SOURCE: THE WEEK

Foreign secretary Harshvardhan Shringla on Monday briefed a select group of Heads of Missions in New Delhi on the planned terrorist attack in Nagrota district in Jammu, which was foiled on November 19.

Among the ambassadors briefed were Kenneth Juster of the United States of America, Emmanuel Lenain of France, Nikolay Kudashev of Russia and Satoshi Suzuki of Japan.

SOURCE: PTI

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has short-listed 20 space-based experiment proposals, including from France, for its proposed Venus orbiter mission ‘Shukrayaan’ to study the planet for more than four years. These include “collaborative contributions” from Russia, France, Sweden and Germany, sources in the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said. ISRO was earlier eyeing June 2023 for the country’s first mission to Venus.

“But we are currently reviewing this mission timeline due to delays arising from the pandemic situation,” an ISRO official said, adding: “Future launch opportunity is either in 2024 or 2026.”

SOURCE: ANI

Post the signing of the Abraham Accord with Israel and Bahrain, the UAE seems to be moving away from its close friend Pakistan and towards India. According to media reports on Sunday, there is growing speculation that Pakistani expatriates would be soon dispatched back from the UAE as well as from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as there continues to be pressure from the KSA and the UAE to accept Israel which Pakistan declined.

Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the US of “pressurising” Islamabad to formally recognise Israel. Khan said in an interview, as quoted by the Express Tribune, “I have no second thought to recognise Israel unless there is a just settlement, which satisfies Palestinians,” Khan said and added, “The pressure is because of Israel’s deep impact (influence) in the US. This (influence) was in fact extraordinary during the Trump’s stint.”

SOURCE: DHNS

Antony Blinken played a key role as the then-United States Deputy Secretary of State in nudging India to announce resumption of formal dialogue with Pakistan in December 2015, although the process was derailed just three weeks later in the wake of the terror attack at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab.

Blinken, whom US President-elect Joe Biden is set to appoint his Secretary of State, visited New Delhi and met top officials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government just before the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Islamabad, where she joined her counterpart Sartaj Aziz on December 9, 2015 to announce resumption of the talks that the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government had suspended in January 2013.

SOURCE: IANS

China’s new villages close to the Line of Actual Control, meant ostensibly for settling civilians from far-flung areas close to the border, are part of strategy to enhance its military infrastructure in the area, top sources said. One such village has also come up near Doklam where military storage facilities have been observed, as per intelligence reports. Construction of the new hardened bunkers appears to be an effort at militarily reinforcing the larger Doklam region, the source said.

There are dozens of similar settlements along the LAC, most of them coming up in areas facing Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

SOURCE: TIMES NOW

The Kiran aircraft of the HAL has not just been a mainstay of the Aerobatic show at numerous Aero India’s nut but has more importantly been a key craft to help train pilots of the Indian Air Force, however, for quite some time now there have been talks of slowly retiring the Kiran aircraft.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been working on the indigenous Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) as a possible replacement to the Kirans. It looks like the plan could materialize very soon.

SOURCE: YAHOO

Union Jal Shakti minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Sunday said that the Central Government is planning to stop water to Pakistan. It is done to send India’s tough message to Pakistan. The Union minister said that Centre is planning to stop water supplies to Pakistan from three eastern rivers allocated to India in the Indus water treaty. He added that the Indian government has been abiding by the treaty even after three continuous wars with Pakistan.

However, under the present condition of alleged Pakistan sponsored terror in parts of the country, India is likely to stop its water supplies to Pakistan in the near future.

SOURCE: PTI

India and the European Union on Monday held talks covering developments in the area of nuclear, chemical and biological disarmament as well as issues relating to outer space and export control regimes. The discussion in the virtual format took place under the framework of the sixth round of consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“The consultations involved exchanges on developments in the area of nuclear, chemical, biological disarmament and non-proliferation, conventional weapons, outer space security issues, export control regimes, strategic stability environment and other developments of mutual interest,” it said.

SOURCE: INDIA TV

Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir will continue to thwart the ‘evil attempts’ by neighbouring countries to create unrest in the union territory, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said on Monday. Singh’s statement came while he was speaking at the district police lines in Jammu, to reward those responsible for killing four Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists in Nagrota last week. Advanced bulletproof vehicles and protection gear will be provided to police personnel involved in anti-militancy operations, Singh said.

“Our neighbouring country is repeating its evil attempts very often to create disturbance in Jammu and Kashmir,” Singh said in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

SOURCE: NEWS18

The Supreme Court Monday expressed happiness that the Centre has implemented its verdict to consider granting permanent commission to women officers in the Army, saying, “it is the victory of our nation that women aspire to achieve the highest pedestal.”

The top court, in its landmark verdict delivered on February 17, had asked the Centre to consider, all serving Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers for permanent commission irrespective of them having crossed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service.

SOURCE: PTI

BSF troops on Monday shot dead a Pakistani intruder along the International Border (IB) in Samba district, officials said.
The body is lying on the zero line and has not been retrieved yet, they said.
The officials said the incident took place in the Check Faqeera border outpost area when BSF personnel noticed some suspicious movement of a person who was trying to sneak into the Indian side from Pakistan.

The intruder was challenged but he paid no heed and was subsequently shot dead, they said, adding an operation is on to retrieve the body of the deceased. 

SOURCE: PTI

Atotal of 33 militia members of the banned CPI (Maoist) on Monday surrendered before police in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, police said. The 33 militia members and the village committee members of the CPI (Maoist) from Battinapalli and Kishtarampadu villages of Cherla mandal gave themselves up in the presence of police and CRPF, they said.

The members including eight from neighbouring Chhattisgarh had been working for the Maoist party for the past two years and some among them were allegedly involved in road blasting, planting of landmines and burning of construction equipment vehicles used in road construction work. With the constant effort of police and their desire to live a better life and to join the mainstream they decided to surrender, Bhadradri Kothagudem District Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt said.

SOURCE: PTI

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Monday said French multinational company Thales Group will collaborate with Kanpur-based MKU to make night vision devices in the state for armed forces, according to a statement.

The project will take place as part of UP Defence Industrial Corridor, said Singh, the Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), Export Promotion, Investment Promotion, among others, while inaugurating the corporate office of the India unit of Thales Group in Noida.

SOURCE: ZEE NEWS

Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Monday (November 23, 2020) left for a three-day visit to various formations under the Army’s Eastern Command to review their operational preparedness.

“General MM Naravane #COAS proceeded on a three-day visit to Army formations of #EasternCommand to review the security situation and operational preparedness,” the Army said in a tweet.