SOURCE: PTI

About 135 militants are present at launch pads across the border and are waiting to infiltrate into India, BSF Inspector General, Kashmir, Raja Babu Singh said on Monday.

However, he asserted that the overall situation at the Line of Control (LoC) is “peaceful” and said the number of infiltration bids was lesser in 2021 in comparison to previous years. “The overall scenario along the LoC is peaceful. Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, there has been a general peace all along the LoC in the Kashmir frontier,” the Border Security Force (BSF) officer said while speaking to reporters here.

SOURCE: ET

India and Israel on Monday launched a commemorative logo to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The logo features the Star of David and the AshokaChakra- the two symbols that adorn the national flags of both countries- and forms the numeral 30 depicting the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations. This special logo symbolises the strong friendship, love and admiration that exists between the people of Israel and the people of India. It also depicts the growing strategic partnership between the two sides.

SOURCE: Statesman News Service

In a bid to foil any attempt of Pakistan backed terrorists to infiltrate through cross-border tunnels ahead of Republic Day, the Border Security Force (BSF) is carrying out extensive anti-tunnelling drive in the three border districts of Jammu division.

A BSF spokesman said on Monday that keeping in view the intelligence inputs ahead of the Republic Day and security situation to deal with any nefarious attempt of anti-national elements from across the border, troops of BSF Jammu frontier have been on high alert since last week.

SOURCE: THE PRINT

I have not soiled my hands with dirty work,” the young Winston Churchill wrote to his mother in October 1872, from the dust-blown outpost of Inayat Killi. He’d watched, instead, as his soldiers fed an injured Pashtun insurgent into a kiln, the man screaming as his skin melted off his bones. Imperial Britain wielded “fire and sword in vengeance”. “We destroyed the houses, filled up the wells, blew down the towers, cut down the great shady trees, burned the crops and broke the reservoirs”.

Liberal Indians mourned, this past week, as the eternal flame of the unknown soldier — sheltered under India Gate, where the names of 13,300 men killed in the First World War are inscribed — moved to the new National War Memorial. The moving of the flame seems, to some, as part of an ongoing extinguishing of the Indian Army’s heritage of secularism, decency and righteousness.

SOURCE: NDTV

Several Supreme Court lawyers alleged today that they have received threat calls, allegedly from terrorist group Indian Mujahideen, over the removal of Article 370 that granted special rights to Kashmir. The callers threatened to hoist the flag of Kashmir in Delhi on Republic Day.

This is the third time in a month that the lawyers have claimed to have received threat calls. Earlier, they received calls threatening judges over the Supreme Court’s inquiry committee investigating the case involving the security breach that left Prime Minister Narendra Modi stuck on a flyover in Punjab for 20 minutes. They received a second threatening call last week – allegedly from pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice – over the same.

SOURCE: The Statesman

Escape from Pakistan lifts the lid on a story never before made public—the daring escape of a diplomat and his family from Karachi in 1965. But make no mistake: this is more than a pulse-pounding thriller. At the heart of the narrative is the tender and inspiring story of Captain Jack Shea, who masterminded the escape, with brutal consequences to himself.

Penned with utmost tenderness by Captain Shea’s daughter Debora, this is a long-overdue tribute to a gallant mariner who epitomised courage, loyalty and survival against overwhelming odds. Dispossessed of parental love since birth, Jack grows up under the care of maternal grandparents, and with a name that belongs neither to his biological father or mother: “Garnet Milton Shea.”

SOURCE: Tribune News Service

Amid a raging debate on the merits of merging Amar Jawan Jyoti flame with that of the National War Memorial, historical sources reveal the flame at India Gate was conceived as temporary, and the construction of a permanent memorial for India’s war heroes was always in the pipeline.

A dig into Parliament archives throws light on the vexed issue with opinions divided on whether the merger of the two flames this week was, at all, necessary. It turns out that late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi-led Congress government was, as long ago as 1972, contemplating building a permanent war memorial called Amar Jawan at Delhi.

SOURCE: ONE INDIA

With the name of a Khalistani terrorist cropping up in various cases in Punjab, the National Investigation Agency has reached out to its German counterparts for more information. The NIA is seeking more information on Jaswinder Singh Multani, a member of the Sikhs for Justice, a proscribed organisation in India. The NIA has also announced a Rs 10 lakh reward on Multani after his name cropped up in the Ludhiana blast case.

Multani was detained in Germany following a tip off from New Delhi. He was however released after he provided an affidavit promising to cooperate with the probe. The NIA has so far booked nine people including Multani on charges of attempting to revive terrorism in Punjab. Several pro-Khalistan elements have been operating from Germany and are aiding the revival of terror in Punjab.

SOURCE: PTI

Air India is likely to be handed over to the Tata group by the end of this week, senior government officials said on Monday. After a competitive bidding process, the government had on October 8 last year sold Air India to Talace Private Limited — a subsidiary of the Tata group’s holding company — for ? 18,000 crore.

Following that, on October 11, a Letter of Intent (LoI) was issued to the Tata group confirming the government’s willingness to sell its 100 percent stake in the airline. On October 25, the Centre signed the share purchase agreement (SPA) for this deal.

SOURCE: PTI

A Naxal was killed in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Monday, a senior police official said. The gunfight took place at around 1.30 am near a bridge in a forest, located about six km from Bharanda police station, when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on a search operation, Narayanpur’s Superintendent of Police Girija Shankar Jaiswal said.

After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a Naxal and a muzzle loading gun were recovered from the spot, he said.

SOURCE: INDIA TODAY

The defence ministry has begun moving files to place a repeat order of 200 more 155mm tracked self-propelled howitzers worth over Rs 10,000 crore. This significant order, to be placed with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) sometime this year, is the largest order placed with an Indian private sector defence firm and is a potential booster dose for the government’s plan to modernise the military, create an industrial defence base and reduce defence imports.

A self-propelled gun is a tank chassis fitted with a howitzer designed to provide firepower to mobile columns. A K9 Vajra weighs 50 tonnes and can fire shells out to over 50 kilometres. L&T had delivered 100 K-9 Vajras for Rs 4,500 crore in partnership with South Korean defence firm Hanwha Defense. The contract was signed in May 2017 and the 100^th gun delivered to the army on February 2021. It remains the largest Make in India programmes signed and completed on this government’s watch.

SOURCE: HT

The Sela tunnel project in China-bordering Arunachal Pradesh, which will allow faster deployment of weapons and soldiers to forward areas in the Tawang sector, has entered a decisive phase, with the defence ministry announcing that the final blast for one of the tunnels being constructed was conducted on Saturday, and all excavation work related to the project was complete.

The final blast for the 980-metre Sela tunnel (Tunnel 1) was conducted through a virtual ceremony by Border Roads Organisation director general Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry, the ministry said in a statement. “This feat has been achieved by the Border Roads Organisation amidst inclement weather and heavy snowfall. Once completed, it will be a lifeline as it will provide all weather connectivity to Tawang,” the statement said.

SOURCE: ANI

Acting on a tip-off regarding suspected movements of insurgent groups, CRPF personnel along with a team of Nampong police and F/19 Assam Rifles conducted a special joint operation on the intervening night of January 22-23, in the adjoining jungle area of Namgoi.

During the operation, the joint team noticed a suspicious person and apprehended him. As per the preliminary investigation, the individual revealed his identity as SS Rajapio NSCN-K(YA) Sepkam Lungphi. An FIR was lodged against him and he was handed over to Nampong Police station.

SOURCE: OUTLOOK INDIA

Going by the sound and fury in  Western capitals, Russia will soon send its forces into Ukraine and take over the country, much like it did in 2014, when it annexed Crimea. Reports of Russia moving 10,00,00 troops near its border with Ukraine is being splashed across the US and the Western newspapers.

With feelings against Russia running high, Germany’s navy chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach was forced to resign following his remarks made at an event in New Delhi at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses last week. Instead of keeping up the high-octane propaganda, the Navy chief spoke some home truths not acceptable to either his government or the West, bent on painting Russia as the villain. Vice Admiral Schoenbach had said, “He(Putin) wants high-level respect and my God giving some respect is low-cost, even no cost. If I was asked, it is easy to give him the respect he really demands and probably also deserves. Russia is an old country, Russia is an important country. Even we, India, Germany need Russia…we need Russia against China.’’ After these remarks in India, the Navy Chief had to put in his papers and step down.  

SOURCE: PTI

Bengali outfit ‘Bangla Pokkho’ on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh demanding that a Bengali Regiment be raised in the Indian Army to pay appropriate tribute to the contribution of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and numerous other freedom fighters from the state.

It also demanded that youths aspiring to join the armed forces be given the option of writing the recruitment examinations in Bengali language.