SOURCE: HT

France will have delivered a total of 35 omni-role Rafale fighters by end-2021 to India with a last fighter making a solo journey to soon to be activated Hashimara air base in north Bengal in January 2022. Already 26 fighters have been delivered with 24 landed in India and remaining two kept for IAF pilot and technician training in France.

Given the reliability of strategic ally France, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Navy have evinced keen interest in Rafale platform due to its weight to power ratio and maritime strike capabilities. Apparently, the IAF leadership wants to acquire another 36 Rafales in future and the Navy is looking at Rafale-M as a fighter option onboard INS Vikrant (Indigenous aircraft carrier-1), to be commissioned next year.

SOURCE: Times Now

A report said on Tuesday that China is beefing up its military positions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Amid the ongoing border standoff that started in April-May last year and has been partially resolved so far, the report said Beijing has been ramping up its military positions in the region.

These include carrying out enhancements at airbases and building new ones, as well as adding air defence units. According to The Telegraph Online, China has since last year undertaken construction of new airbases, runways and heliports along the de-facto border.

SOURCE: PTI

India and Russia will carry out a 13-day mega military exercise with a focus on counter-terror operations in the Russian city of Volgograd from August 1, the Indian Army said on Tuesday. It said the 12th edition of the “Indra” exercise will be yet another “milestone” in strengthening the bilateral security cooperation and will serve to reinforce the longstanding bond of friendship between India and Russia.

The Army said 250 personnel from each side will participate in the 12th edition of the joint military exercise. “The 12th edition of Indo-Russia joint military exercise Indra-21 will be held at Volgograd, Russia from August 1 to 13,” the Army said. It said the exercise will entail the conduct of counter-terror operations mandated under the UN’s framework of joint forces against international terror groups.

SOURCE: Times Now

Amid reports of poll-rigging in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections, huge demonstrations were held in PoK against the Pakistani Army. Thousands of people took to the streets against Pakistan Army as several reports emerged that Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) interfered in the election process of PoK which as conducted on July 25.

PTI won 25 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 11 and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) bagged 6, reports suggested. The PoK assembly has a total of 53 members, however, only 45 are directly elected. The opposition parties are up in arms with the Imran Khan government and have termed the election process in PoK a farce.

SOURCE: HT

The earth observation satellite developed by the Indian start-up Pixxel will target an October launch with Indian Space Research Organisation mission, a company official said on Sunday. The satellite was to be launched aboard the PSLV-C51 mission in February this year but the company had to back out due to a last minute glitch in the software.

“There was a problem with GPS acquisition and logging in the satellite which we were able to resolve in a couple of days. But we had missed the window to ship the satellite to ISRO launch site. The satellite is completely ready and we used the time to do another round of testing. We were waiting for the next opportunity that ISRO mission would go to the orbit we need. We will be launching the satellite in October,” said Awais Ahmed, founder and CEO of the company (incorporated as Sygyzy).

SOURCE: HT

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) informed Parliament on Tuesday that it has sought six more months to frame rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA. The MHA said it has asked committees on subordinate legislation in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha time till January 9, 2022.

Replying to a question posed by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai said that the CAA has been notified on December 12, 2019 and has come into force from January 10, 2020. “The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time upto 09.01.2022 to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019,” Rai further said in his reply.

SOURCE: PTI

Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting Tibet last week is a threat to India, an influential US lawmaker has said, accusing the Joe Biden-led administration of not doing enough to stop the Chinese “march”. Xi on Wednesday last made an unannounced three-day trip to Nyingchi in Tibet, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China, met top officials of the Tibet Military Command and reviewed development projects in the region.

In an interview to Fox News, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes said: “Just last week, you had Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator, on the border with India, in Tibet, claiming victory. This was the first time in 30 years, I believe, that a Chinese dictator had been to Tibet, and also threatening India, over a billion people and also a nuclear power; threatening India that he’s going to build a big water project, possibly cut off water to India.”    

SOURCE: IndiaToday

Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed the Parliament on Monday that as many as 29 women Army officers, who did not opt for permanent commission in the Indian Army, have been relieved from service.

“29 women officers who did not opt for permanent commission in the Army Special Selection Board No 5, have been relieved from service. Of these 29, three were relieved from service without a pension, as per the option chosen by them. These officers have served for around 10-14 years in the Army,” Bhatt said in a letter to Rajya Sabha.

SOURCE: NEWS18

After India, Pakistan has been reporting the highest viewership of the YouTube Channels of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) for four straight years, Parliament has been told. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) said Prasar Bharati has over 170 YouTube channels of its AIR and DD network for viewers and the digital channels of Prasar Bharati are popular in other countries too.

Furnishing details of the top five foreign countries in terms of viewership of the YouTube channels, the ministry gave figures showing Pakistan has been topping the charts since 2018, according to YouTube analytics, implying Pakistanis watch India’s government-run channels the most on YouTube after Indians.

SOURCE: OUTLOOK INDIA

Several tribal community leaders of Tripura have cautioned the union Home Minister and expressed their concern over ‘growing influx of Chakma community including some with arms’ especially in Gandacherra subdivision under Dhalai district bordering Chittagong Hill Track (CHT) in Bangladesh.

Apex body of Tiprasa societies, that consists of majority of tribal communities, under the banner Council of Tiprasa Hoda, in a letter addressed to Amit Shah, Home Minister of government of India, said that, “due to incessant flow of Bangladeshi nationals, mostly Chakma community, through illegal routes and the facts shall be established by the census figures of Gandacherra in 2001 and 2011.”

SOURCE: ANI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to leave for Dushanbe, Tajikistan to participate in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers meeting. Tajikistan is this year’s chair of the grouping and will be holding the SCO heads of state summit in the month of September. Rajnath Singh’s Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe will also take part in the meet. However, there is no planned meet between the two ministers like they met on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Moscow last year.

Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar was in Dushanbe for the Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of SCO States.

SOURCE: IANS

A total 333 private companies have been issued 539 industrial licences for defence production in India and out of these, 110 companies have started production.

In a written reply to Vijay Pal Singh Tomar in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, said that the defence industry sector, which was hitherto reserved for the public sector, was opened up to 100 per cent for Indian private sector participation in May, 2001. Thereafter, many measures have been taken by the government to promote private sector participation.

SOURCE: PTI

A total of 355 personnel of central paramilitary forces and the Assam Rifles were killed in the line of duty in the last five years, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. The maximum personnel were from the country’s largest central armed police force — the Central Reserve Police Force — at 209.

The data was provided by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai as part of a written reply to Lok Sabha. These personnel “sacrificed their lives for the nation” between 2016-2020. The Border Security Force lost 78 personnel, Indo-Tibetan Border Police 16, Sashastra Seema Bal 8, Central Industrial Security Force 7 and Assam Rifles 37 personnel during this time period, the data said.

SOURCE: TIMES NOW

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that there have been some reports of CPI (Maoist) inducting children in their outfit in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and giving military-style training to them.

Reports also suggest that the CPI (Maoist) is recruiting children and using them for cooking, carrying daily use material and collecting information regarding movement of security forces, the MoS said. There has been a steady decline in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) related violence and geographical spread of LWE influence in the country. The number of deaths (civilians and Security Force personnel) in LWE related violence has also reduced, Rai informed.

SOURCE: ANI

As China continues with hydropower projects on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, concerns are rising in the lower riparian nations regarding the impact of these projects on the river, which is one of the crucial sources of freshwater for India and Bangladesh.

Yarlung Tsangpo is a lifeline for a significant population in these countries. It originates at the southeast of Mount Kailash and Manasarovar in Tibet and is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra river. It later flows through the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon before passing through the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India.