SOURCE: AFP

The centre on Tuesday appointed Lt General Anil Chauhan (retired) as the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan’s appointment comes in the midst of a root-and-branch reform of the armed forces, and nearly a year after the previous defence chief died in a helicopter crash.

The centre has been wary of China’s growing troop presence along the border, and disputes — including deadly Himalayan clashes in 2020 — have been a perennial source of tension.

SOURCE: PTI

President Droupadi Murmu today said India’s leadership in several fields has become unchallenged now and the country plays an important role as a frontline state in the fight against terrorism. Addressing a group of officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (2021 batch), who had called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, she said that India’s strong position is based on its economic performance, among other factors.

“While leading economies of the world are still trying to overcome the effects of the pandemic, India has stood up again and started to move on,” the President said.

SOURCE: PTI

The banned Popular Front of India (PFI) has been maintaining close ties with a radical Turkish group accused of supplying arms to Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Syria and even two PFI leaders were hosted by the terror group, officials said today.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, commonly known as IHH, projects itself as a Turkish human rights organisation. However, investigators have found that it is an Al-Qaeda-linked Turkish charity group, which was accused of smuggling arms to terrorists in Syria in January 2014.

SOURCE: API

The Indian Army has opted against changing the names of regiments, their customs, ethos, or system of regimentation after a note on its internal agenda regarding eradicating colonial legacies caused consternation among active and retired commanders.

Veterans can be confident that traditions and rituals that support our regimentation, morale, and motivation won’t ever be broken. Sensitivities are involved, hence any such concern is unwarranted, according to a senior Indian Army official.

SOURCE: IANS

The security agencies have claimed that the members of the now banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) had been imparting training to individuals to make IEDs at home, supposed to be used by them later.

PFI leaders had been planning to destabilise the nation, sources in the know of things submitted. A written content providing instructions on making IEDs was recovered from Mohammed Nadeem, a PFI leader in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki.

SOURCE: ANI

The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has been taking the help of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in manufacturing ‘Make in India’ K9 Scent Pads which will be produced at 1/100th of the cost of those being procured from abroad.

This initiative of ITBP to approach DRDO would help all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and State Police Organisations and Security Forces including the Indian Army in having specific explosive and narcotic scent kits to enhance the olfactory conditioning of service of K9s or police dogs in the detection of explosives and narcotics.

SOURCE: ANI

Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, who is on his first official visit to Australia, was hosted by Royal Australian Navy’s Chief of Navy Vice Adm. Mark Hammond on Thursday. Both leaders reviewed the progress of ongoing maritime engagements and discussed ways to strengthen the partnership of the two navies in the Indo-Pacific region.

This meeting comes as the Indian Navy chief is on their first official visit to Australia upon assuming the office of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS). This key visit saw important discussions on the need to raise the level of synergy and focused efforts for overcoming maritime challenges.

SOURCE: ANI

 The official Twitter account of Popular Front of India (PFI) has been withheld in India by the social media platform “in response to a legal demand”, a day after the Centre banned the outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for “terror links”.

The government had yesterday ordered the blocking of all the social media traces of the banned outfit, including its Twitter, YouTube channels, Instagram, and Facebook accounts. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) made the announcement to ban the organisation through a notification issued late on Tuesday night, declaring “the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts as an unlawful association with immediate effect”.

SOURCE: ANI

Another blast hit a bus in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur. This is the second blast in the last 8 hours in the district. The second blast occurred at 10:45 pm in a bus at Domail chowk. Earlier, two people were injured after a blast occurred in an empty bus parked at a petrol pump in Udhampur on Wednesday night.

The incident occurred around 10:30 pm near a petrol pump at Domail Chowk in the Udhampur district. Other vehicles parked nearby were also damaged in the blast. The injured were shifted to Udhampur District Hospital. Police and security personnel rushed to the spot soon after the incident. The investigation is underway.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Since 2001, BrahMos has been synonymous with India’s offensive firepower and over the year many changes and upgrades have been made to enhance its firepower and also to ensure that it remains the most difficult supersonic cruise missile to be intercepted by any air defense system.

BrahMos Corporation to enhance its firepower had started work on developing a new variant of the missile that from 2023 onwards will commence a series of developmental trials.

SOURCE: PTI

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd), a former eastern Army commander and director general of military operations, was on Wednesday appointed as India’s new Chief of Defence Staff, more than nine months after the post fell vacant following the death of Gen Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash. 

A decorated Army officer and a China expert, 61-year-old Chauhan will also function as Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders.

SOURCE: ANI

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a press briefing on Wednesday said that the relationship between India and US today impacts the rest of the world as there are a lot of countries which look to the association individually and bilaterally and hope for solutions which the world is searching for in many aspects.

“I think our relationship today impacts the rest of the world. There are a lot of countries which look to us individually and bilaterally for some part of the betterment which they hope for solutions which the world is searching for in many respects,” Mr Jaishankar said during the press briefing.

SOURCE: ANI

Slamming Pakistan for atrocities against its minorities, India said that the world does not need lessons on democracy and human rights from a country whose contribution to the globalisation of terror is unparalleled.

Speaking at the General Debate at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to UN, Seema Pujani said, “It is ironical that Pakistan, a state whose foundation was laid on communal ideologies speaks of communal disharmony and religious intorlerance.”

SOURCE: PTI

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during which they reviewed the progress in the US-India strategic partnership and exchanged views on global and regional issues, including approaches to advance a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Mr Jaishankar, who is on a four-day official trip to Washington, also discussed Ukraine’s conflict with Sullivan during their meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Indian companies are still buying Russian oil using dollars after Dubai’s Mashreq Bank declined to handle payments from at least two refiners in Emirati Dirhams as requested by the supplier, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Russia has been hit by sanctions from the United States and allies following its invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has requested some buyers of its commodities pay using roubles or other currencies than the dollar and euro which its contracts are typically priced in.