.
He said the security forces would ensure any infiltration attempt is thwarted.
'If UAV technology is used by the adversary to target VIPs or strategic targets it would be a different ball game altogether,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
'They only bring pieces. Dialogue is the only way forward.' 'We should get people who have influence to bring the community leaders to sit across the table and talk.' 'Otherwise, our adversaries across the borders will add fuel to the fire. Let's not give them a chance.'
The sources said the talks are focused on sorting out certain issues relating to cost component, weapons package and technology sharing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday identified agriculture, education and health as three sectors where he believes technology can play a big role, and highlighted efforts of his government.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is deploying drones to monitor its vast network of pipelines across the country as it doubles down on the use of technology to thwart attempts to steal fuel, helping not just save the commodity but also avoid accidents. The country's top oil company already uses a combination of sophisticated technology and patrolling to detect any leakage from the pipeline network spanning over 15,000-kilometers. And now, it is adding drones to monitor the vast network, officials said. Use of technology helped throttle 34 attempts to pilfer fuel and arrest 53 persons in the 2020-21 fiscal year, they said adding the latest incident was in Sonipat, Haryana on August 17.
These unmanned aerial vehicles can fly at high speeds, detect intruders, do aerobatic maneuvers like loops, rolls, spins, and hammerheads effortlessly and communicate with each other intelligently.
Hari Kumar lauded Adani's efforts in aligning their roadmap to the requirements of the Indian Navy and establishing an ecosystem of partners and capabilities to enable Aatmanirbharta in defence and security.
Unless each attack drone can be neutralised, India will be literally deploying elephants to stamp out ants -- and the ants may still survive! points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Centre will promote Kisan Drones, chemical-free natural farming, public-private partnerships for the delivery of digital and high-tech services to farmers across the country during the financial year 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Sitharaman said the inclusive development is one of the four priorities of the government moving forward. As part of the inclusive development, the government will promote the use of 'Kisan Drones' for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides. The government will also facilitate a fund with blended capital raised under the co-investment model through Nabard to finance agri start-ups and rural enterprises, she said.
'It is the first technology in history which is not just a tool, it is an agent.' Yuval Noah Harari on the dangers on AI.
Drones are being used for carrying out a host of tasks like surveillance to ensure that people are maintaining social distancing, spreading awareness about COVID-19 in densely populated areas, spraying disinfectants and checking people's temperature
Easy availability of drones has increased the complexity of security challenges and the Indian military is developing capabilities to effectively deal with the threats, be it from State-sponsored elements or by states themselves, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Thursday.
'I am sure our DRDO will surely be on the job towards building similar capability to counter the threat posed by this Chinese helicopter,' observes Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
