Defense

The ‘landmark’ decision was inked during the fourth India-Nepal coordination meeting held between Indian border guarding force SSB and its Nepalese counterpart APF at Pokhara, Nepal during November 20-22. The Indian side was led by SSB Director General (DG) Kumar Rajesh Chandra and the Armed Police Force (APF) of Nepal team was headed by its Inspector General Shailendra Khanal.

As of now, we have identified 500 acres of land near Sulur and Karanampettai. We plan to conduct talks with the landowners to acquire the land from them to set up industrial units in the defence corridor. We are also trying to identify 500 more acres of land in the same locality,” a senior official from SIPCOT said.

The Ministry sources said, “Some political parties (names withheld considering the gravity of the case) ignited the violent acts at various places, letting opportunities to sleeper cells of extremist and militant Islamic fundamentalist organisations – Popular Front of India (PFI) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)”.

On December 16, 2019, for the first time, Vijay Divas (Victory Day) will be celebrated at the Rashtriya Samar Smaarak, India’s National War Memorial. On February 25, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Rashtriya Samar Smaarak, dedicated to every soldier martyred while fighting for India in 72 years of Independence. The third-names of 25,942 fatal battle casualties have been inscribed on 16 walls of the memorial.

“RSBVL has acquired equity shares of Asteria Aerospace for a cash consideration of Rs 23,12,49,584. The said investment represents 51.78 per cent holding in the equity share capital of Asteria,” Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in a BSE filing. Asteria, incorporated in India in June 2011, is a full-stack drone technology company with in-house drone manufacturing capabilities, and also offers software solutions to provide actionable insights from aerial data, intending to deliver “drone-as-a-service” digital platform.

The 1971 war was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. It began with preemptive airstrikes on 11 Indian Air Force stations by Pakistan on 3 December 1971 due to erstwhile East Pakistan. As a result, the Indian Army agreed to support the Bengali nationalist groups in the Bangladesh independence struggle in East Pakistan.

Delivering the inaugural Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture, Bipin Rawat also said that India’s response to terror attacks in Uri and Pulwama was much more “robust” compared to “inaction” after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. “To achieve victory in a shorter time, we need leaner and meaner force which will inflict maximum damage on the adversary in a faster time frame and achieve the objective of victory,” Gen Bipin Rawat said.

It was the Shah’s first visit to the headquarters of the country’s largest border guarding force after becoming home minister in the Modi government’s second term. The force guards over 2,290-km of the India-Pakistan border (international border and the Line of Control) and 4,096-km Indo-Bangla front.

ingapore joined the Indian initiative to strengthen the maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean Region by agreeing to send its officer to the Information Fusion Center-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), said an officer aware of the development. The IFC-IOR was established keeping in mind the significance of the Indian Ocean to world trade and security. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s maritime trade and 50 per cent of global oil pass through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) 75.

The amphibious ship, that can transport and deploy main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to the shore, is seventh of eight such vessels being built for the Navy by GRSE, it said in a statement. These ships can also be deployed for multi-role activities like beaching operations, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, supply and replenishment and evacuation from distant islands, the statement said.