As a percentage of the military budget, the navy's share has fallen from 19 per cent in 2010-2011 to just 15.5 per cent this year. With the Indian Navy's annual budget declining steadily, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects, discovers Ajai Shukla.
Maritime resources will be key to sustained growth and development of nations across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in the ongoing century, he said delivering his keynote address at the IOR Defence Ministers' Conclave held on the margins of Aero India-2021, India's premier defence and aerospace show.
A major fire broke out on Thursday in a five-storeyed commercial-cum-residential building in Mumbai but there were no casualties.
In a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party MP and spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi stated, "It would be a crying shame if we let go our history without giving the benefit of knowledge to our future generation.
Non-scheduled commercial flights are being arranged and this operation will begin from May 7 in a phased manner.
Last year, Chinese media sharply criticised the Malabar exercises.
'Any future course of action towards active participation in the alliance when formed would need a lot of deliberation, long term vision and should be in our best national interests,' notes Commodore Vengalil Venugopal (retd).
'The only credible explanation for the niggardly approach to defence expenditure must be that the government does not expect a war.' 'But wars can happen when you don't expect them, and re-arming at the last minute is not possible,' says T N Ninan.
Against the backdrop of a terror attack on a Karachi naval base, Defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday asked the forces to maintain operational readiness as India is living in a "volatile neighbourhood".
Former spinner Shane Warne on Monday had announced he would auction his Baggy Green cap to raise funds for victims of devastating bushfires in Australia.
French naval commander expresses concern over China expanding its maritime influence in the region.
Days after the brush off incident between their warships in the Gulf of Aden, Indian Navy on Friday said Pakistani ship PNS Babur had damaged a part of INS Godavari by moving too close to it.
'Frankly, India has no role to play.' 'This is a showdown between the US and NATO on one hand and Russia on the other.' 'That said, the outcome of this titanic struggle in Central Europe will remould the world order and affect India profoundly,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Naval warships INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore which have been dispatched to evacuate the Indian nationals stranded in strife-torn Libya would start their operations from March 8, Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said.
The time is ripe to extend the confrontation with the Chinese to the maritime domain, says former RA&W officer Krishan Varma.
On the night of March 12, at about 2100 hrs, INS Kalpeni intercepted a pirate mother vessel called Vega 5 in the Arabian sea about 600 nautical miles west of India. 13 crew members were rescued and 61 pirates were been nabbed in the operation, an Indian Navy media release stated.
The trust some people in India had that the Biden-Harris administration would be friendly to India has been eroded already, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
With the expected launch of The People's Liberation Army (Navy)'s second aircraft carrier on April 23, China will match India in carrier numbers.
It was decided that the senior-most Army officer in a state would get in touch with the chief minister to understand the requirement and take forward the process, including offering to treat civilians wherever possible
Has the army confronted China, equipping itself with emergency purchases that have been largely paid for by pensioners, asks Ajai Shukla.
The home ministry said only asymptomatic people would be allowed to travel and it would be arranged by aircraft and naval ships, and the facility will be available on a payment basis.
'An ASW corvette without towed array sonar and an ASW helicopter is nothing more than a feeble joke,' says a retired navy commodore.
The Indian Navy's flagship carrier, the INS Viraat will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the nation for 30 glorious years.
Vice Admiral Raman P Suthan and the commanding officers of INS Rana and INS Ranjit met Chinese North Sea Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Su Shiliang and Qingdao Vice Mayor Zeng Aimin.
The defence ministry remains uncertain about spending billions of dollars on a carrier.
Russian Helicopters has scored another billion dollar home run by winning the Indian Navy's tender for 111 'naval utility helicopters'.
The Navy is initiating disciplinary action against four officers and two sailors found culpable by a Board of Inquiry for collision between warship INS Talwar and a fishing vessel in December last year, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
Before migrating into the theatre command concept, it would be worthwhile to study the shortfalls experienced by the Tri Services Command in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and make good the deficiencies, suggests Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Beyond the British and Russian strands interwoven into the Indian Navy's equipment profile and the strong drive towards indigenisation evident today, its future in aircraft carriers appears increasingly linked with America.
'Gwadar has the potential to facilitate PLAN's operations in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.' 'Reports of China setting up electronic eavesdropping posts at Gwadar to monitor US and Indian naval activity and shipping traffic through the Straits of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea lend credence to this,' says former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
A day after resigning as the navy chief, Admiral D K Joshi on Thursday wrote to his colleagues, saying he was "firm" on taking responsibility for the mishaps that have taken place.
Two officers, who went missing on Wednesday on the accident-hit INS Sindhuratna submarine, are confirmed dead.
It is a timely reminder that when faced with twin threats, India has succeeded by wisely choosing allies, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Given the military's requirement for watertight cyber and communications security, L&T will establish a Security Operations Centre which will deal with security threats.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
Expressing hope of reusing the sunken INS Sindhurakshak submarine, the Navy on Tuesday said its record was "not all that bad" in terms of accidents when compared to other navies in the world, soon after it was pulled up by Defence Minister AK Antony for the mishap.
Some were brilliant while in others, the performances made them a great watch.
INS Sunayna, the second of the Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel class of ship, was commissioned in Kochi on Tuesday by Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command.
Indian Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan enumerated a three-pronged strategy to counter the country's minified submarine fleet.
