14-year-old Vinisha Umashankar has been creating a buzz with her solar-powered ironing cart. The youngest finalist of the Duke of Cambridge's The Earthshot Prize 2021, she is a shining example of why one is never too young to help the environment.
Giving an account of India's overall military modernisation, Lt Gen Pande also said that an in-principle approval has been given to new combat formations called the Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) which can mobilise fast with a more effective approach.
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
Extended rounds of negotiations having failed, farm leaders now reckon that their best chance to pressure the government lay in defeating the BJP in the coming assembly poll, particularly in UP, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Auto major Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) on Wednesday said it will invest $150 million (around Rs 1,103 crore) to set up a global digital hub in Hyderabad to help the group develop new technologies to cater to its automotive operations across the globe. The facility, which is FCA's largest digital hub outside of North America, would create nearly 1,000 jobs by the end of next year.
Biden's lengthy remarks on Afghanistan contained no condemnatory references to the Taliban, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's systemic dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
The 'institution' of CDS carries tremendous responsibility of modernising the country's military forces, and reflecting the 'hopes and aspirations' of 1.3 billion Indians, Modi said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the state.
Gen Rawat said the world looks at India as a country that can balance the rise of China in the region as it was showing its 'assertiveness'.
The policy note of transport department, tabled in the assembly by minister K N Nehru, said the government acknowledged the fact that the southern metropolis was fast becoming an investment destination and, therefore, the present modernisation effort.
If New Delhi finds itself out in the cold in Afghanistan, both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have only themselves to blame. Each has been in power for a full decade from 2001, without reaching out to the Taliban, points out Ajai Shukla.
The fact that the responses from the community to Mohan Bhagwat's remarks have ranged from guarded optimism to outright disbelief tells its own story, points out Kanika Dutta.
"The United States and Chinas Asian neighbours remain concerned about the pace and scope of Chinas current military modernisation efforts, including its quantitative and qualitative modernisation of its nuclear capabilities," the Obama administration said in its Nuclear Posture Review report released by it on Tuesday.
The new board will have a leaner structure on functional lines headed by the chairman and four members - covering infrastructure, operations and business development, rolling stock, and finance.
A Japanese delegation will soon visit India to study the opportunities
The vehicle scrapping policy will offer about 5 per cent rebate to those buying new cars if they junk their old vehicles, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday terming it a "win-win" situation. The voluntary vehicle scrapping policy announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22 provides for fitness test after 20 years for personal vehicles while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years. "The 'Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernisation Programme' or 'Vehicle Scrapping Policy' will offer a rebate of about 5 per cent to buyers on new car purchases in lieu of scrapping of the old.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pitched India as the most attractive investment destination for those looking to invest in urbanisation, mobility, innovation and sustainable solutions. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, he said India and some African nations will witness the biggest wave of urbanisation over the next two decades. The post pandemic world has to be rebuilt around people and cities will have to be made more liveable, he said adding post-Covid restart will not be possible without a reset of mindset, process and practices.
The 119 nearly identical construction sites, that could potentially house powerful weapons capable of reaching the American mainland, are similar to those seen at existing launch facilities for China's arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, the report said.
General Rawat also said that adequate focus must be on ensuring that "trial procedure" for procurement of military equipment does not linger on for too long, in an indication of his unhappiness over the delay in modernisation of armed forces.
The reforms include relocation of 229 officers from the Army headquarters, creation of a new post of deputy chief for military operations and strategic planning.
It is eyeing the transportation and infrastructure modernisation opportunity in the country, expected to attract $500 billion in investment over the next five years.
People giving me unasked for advice of discipline and restraint don't realise that if I disregard discipline there would be a bloodbath.
With rainfall and monsoons becoming highly unpredictable partly due to climate change and partly due to usual changes in weather patterns, it is such innovations by IMD which will help in planning better, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
'Whatever I did, I did for the farmers and whatever I am doing, I am doing for the country'
The govt hiked defence budget by 7.81 per cent over last year's Rs 2.74 lakh crore.
Giving a push to aviation infrastructure development, government is planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports and modernising 50 others in the non-metro cities over the next few years.
After launching the ATM service at Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office, Chidambaram said that Rs 4,909 crore had been allocated for the IT modernisation of Department of Posts in the interim budget for 2014-15.
In a written reply to the House, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the recommendations are presently under examination by the ministry.
Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said business over hunger will not be allowed in the country and once again demanded a law on minimum support price (MSP) for crops along with the repeal of new contentious agri-marketing laws.
Eleven rounds of talks have been held over the contentious farm laws but the impasse continues as the farmer unions remain firm on their demands -- the repeal of the three laws and legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price.
The defence ministry is not very hopeful about getting an additional Rs 40,000 crore for modernisation of the armed forces, with Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday saying he was struggling to get even the Rs 1.93 lakh crore allotted by the government in the budget. "Now I am struggling to get the budgetary amount," he told reporters when asked if he was hopeful of getting the additional Rs 40,000 crore sought by his ministry for the modernising of the three services.
The new army chief's highest priority must be to address the critical hollowness in the Indian Army's operational preparedness, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Or a brief stop on the way to better times, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Against the backdrop of concerns voiced by Army Chief General V K Singh over deficiencies and shortages, the army has laid thrust on modernisation with air defence topping the list of allocations earmarked for the current financial year.
Siemens is a leading global firm offering technological and modernisation programmes to metallurgical industry like steel.
While there was unrest in the rest of the Kashmir valley, the Dal Lake was serene and peaceful.
'If the civil code has to be put on hold, what card can the BJP play if it finds the going tough in the run-up to the general election of 2024?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
Slow pace in modernisation and infrastructure addition chokes tracks, constrains productivity, raises costs and invites political interference.
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Mumbai, India's financial capital, is set for a mega transformation with a massive patch of land opening up for redevelopment; a new metro railway ready to start services by the year-end; and the country's oldest railway station, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, going for modernisation with private sector participation. Work on Mumbai's second airport will start from next month, while construction of the sea link connecting central Mumbai to Navi Mumbai has already moved into a fast lane despite Covid-induced lockdowns. Also, a coastal road project, connecting Nariman Point to Worli, is under way and will help decongest the city to quite an extent. Of all these mega infrastructure projects, the one that has a huge potential to change the city's skyline is the Eastern Waterfront project - to be built on the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land.
