SOURCE: ANI

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Wednesday informed Rajya Sabha that four organizations have been notified as terrorist organizations under the UAPA in the year 2023 so far and their names have been added in the First Schedule of the Act. Nityanand Rai in a written reply to the question of BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Four organizations have been notified as terrorist organizations under the UAPA in the year 2023 so far and their names have been added in the First Schedule of the Act.

These organizations have been involved in terrorism and have committed and participated in various acts of terrorism in India.” These four organizations are — The Resistance Front (TRF), Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). MoS Home Nityanand Rai further said, “The Resistance Front (TRF)- It is a proxy outfit of the terrorist organization Lashkar-E-Taiba and came into existence in 2019.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

En route to New Delhi this month, US officials proclaimed themselves satisfied that India is buying Russian oil below G-7 price caps designed to undercut Moscow’s war in Ukraine without disrupting global energy flows. Market experts — and even some of those involved in the energy trade — say it’s not so clear.

India’s consumption of Russian crude was minimal and sporadic before President Vladimir Putin’s forces attacked Ukraine, but it has soared since, becoming a key tool for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid to fight energy inflation.

SOURCE: TASS

Cooperation between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom to build nuclear submarines means the transfer of nuclear technology and creates nuclear proliferation risks, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Wednesday.

“Nuclear submarine cooperation between the three countries poses a serious threat of nuclear proliferation, violates the goals and objectives of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and negatively affects the international non-proliferation system,” he pointed out.

SOURCE: PTI

The United States Senate will vote on the nomination of Eric Garcetti as the country’s next ambassador to India on Wednesday. Such a move by Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer came amidst fresh round of campaign against Mr Garcetti by his ditractors on allegations of sexual assault against one of his staffers when he was the mayor of Los Angeles.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Garcetti would soon head to India as US Ambassador, a position that has remained vacant for more than two years. The confirmation vote on his nomination is scheduled at 2.15 pm local Washington time.

SOURCE: IANS

The Indian Consulate in Brisbane was forced to close down temporarily today after Khalistani supporters blocked the entry raising slogans against the Hindus, days after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s assurance to curb anti-India elements in the country, a media report said.

According to The Australia Today, slogans were raised against Hindus calling them ‘supremacists’ at the Consulate, which is located on Swann Road in the Taringa suburb of Brisbane.

SOURCE: PTI

India has invited Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be held in New Delhi in April, according to a media report on Wednesday.

India currently holds the presidency of the SCO, which comprises China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As President of the SCO, India is set to host a series of meetings.

SOURCE: ANI

The Singapore Army and Indian Army participated in the 13th edition of Exercise Bold Kurukshetra , a bilateral armour exercise from 6 to 13 March at Jodhpur Military Station, India .For the first time in the exercise series, both armies participated in a command post Exercise, which involved Battalion and Brigade level planning elements and computer wargaming. Hosted by the Indian Army, the exercise involved soldiers from the 42nd Battalion, Singapore Armoured Regiment and an Armoured Brigade of the Indian Army.

The ten-day long joint training that commenced on 5th March fostered a common understanding of mechanised warfare in emerging threats and evolving technologies, developing inter-operability through a computer simulation-based Wargame using joint operational and tactical procedures controlled through a joint command post.

SOURCE: ANI

India and Bangladesh’s first cross-border oil pipeline is the real manifestation of the wonderful friendship that these two countries share, Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Andalib Elias said on Tuesday. “That’s a real manifestation of the wonderful friendship that these two countries enjoy and the deep relationship of trust and mutual respect that the two Prime Ministers have with each other,” Elias said.

This statement came after Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina would jointly open the first cross-border oil pipeline on March 18 for transportation of diesel to Bangladesh, stated Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS). Confirming the news, the Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner said, “PM Modi and my PM Sheikh Hasina first initiated this pipeline a few years ago. On 18th March, it will be formally launched. The oil will start going through it. That’s a huge step forward in the wonderful friendship that we have.”

SOURCE: PTI

The Pune city police arrested a Pakistani national who was allegedly forging documents for an extended stay in Bhawani Peth in Pune. The Khadak police detained a Pakistani youth from the Bhawani Peth area of Pune. According to reports, the accused has been residing near Chudaman Talim in Bhawani Peth since 2015.

Police arrested the accused, Mohammad Aman Ansari (age 22), and a case was filed at the Khadak police station. According to the police, the accused’s mother is Indian and his father is a Pakistani national who lives in Karachi. Ansari visited India on a student visa in 2015 and illegally stayed after the Covid 19 lockdown, even though his visa had expired.

SOURCE: UNI

Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, Army Commander Northern Command, praised Lieutenant Rigzin Chorol for overcoming all obstacles to become the first woman officer from Ladakh, realising her husband’s dreams and making a supreme sacrifice for the nation.

“Honouring an Icon for Women from Ladakh,” said the official Northern Command – Indian Army Twitter account.

SOURCE: UNI

Two suspected militant associates of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were arrested in Baramulla
district of Jammu and Kashmir and some ammunition was recovered from their possession, police said Tuesday. Acting on a specific input regarding the presence of terrorists in Monchkhud Kunzer village in the north Kashmir district, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there, a police spokesman said.

Two suspected persons, identified as Khurshid Ahmad Khan and Reyaz Ahmad Khan, both residents of Zandpal Kunzer, were apprehended, he said. Two AK-47 magazines, 15 rounds of AK-47, 20 blank posters of the banned LeT (TRF) and other incriminating material were recovered from their possession, the spokesman said.

SOURCE: pti

A successful flight-test of power take off (PTO) shaft was conducted on the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas in Bengaluru on Tuesday, the defence ministry said. The PTO is a critical equipment that transmits power from aircraft engine to gearbox. The ministry said the maiden successful flight-test of PTO shaft was conducted on LCA Tejas Limited Series Production (LSP)-3 aircraft.

“With this successful test, the DRDO has achieved a greater technological feat by realisation of complex high-speed rotor technology which only few countries have achieved,” it said.

SOURCE: ani

The Indian Army took a lead in awarding the first-ever procurement order of an Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) project as per the revised procedure on Tuesday.

According to an official release, the contract for procurement of an indigenously developed ‘Integrated Mobile Camouflage System (IMCS)’ for Mechanised Forces was signed with Indian Startup M/s Hyper Stealth Technologies Pvt Ltd on Tuesday, in presence of the Lt Gen JB Chaudhari, Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (CD&S) and Anurag Bajpai, Joint Secretary, DDP in Sena Bhawan.

SOURCE: pti

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday conducted two consecutive successful flight tests of Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

The defence ministry said flight tests were carried out from a ground-based man portable launcher against high speed unmanned aerial targets. It said the targets were successfully intercepted, meeting all mission objectives.

SOURCE: PTI

Acritical drug developed on a DRDO technology for radiological and nuclear emergencies has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The drug — ’prussian blue’ insoluble formulations — was developed under the Technology Development Fund (TDF). The TDF was launched primarily for creating an ecosystem for promoting self-reliance by building indigenous state-of-the-art systems for defence application.