SOURCE: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the first after India’s punitive military action against Pakistan under Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

According to PTI, the ministers are likely to be given details of the operation, which is also expected to figure in the ruling BJP’s programmes starting next week to mark the first anniversary of the Modi government in its third term.

SOURCE: IANS

Sixteen Maoists, including two hardcore insurgents, have surrendered in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, marking a significant setback for the Maoist movement in the region. Among them, a woman and a man carried individual bounties of Rs 8 lakh, while others had varying rewards, bringing the total to Rs 25 lakh. The surrender took place on Monday before senior police and CRPF officers in Sukma district.

Superintendent of Police Kiran G Chavan said that the Maoists were influenced by the Chhattisgarh government’s ‘Niyad Nellnar’ initiative, which aims to promote development in remote villages.

SOURCE: IANS

 Errol Musk, father of the world’s richest man and American billionaire Elon Musk, on Monday called for an end to the miseries of Kashmiris living under the spectre of terrorism, saying ‘if it is Pakistan causing the trouble, something needs to be done about it’.

In an interaction with IANS, the 79-year-old South African patriarch of the Musk family sympathised with Kashmiris living in a hostile environment and said, “You cannot make ordinary people suffer like this… you’ve got to make a plan and put an end to it.”

SOURCE: PTI

Basic military training will be imparted to students from Class 1 in Maharashtra in a move to instil a sense of patriotism, discipline and promote a habit of regular physical exercise among them, state School Education Minister Dada Bhuse said.

Retired soldiers will be roped in for training the students, he informed. “A decision has been taken to give basic-level military training to students from Class 1. This will help inculcate love for the country, encourage habits like doing physical exercise regularly and discipline that will benefit the students,” Bhuse said.

SOURCE: PTI

The tourism sector in Kashmir has started the long journey to normalcy as tourists, though in smaller numbers, are returning to the valley after the Pahalgam terror attack dealt a big blow to the industry. Groups of tourists, especially from states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, are reaching the famous tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, infusing hopes of a gradual turnaround in the sector.

Though in marginal numbers, tourist arrivals have led to some sort of activity in the sector, which was considered almost dead in the days following the April 22 attack in Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local were killed.

SOURCE: PTI

Russia is committed to delivering the remaining units of the S-400 air defence system to India by 2025-2026, the country’s Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Roman Babushkin, said on Monday, highlighting that the system performed “very efficiently” during the recent India-Pakistan tensions.

Babushkin also hinted at expanding bilateral cooperation with India in air defence and anti-drone systems.

SOURCE: IANS

‘Operation Sindoor’, launched by the Indian armed forces on May 7 signified a substantial military reaction to a terrorist assault at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025, resulting in 26 fatalities. Nine distinct terrorist facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) were targeted, concentrating on the eradication of terrorist infrastructure associated with organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. No civilian as well as military locations were targeted by India. The battle not only demonstrated India’s strategic capabilities but also revealed significant vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s Defence systems, particularly its dependence on Chinese-supplied military equipment.

Why ‘Operation Sindoor’? The operation was triggered by a massacre in Pahalgam in which 26 civilians, the majority being Indian tourists, were killed by gunmen. India attributed the attack to terrorists sponsored by Pakistan. In response, India initiated ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the early hours of May 7, employing a combination of long-range standoff weapons, including air-launched missiles and loitering munitions, and struck nine locations.

SOURCE: IANS

The Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, witnessed a rare yet pointed exchange between military leaders of India and Pakistan, amid escalating tensions following the recent Pahalgam terror attack.

According to high-level sources present at the event, India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, sent an unambiguous message that New Delhi’s patience with cross-border terrorism has reached its limit.

SOURCE: IANS

 India will gradually increase its defence budget as a percentage of GDP from around 2 per cent at present to 3 per cent or even 4 per cent over the next decade, according to a report released by Omniscience Capital on Monday.

With a $10 trillion GDP, the defence budget is expected to grow to more than $300 bn or around Rs 30 lakh crore. This implies a 16-17 per cent annualised growth till 2035, the report observes. The total output of the defence PSUs is expected to double to Rs 1.8 lakh crore by 2029, indicating a growth of 18 per cent over the next four years, according to the report.

SOURCE: PTI

Top military officials from India and Pakistan highlighted their views at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, billed as Asia’s premier defence forum, amid heightened tensions between the two sides following last month’s military confrontation.

The longstanding tensions between the two neighbours grabbed attention at the gathering of the top global defence forum held from Friday to Sunday, reported Channel News Asia on Sunday. India accused Pakistan-based terror groups of a deadly attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April, while Pakistan denies any involvement.And just as these nations sit next to each other geographically, some of their top generals sat in neighbouring conference rooms inside the Shangri-La Singapore, taking part in simultaneous sessions late on Saturday afternoon on topics ranging from defence innovation solutions to regional crisis-management mechanisms.

SOURCE: PTI

Three Army personnel died and six soldiers went missing after a landslide hit a military camp at Chhaten in Sikkim, a defence official said on Monday. The landslide, which occurred at 7 pm on Sunday near Lachen town in Mangan district, was triggered by heavy rainfall in the area, he said.

“… A catastrophic landslide occurred following intense and continuous rainfall in the region causing death of three combatants, identified as Havaldar Lakhwinder Singh, Lance Naik Munish Thakur, and Porter Abhishek Lakhada,” the official said in a statement.

SOURCE: PTI

Sixteen Naxalites, including six carrying a collective cash reward of Rs 25 lakh, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Monday, police said.

Of them, nine cadres belonged to Kerlapenda village panchayat under Chintalanar police station limits. With this surrender, the village has become Naxalite-free, making it eligible for development projects of Rs 1 crore as per a new scheme of the state government, an official said.

SOURCE: PTI

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday sought dignified return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, saying their reintegration must not be viewed merely as a symbolic return, but as an opportunity to build a shared, inclusive and forward-looking future for Jammu and Kashmir.

The former chief minister, who called on Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan here, submitted an “inclusive and phased roadmap” to facilitate “meaningful progress” on the front.

SOURCE: PTI

Air India will look to send its wide-body planes, whose heavy maintenance is being done by Turkish Technic, to other MRO entities, as part of recalibrating its plans taking into cognisance the recent developments related to Turkiye, according to the airline’s CEO Campbell Wilson.

Against the backdrop of Turkiye backing Pakistan and condemning India’s strikes on terror camps in the neighbouring country in May, aviation security watchdog BCAS, on May 15, revoked the security clearance for Turkish company Celebi Airport Services India Pvt Ltd in the “interest of national security”.

SOURCE: PTI

The Indian Army is conducting field trials of several cutting-edge defence systems under ‘near-combat conditions’, integrating electronic warfare simulations, to assess their performance rigorously, officials said on Saturday.

The trials aim to strengthen the Army’s technological prowess and enhance its operational readiness. The platforms undergoing evaluation include Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), UAV Launched Precision Guided Munition (ULPGM), Runway Independent (RWI) Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS) and counter-UAS solutions, the defence ministry said.