SOURCE: INDIA TODAY

It’s laptop-sized, can be carried inside a coat and can spit AK-47 bullets out at the rate of roughly 700 rounds per minute. Meet the ‘Baby TAR’, India’s smallest assault rifle. Developed by the Indian Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappali, the weapon is a compact version of the legendary AK-47, which the factory has been mass-producing since 2017. This in-house OFB innovation comes soon after the Indian Army unveiled a 9x19mm carbine developed in-house.

The TAR-3, a compact, fully automatic version of the Trichy Assault Rifle (TAR), recently passed a series of trials at the Ordnance Factory Trichy (OF Trichy). A dozen prototypes have been produced during the lockdown. The weapon is currently undergoing ‘unofficial trials’ with the Indian Army, where three prototypes are believed to have fired over 2,000 rounds each without stoppages.

SOURCE: HT

Among the many ‘firsts’ of the decade’s first Republic Day parade on Tuesday will be the participation of the newly-acquired Rafale fighter jets. A single Rafale aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will put on a show on January 26, in what is a highly-anticipated display.

Here’s a look at some key points as the Rafale gets ready to make its R-Day debut:

SOURCE: PTI

Around 30 per cent dismantling work of India’s decommissioned aircraft carrier ‘Viraat’ has been completed and the entire vessel would be dismantled in nine months, a Gujarat-based ship breaker has said. Mukesh Patel, Chairman of the Shree Ram Group at Alang in Bhavnagar district which bought Viraat at an auction in July last year for Rs 38.54 crore, said the firm began the dismantling process in December.

The world’s longest serving warship was decommissioned by the Indian Navy four years ago. It is being dismantled with the help of around 300 trained workers at one of the plots owned by ship breaking firm, Patel said.

SOURCE: ASIA NET

The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected an Indian media report that claimed that the India-Russia annual summit had been postponed for the first time in two decades amid Moscow’s unease with the Quad alliance.

Doing a fact-check on the story that appeared in web portal ‘The Print’, the Russian Foreign Ministry called upon the need to focus on facts rather than flashy headlines. In a Facebook post, the Russian MFA clarified that the Summit was cancelled because of Covid-19 pandemic and not because of the Quad.

SOURCE: INDIA TODAY

India made its stand clear during the ninth Corps Commander-level talks that a complete resolution will only be possible if the Chinese de-induct their troops and weapons systems from multiple locations across eastern Ladakh and not limit the disengagement to Pangong Lake, sources said.

The Pangong Lake has been the focus of the tussle over the last nine months as standoff continues in eastern Ladakh with heavy deployment from both sides. Sources said while the discussions were “fruitful”, it was conveyed that all other pending issues need to be resolved.

SOURCE: Times Now

Pakistan’s notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is planning to revive terror groups and target temples in Jammu and Kashmir to create a communal divide in the country, Times Now has learnt from its sources. The ISI is also planning to launch terror attacks on security installations to boost the morale of the terrorists, who have been hit hard by India’s counter-terror operations.

Times Now’s Pradeep Dutta reported that Jammu region seems to be on the terror radar of Pakistan and to revive the terrorist activities it has tasked its Jammu and Kashmir Ghzanavi force, which directly acts under the command of Kashmir cell of Pakistan’s spy agency.

SOURCE: PTI

A pilot was killed after an advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv of Army Aviation Corps crash-landed near Lakhanpur in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening, officials said.

The chopper, which was coming from Pathankot, was forced to make a crash-landing in an Army area in the Lakhanpur belt of the district, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kathua Shailendra Mishra told PTI.

SOURCE: PTI

West Bengal Police have stepped up security in Malda and Murshidabad districts after being cautioned by the Centre about six terrorists of the banned Neo-JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh) infiltrating the border and that they may carry out terror activities on Republic Day, a senior official said on Monday.

A search has been launched for the terrorists of the Neo-JMB, an ISIS affiliate terror outfit, the home department official said. Security has been tightened in and around Malda and Murshidabad railway stations following the alert, he said.

SOURCE: THE PRINT

The year was 1994. An injured Indian Army Captain, D.P.K. Pillay, had saved the lives of two young siblings — a seven-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl — during a gunfight with militants in Manipur. On Monday, nearly 27 years later, Pillay, a Shaurya Chakra awardee and retired Colonel, took to Twitter to share images of the boy, Dingamang Pamei, now 33, who got married in the Northeastern state last week.

Pamei, who completed his education from Manipal University, now works at a private bank in Imphal. His sister, Maseliu Thaimei, lives in Manipur.

SOURCE: NEWS18

Rattled by New Delhi’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, the Chinese government’s mouthpiece, the Global Times, has started a smear campaign against India in a big way.

In a series of articles and opinion pieces, the newspaper has not just questioned India’s capacity to produce enough number of vaccine doses, citing the fire at the Serum Institute of India’s campus in Pune last week, but also the “efficacy of India’s locally-developed vaccines”, taking a potshot at Covaxin, India’s indigenous preventive against Covid-19, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV).

SOURCE: NEWS18

Led by the British Empire’s representative in Sikkim, James Claude White, hundreds of troops struggled up the Naku-chu River in the summer of 1902, determined to push the borders of Imperial China back to where they ought to be.

“Near the top of the pass”, White later wrote. “I found the usual Tibetan wall, rather better built than is customary, running across the valley with a block-house on the east, and some smaller blockhouse on a ridge coming down from the east”.

SOURCE: PTI

Globally recognised state sponsors of terrorism have used the COVID-19 pandemic to increase recruitment and infiltration activities to spread the venom of terror, while India and other nations launched vaccination drives and are assisting others during the global health crisis, India said at the UN Security Council on Monday, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Nagaraj Naidu made the comments while speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on Maintenance of international peace and security: Follow-up on the implementation of resolution 2532′.

SOURCE: PTI

The government has sent notices to Chinese apps, including TikTok, that the order to block them will be continued. The notice has been issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT after reviewing replies of blocked apps, according to a source who did not wish to be identified.

When contacted, TikTok confirmed to have received a reply from the government. “We are evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the Government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020,” a TikTok spokesperson said.

SOURCE: ANI

 In a veiled dig at China over the border standoff in Ladakh, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday that India faced “an expansionist move” on its borders which was foiled by the country’s valiant soldiers and said 20 of them laid their lives in the violent clash in Galwan Valley.

In his address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day, the President said India is committed to peace but its forces are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine security and national interest will be protected at all costs.

SOURCE: IANS

India and China have agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops at disputed border areas across Line of Actual Control, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.

The ministry issued a statement after India and China held a 16-hour marathon military dialogue to resolve the border dispute and thinning of forces along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. It was the ninth round of Corps Commander level meet at Moldo.