SOURCE: ANI

As part of the ongoing exercise Gagan Shakti-24, Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft recently operated from the Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) in the northern sector in Kashmir valley, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry said that a large number of troops were airlifted and subsequently air landed utilising Chinook, Mi-17 V5 and ALH Mk-III helicopters by night.

SOURCE: SPUTNIKNEWS

The Agnibaan rocket is produced by Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos. The company says the rocket is a customisable, two-stage launch vehicle that can carry a payload of up to 300 kg into orbit of about 700 km. The maiden test launch of Agnibaan rocket scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled once again for technical reasons.

It is the third time that the test launch has been postponed.

SOURCE: PTI

Pakistan on Saturday said it stands resolute in its intent and ability to safeguard its sovereignty, a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made it clear that India will enter Pakistan if terrorists run away to the neighbouring nation after carrying out terror strikes in the country.

A statement by the Foreign Office here said that Pakistan has always demonstrated its commitment to peace in the region but its desire for peace should not be misconstrued.

SOURCE: PTI

India on Friday abstained in the UN Human Rights Council on a resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and also demanded that Israel immediately lift its illegal blockade on the strip.

The draft resolution on the ‘Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice’ was adopted by the Geneva-based Council with a vote of 28 in favour, 6 against and 13 abstentions.

SOURCE: ANI

In a massive crackdown on the banned naxal outfit in an anti-India conspiracy case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday swooped down on the premises of accused and suspected persons at 12 places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Of the total, 11 locations were searched in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh and one location in Kaimur district of Bihar in connection with the case registered originally by Uttar Pradesh’s Anti Terror Squad (ATS).

Several digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards and memory cards, along with incriminating documents like pamphlets of the proscribed naxal outfit, were seized during the search operation, said the NIA.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Pakistan on Saturday denounced “provocative remarks” made by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in which he said India would enter Pakistan to kill anyone who escapes over its border after trying to carry out militant attacks.

Singh’s comments on Friday came after the Guardian newspaper published a report stating the Indian government had killed about 20 people in Pakistan since 2020 as part of a broader plan to target “terrorists residing on foreign soil”.

SOURCE: AP

The statement was issued after The Guardian, in a report published on Thursday, said that the Indian government assassinated individuals in Pakistan as part of a wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil.

The report cited intelligence officials from both countries, as well as documents shared by Pakistani investigators, saying they “shed new light on how India’s foreign intelligence agency allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019”.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Indian aerospace startup Agnikul Cosmos postponed the maiden launch of its Agnibaan rocket again, people at the launch site said on Saturday, citing technical issues. The company postponed the liftoff while conducting pre-launch checks, the people said. The rocket maker delayed the Agnibaan launch last month without giving a clear reason.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes for the privatisation and commercialisation of the space sector, Agnikul is seeking to conduct India’s second private rocket launch, following startup Skyroot’s 2022 launch of the Vikram-S rocket.

SOURCE: PTI

India aims to produce 1 lakh MW of nuclear power by 2047, a massive increase from the current production of over 8,000 MW, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman A K Mohanty said here on Wednesday.

Mohanty was speaking at the release of a report, ‘Synchronising Energy Transitions Towards Possible Net Zero for India: Affordable and Clean Energy for All’, largely funded by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the government of India.

SOURCE: REUTERS

 Sri Lanka does not see any need to re-open talks on a contentious island ceded to it by New Delhi 50 years ago, the foreign minister has said, after the low-key territorial squabble turned into a hot-button election issue in India.

The party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected to win general elections that start on April 19, has flagged the issue of Indian fishermen discontented after a 1976 pact between the neighbours barred them from the waters around the island.

SOURCE: UNI

The infiltration bid that was foiled on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla indicated desperation on part of Pakistan to fuel unrest in Kashmir Valley ahead of general elections, Army said. Two unidentified militants were killed close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Baramulla district when they were trying to sneak into Kashmir. Army said intermittent fire was also drawn from Pakistan forward posts, in the vicinity of LoC during the counter infiltration operation.

A statement by the Army said the infiltration bid was successfully foiled on Friday in a joint operation led by the Indian Army. “Numerous inputs were earlier received from multiple intelligence agencies regarding terrorist groups planning and intending to infiltrate across Line of Control in Uri Sector. Based on these inputs and surveillance the counter-infiltration grid was reviewed and strengthened,” the Army said.

SOURCE: PTI

The BJP hit out at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday over his swipe at the ruling party for raising the issue of removal of Article 370 of the Constitution – which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir – in Rajasthan, with Home Minister Amit Shah saying the opposition party’s “Italian culture” is to be blamed for it not understanding the very idea of India.

Mr Shah and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including its president JP Nadda, shared a short clip of Kharge’s speech on X, in which he is heard targeting the ruling party for talking about the removal of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in Rajasthan.

SOURCE: PTI

Army troops opened fire and subsequently launched a search operation after noticing suspicious movement near their camp in a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district early Saturday, officials said.

There was no report of any casualty in the firing at the Srotha Morha village in the Darhal area, the officials said. They said a sentry fired a few rounds on seeing the movement of a group of unidentified persons towards the camp under the cover of darkness.

SOURCE: PTI

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has started implementing a project in Junput village in West Bengal to build a small test centre for the country’s weapon systems, officials said on Thursday.

Junput, like Odisha’s Chandipur which is known for its Integrated Test Range (ITR), is also situated by the Bay of Bengal. An additional operation area is required as the existing ITR at Chandipur near Balasore has become saturated with work related to testing.

SOURCE: UNI

In a significant achievement, India’s first sun mission AdityaL1 spacecraft will track the Sun during Total Solar Eclipse on Monday. This will provide important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. The Total Solar Eclipse will occur on April 8 as the Sun, Moon and Earth align in a straight line leading to a brief period of darkness during the daytime.

The Adiya L1 mission has six instruments as it observes the Sun from Lagrange Point 1, nearly 15 kms from Earth. Of the six, two instruments could be primed to observe the Sun during the eclipse. These are the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) and the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT). Reports received here said the coronagraph studies the Sun’s outer layer, the corona.