The success story of Adani's Mundra Port in Gujarat, in terms of efficiency, technology and management, should be replicated at Vizhinjam to ensure that this ambitious project does not fail, say Shehzad Poonawalla and Riya Sinha.
Seven aid workers who were working for the World Central Kitchen, a charity delivering food to besieged Palestinians, were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Tuesday. The victims comprised three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.
Russian oil supplies to India will continue to flow unhindered and suppliers will come up with ways to sidestep secondary sanctions, a Russian official told Business Standard.
'The Indian Navy has sufficient combat power in areas of interest to India that can quickly scale up operations if the need arises.' 'This includes all the choke points leading into the Indian Ocean as also areas within.'
In a rare feat, five women officers of the Indian Navy carried out the first independent maritime reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the North Arabian Sea onboard a Dornier aircraft.
The Indian ships' participation in MALABAR-16, a maritime exercise with the US Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, reflects the vital strategic importance of the region to India.
A Rs 7,056 crore outer harbour project by VO Chidambaranar (VOC) Port in Tuticorin is garnering interest from domestic and global majors in the sector, such as Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Singapore's PSA International, Dutch major Van Oord, JM Baxi, and JSW, among others, according to sources close to the development. The project aims to capitalise on the newfound investor interest in the region, spurred by mega investments such as the Rs 16,000 crore electric vehicle manufacturing unit by Vietnamese major VinFast, the Indian Space Research Organisation's second spaceport in Tamil Nadu's Kulasekarapattinam, and Singapore's Sembcorp's Rs 36,238 crore investment in renewable energy.
China's South China Sea build-up and 'territorial sea' construct potentially affects 55 percent of Indian trade passing through the region. Hence, coordinating with the US and Japan could provide dividends to India in the longer run,' says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Despite discounts on Russian crude oil - which fell to the lowest since the Ukraine war began - and the rising sanctions, import volumes from the country will remain stable for now or at least till July, said refinery officials. "There is an appetite for Russian crude, and shipments are not expected to taper off beyond this point unless something major happens. "Talks are on, and buying will continue," an official at a major refinery said.
Declaring that women cannot be left out, the Supreme Court on Monday told the Centre to ensure that women are granted permanent commission in the Indian Coast Guard and said the court will do it if the government doesn't.
In view of the prevailing security situation in the country and its neighbourhood, the armed forces on Tuesday released three joint doctrines for enhancing 'synergised' fighting capabilities in electronic and sub-conventional warfare and aerial maritime operations.
Sea Vigil-22 will cover the country's 7,516 km-long coastline and exclusive economic zone with the twin aim of checking preparedness of various agencies to deal with any eventualities and bolster overall maritime security.
Nazim confirmed the meeting and said the agenda for the meeting was the request to withdraw troops by March 15.
The Indian Navy has appointed the first woman commanding officer in a naval ship in sync with its philosophy of 'all roles-all ranks' for female personnel, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday.
Modi lauded the Navy following the announcement that a woman officer would be commanding a Naval ship for the time time.
India will kickstart on Tuesday a two-day multi-agency military exercise covering the country's 7,516 km-long coastline and exclusive economic zone with the twin aim of checking the preparedness of various agencies to deal with any eventualities and bolster overall maritime security, officials said.
President Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday said by bolstering the defence capabilities of the Maldives, the country will soon reach a point where there is no 'foreign' military presence, weeks after he sought the withdrawal of Indian defence personnel from the archipelago nation.
The permission to allow the Chinese ship comes amid strains in ties between India and Maldives after its new President Mohamed Muizzu came to power and made Beijing as his first port of call early this month after assuming office.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
In a significant milestone for the Indian Navy, its MH60R helicopter conducted maiden landings on the indigenously designed and constructed destroyer, INS Kolkata.
As India progresses towards formulating its own model of theaterisation, the public must get involved in the debate because in the end, it affects the well-being of the entire nation, asserts Biswajit Dasgupta.
India's private and state government-owned ports (non-major ports) continued to grow faster than those owned by the Centre (major ports) through the first three quarters of 2023-24 (FY24), cargo handling data shows. At 604 million metric tonnes (mmt), cargo at major ports grew by 5 per cent between April and December, while non-major ports' cargo traffic growth was 11 per cent at 531 mmt. During December 2023, central government-owned ports in India handled cargo volumes of 69.9 mmt, a tepid year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 0.7 per cent.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
Wind speed at the time is expected to be in the range of 125-135 kmph gusting up to 150 kmph.
The unexpected missile attack on a second India-bound ship carrying Russian crude, just three weeks after the first, has complicated matters for domestic refiners. India now counts the Vladimir Putin-led nation as its biggest oil supplier, according to Paris-based market intelligence agency Kpler, and these attacks come on top of US sanctions since December, where vessels that bring crude to India are facing heightened scrutiny. Panama-registered Pollux, which loaded crude at the Sheshkaris oil terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk on January 24, was scheduled to deliver the medium, sour Urals grade to Paradip port on February 28.
The C295 is known to be a superior aircraft used for tactical transport of up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, and for logistic operations to locations that are not accessible to current heavier aircraft.
The compulsion behind India and Japan to deepen security cooperation is in response to China's growing political and economic clout and its assertive behaviour in disputed areas. This has been the key driver for bringing both India and Japan closer in the domain of security cooperation, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
'Given that the situation is quickly escalating, such attacks will affect the flow of crude in the short term from West Asia' Subhayan Chakraborty and Dhruvaksh Saha report.
India has expressed concern about the movement of the Xiang Yang Hong 03 vessel in Indian Ocean waters and also prevailed on Sri Lanka to refuse permission for the ship to dock at Colombo port.
The contracts for the procurement of the platforms and weapons systems were signed in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, under whose guidance these deals fructified, an official readout said.
Two missiles were fired on Tuesday and on Wednesday on high speed targets, during naval exercises being undertaken in the Arabian Sea, a Defence spokesperson said, adding that this was a significant step towards Indian Navy's transformation into a force capable of projecting power in its area of interest.
'We are an inherently Maritime Nation -- with the sea on three sides and high mountains on the fourth. It is but natural that the oceans would play a vital role in India's growth and prosperity,'
India on Thursday said it remains committed to take forward its development agenda with the Maldives, including implementation of various welfare projects in the island nation.
Given the long distance from the closest land, the Indian Navy has deployed its state-of-the-art Boeing P-8I Poseidon long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, which have the endurance to reach the location of the incident.
India and the Maldives are in discussions for keeping the Indian military platforms in the island nation and a core group that both sides agreed to set up will look at the details relating to it, official sources said on Sunday.
The Indian Navy has a big role to play in support of our strategic objectives in the Indian Ocean. The increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean is a matter of concern and need to be factored. Hence, the requirement of an Aircraft Carrier is a foregone conclusion, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The first C-295 aircraft was inducted into Squadron No. 11 of the IAF. It is one of the oldest squadrons of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is currently based at Vadodara Air Force Station.
Singh said India has intensified patrolling of the seas after the recent attacks on merchant navy ships.
In an address at the Navy Commanders' Conference, he said 'jointness' in operations will be critical in any future wars and restructuring of military commands and establishment of theatre commands is the way ahead.
'Indians are basically liked because they are educated, they are intelligent.'
