SOURCE: UNB

Indian Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari arrived in Dhaka on Monday on a three-day visit. He is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of Air Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan, the Chief of Air Staff, Bangladesh Air Force.

The Indian Air Force Chief is accompanied by a three-member delegation. The Indian Air Force Chief is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, all three Service Chiefs and meet other senior officers from the Bangladesh Armed Forces, according to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

SOURCE: IANS

 A war of words has broken out between the Congress government and the BJP in Karnataka over the incident of deporting ‘controversial’ UK writer Nitasha Kaul back to London from the Bengaluru airport on Sunday.

Nitasha Kaul was detained by the security agencies on her arrival at the KempeGowda International Airport in Bengaluru before she was deported back to London. Kaul later claimed that she was denied entry despite having an invitation to speak at a conference organised by the Karnataka government.

SOURCE: PTI

Declaring that women cannot be left out, the Supreme Court on Monday, 26 February 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.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said this while taking note of submissions by Attorney General R Venkataramani that there were some functional and operational difficulties in granting permanent commissions to Short Service Commission Officers (SSCOs).

SOURCE: PTI

Four Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Tuesday, a senior police official said. The face-off took place in a forest under Jangla police station area when separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were out on an anti-Naxal operation, he said.

When one of the patrolling teams of the DRG was near Chhote Tungali forest, the exchange of fire broke out, he said.

SOURCE: PTI

The Adani Group on Monday announced opening of two mega facilities to manufacture ammunition and missiles – the largest in South Asia – as it consolidates its presence in defence manufacturing. Adani Defence Y Aerospace has invested over Rs 3,000 crore in the factories that are spread over 500 acres and will manufacture full spectrum of ammunition.

“These cutting-edge facilities, which are first of their kind in the private sector in India, will provide a significant impetus to the nation’s self-reliance and technological advancement in defence,” it said in a statement. The facilities were inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande and GOC-in-C of Central Command Lt Gen N. S. Raja Subramani. “The unveiling of the facilities coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Balakot airstrike ‘Operation Bandar’, a historic operation by the Indian Air Force that was a testimony to India’s strategic assertiveness over external threats,” the statement said.

SOURCE: UNI

Hyderabad based Raghu Vamsi Machine Tools (RVMT) Pvt Ltd, a leading player in the aerospace and Defence industry, on Monday announced the launch of its fully indigenous Micro Turbojet Engine “INDRA RV25: 240N” in alignment with the Atmanirbhar Bharat “Make in India” initiatives.

The launch was done in the presence of Dr G Satheesh Reddy, President Aeronautical Society of India, Former Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri and former Chairman DRDO, who witnessed the live testing of the engine at RVMT Hyderabad facility and formally inaugurated the assembly and test lab.

SOURCE: ANI

Calling the national security a complicated calculus in today’s times, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted India’s response to Chinese incursions at the Line of Actual control (LAC) and towards cross-border terrorism from Pakistan through its ferocious responses in Uri and Balakot. India carried out a surgical strike against terror units in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2016 in response to an attack at an army base in Uri, Kashmir. In 2019, after the Pulwama attack — which killed over 40 Indian soldiers — the Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike against Pakistani terror camps in Balakot.

The EAM was giving the Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru Memorial Lectures 2024 at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Convention Centre, on the topic of ‘Bharat and the World’. Addressing the event on Monday, Jaishankar said, “The calculus of national security has become much more complicated. Traditional methods of competing and pressuring are buttressed by new tools of influence and disruption. Here too, Bharat has pushed back with determination and fortitude.

SOURCE: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate three major technical facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Kerala on Tuesday. The Prime Minister will also be reviewing the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme during his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here.

PM Modi will inaugurate a Trisonic Wind Tunnel at the VSSC, a Semi-Cryogenic Integrated Engine and Stage Test Facility at the ISRO propulsion complex at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu and the PSLV Integration Facility at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota. VSSC is the lead centre of ISRO responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology.

SOURCE: ANI

Highlighting that Indian military personnel and aviation platforms in Maldives has been solely working for the benefit of local people, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar affirmed his belief that the row with the Maldives will be resolved through diplomacy.

He also said that sometimes misunderstandings take place between two nations. The EAM was speaking at the event ‘The Rise of the Global South’ at TV9 Bharatvarsh Conclave on Monday. Responding to the Maldives row, Jaishankar said, “Humanity is humanity. Diplomacy is diplomacy, and politics is politics. The whole world doesn’t always run with obligation…so if we have encountered such a situation, the solution will come through diplomacy only.”

SOURCE: ANI

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called out the space given to extremist Khalistani elements in foreign countries and said this is not freedom of speech, but a misuse of it. He said it is not good for any country to send that kind of message for their own reputation and expressed hope that action will be taken against those who attacked Indian missions.

The Minister was speaking at the event ‘The Rise of the Global South’ at TV9 Bharatvarsh Conclave on Monday.

SOURCE: PTI

India expects action against the culprits involved in last year’s attacks on its high commission in London and consulate in San Francisco as well as those involved in threatening the Indian diplomats in Canada, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said.

The external affairs minister said India had to suspend issuance of visas in Canada as its diplomats were repeatedly “threatened and intimidated in many ways” and we “got very little comfort from the Canadian system that time”.

SOURCE: PTI

India and China are rising and the two countries, in the process, are changing the world order, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

Mr Jaishankar, citing talks between the leadership of the two countries in Mamallapuram and Wuhan, said India tried to maintain an “equilibrium” in the ties through diplomacy, but the relations took a different turn following China’s military build-up along the Line of Actual Control in 2020 in violation of laid down norms.