The majority of CoBRA teams, whose commandos are expected to have tough mental and physical attributes, are deployed in various Maoist violence affected states while a few are based in the northeastern states for undertaking counter-insurgency operations.
In a first, the government has planned a training programme for Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service officers on dealing with Naxalism.
"I am sure that the attempts to stall development and throttle democracy at gunpoint will not be successful ever," the home minister said at the meeting, being held two weeks after 25 paramilitary personnel were killed by a band of Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80.
Reaching out to youths in Naxal-hit areas, the Centre on Friday launched a placement linked skill development scheme targeting 50,000 rural men and women, mostly tribals, in 24 worst affected districts.
Recalling the Galwan incident, he said the bravery, valour and restraint shown by the Indian Army are incomparable and unparalleled.
Jha, a fearless officer of the country's largest paramilitary force, led a lethal anti-Naxal operation on July 3 last year in Jamui district of Bihar.
The government has identified 65 terror groups active in the country, out of which a maximum of 34 are in Manipur, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
BSNL told a government panel that it should be allocated 5 MHz spectrum in the 700 MHz band through the equity route
In a move aimed at maintaining 'zero tolerance' against terrorism and cross border crimes, the Centre has empowered the Border Security Force to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the international border along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said highways sector continues to be a focus area for the government and announcements of multi-modal logistics parks and multi-modal passenger stations will be a game changer.
The home minister said, "Pakistan has been regularly violating ceasefire agreements, but India has given a befitting reply."
The CRPF chief on Tuesday said the Maoists are "our own people" so the response against them has to be calibrated and "more humane" keeping this in mind.
Officers from the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) up to the top-most rank of Director General (DG) in these four forces retired after attaining the age of 60.
The J&K police's 81 medals are the maximum awarded to any police force this year, followed by the CRPF's 55.
Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued to security forces deployed across Left Wing Extremism affected states after a 'serious and new' threat of possession and operation of drones by Maoist cadres came to light recently, officials said on Sunday.
"The villagers came first, and then the Naxalites, dressed in black. They were some 300 Naxalites, all wearing black," a jawan of the Central Reserve Police Force said.
Ever since the Election Commission sounded the poll bugle on March 5, over 800 kg of explosives and 127 improvised bombs have been recovered by security forces from across Naxal violence-hit areas.
Bihar assembly speaker Uday Narain Choudhary, who is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the Jamui seat, refuted on Friday that he entered into a pact with the Maoists for their support to win the election.
While seven-year-old Thunderbolt is part of the Animal Transport unit of the force, 'lifeline' of the force at high-altitude forward posts, three-year-old Sophia undertakes special sniffing operations to detect IEDs with her handler in Left Wing extremism hit areas of Chhattisgarh.
"All our investigation agencies have full-fledged autonomy...There is no interference from our side or from the government's side," he said while interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a Border Security Force event in New Delhi.
In August 2016, at a meeting of the syndicate, the main members identified Lankesh as a durjan "as told in the Kshatra Dharma Sadhana based on her speeches and writings
In an unusual case of 'mass bunking' being confronted by the Central Reserve Police Force, 59 trainee commandos of its elite jungle warfare and counter-Naxal squad Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have gone missing from a train just before they were to report for duty in the Left Wing Extremism-hit theatre of Bihar as part of their first deployment.
'It is time to use the Indian military's decades-long expertise in fighting insurgency successfully,' advocates Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In a major joint offensive, separate joint teams of security forces, comprising over 2,000 personnel, had launched an anti-Naxal operation from Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold, on Friday night.
GST would make compliance easier for big businesses, but hurt small scale industries., says SJM
New risks have been identified, which include risk of non-compliance, business investment risk and legal regulatory risk.
He said the force, which guards over 6,300 km of India's land border with Pakistan in the west and Bangladesh on the east, is faced by four main challenges on the security front.
The Maoists have constituted 'Baal Action Teams' to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their perceived military strength.
Post K Durga Prasad's retirement as the last full-time chief of the Central Reserved Police Force on February 28, the Union home ministry had appointed Additional DG Sudeep Lakhtakia to hold the charge in "additional" capacity.
The ambitious plan to deploy such a large number of women personnel in most challenging combat theatres.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort in New Delhi as India celebrates the 72nd Independence Day. This is Modi's fifth and final address as PM in the current tenure. During his speech, Modi reflected on the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government and presented a report card of his four-year tenure. Here are the main takeaways from his address:
'He is not a person to challenge the government.' 'He is a man who is known to go with the flow' Aditi Phadnis reports.
A total of 946 medals have been announced by the Union home ministry for personnel and officers of Central Armed Police Forces and state police forces, out of which three have been decorated with the President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG) while 177 have been awarded the PMG.
The fight against ultras will be intensified to end the Naxal menace, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday as he took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the killing 22 security personnel in an attack by the rebels in Chhattisgarh.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre today reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states and directed security forces to foil any attempt by the rebels to disrupt the election process.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
Govt announces slew of schemes for rural India
Newcastle dealt a huge blow to Arsenal's chances of qualifying for the Champions League by beating them 2-0
The DD scribe, Dhiraj Kumar said the horrific incident would never fade from his memory.
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