New Delhi: Pushing for appropriate elevation for Olympic silver medalist Subedar Vijay Kumar, Sports Minister Ajay Maken has written a letter to Defence Minister AK Antony seeking changes in policy of armed forces for promotion of outstanding sports persons. The letter comes against the backdrop of the ace shooter threatening to quit the Army as he has not been given promotion despite several good performances in the last six years....
09:10 PM, Aug 07, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: India has viewed seriously the matter of a tunnel being detected from Pakistan side into the country in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba sector, Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday said. "Yes, a tunnel has been found. We have taken the matter seriously," Antony said when asked about the detection of 400-mt-long tunnel from Pakistan side into India in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba sector. Following the detection of the tunnel,...
04:20 AM, Aug 05, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Comparing the Congress to the Phoenix, Union Minister AK Antony on Saturday said the party would resurrect itself like the mythical bird whenever it becomes weak. Most of the organisations that came into being when the Congress was floated, have ceased to exist. Some of them are on the verge of extinction, he said at a book release function at the Kerala PCC headquarters. Whenever the Congress becomes weak...
08:29 PM, Aug 04, 2012
New Delhi: Ahead of the once-in-a-decade leadership transition in Beijing, India and China are looking to step up defence ties, with China proposing a visit by its defence minister in September. Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie has voiced his eagerness to visit New Delhi before the the Communist Party of China gets down to finalising the leadership transition, expected in Oct-Nov. The Indian government has responded positively. Gen Liang's...
12:48 AM, Aug 01, 2012
New Delhi: Senior NCP leader Praful Patel has been included in the Group of Ministers to tackle corruption, a development which assumes significance against the backdrop of recent complaint by the UPA ally that its voice was not being heard in Government functioning. Patel was nominated in the important GoM by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a few days back, sources told PTI in New Delhi. However, he did not attend...
08:45 PM, Jul 30, 2012
Srinagar: Defence Minister AK Antony will review the security situation in Kashmir Valley during his two-day visit to the state beginning on Saturday and also interact with troops deployed in the forward locations. Antony's delegation includes the Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh and the Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, a defence spokesman said in Srinagar on Friday. He said that the Defence Minister will review the security situation...
12:28 PM, Jul 28, 2012
New Delhi: Defence Minister AK Antony on Thursday outrightly rejected Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh's pitch for a share from the national security allocation for social development programmes. "Money provided in the budget for the Defence is for national security," Antony said promising at the same time all necessary support to Rural Development Ministry by providing it technology from his ministry. Ramesh had earlier said that the total amount of...
10:55 AM, Jul 27, 2012
New Delhi: Concerned over local protests after a Jammu and Kashmir teenager, suspected to be a militant, was killed by Army personnel, Defence Minister AK Antony on Thursday ordered a probe into the incident. Overruling the stand taken by the Army against the need for a probe, Antony issued orders that the inquiry be conducted into the killing of 19-year-old Hilal Ahmad Dar in Bandipore district on Tuesday. "I have...
02:59 AM, Jul 27, 2012
New Delhi: The fate of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives sweeping powers to the armed forces will be discussed when Defence Minister AK Antony visits the Kashmir valley from Saturday to review the security situation there. Accompanied by Army chief General Bikram Singh and Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, the Defence Minister will undertake the two day-long tour of some of the forward areas in the...
01:59 AM, Jul 27, 2012
New Delhi: Terming India as world's capital for open defecation, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that 100,000 "bio-toilets" will be installed in about 300 backward gram panchayats in the next two years at a cost of Rs 150 crore. "We are the world's capital for open defecation. It is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow, anger," Ramesh said, noting over 60 percent of all open...
01:22 AM, Jul 27, 2012
New Delhi: Defence Minister AK Antony will head the reconstituted high-powered ministerial panel which will decide if price of natural gas produced by Reliance Industries from KG-D6 fields can be revised before 2014. "The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has been reconstituted. It will now be headed by Defence Minister," a top Oil Ministry official said. The reconstitution of EGoM was necessitated as its previous head Pranab Mukherjee resigned as...
01:02 AM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry on Monday cleared a proposal worth over Rs 12,000 crore to procure 56 transport aircraft for the Air Force to replace its fleet of vintage Avro planes. In a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister AK Antony, the IAF proposal to issue a global tender for procuring these aircraft was cleared, Defence Ministry sources said. The first 16 aircraft will...
02:41 AM, Jul 24, 2012
Mumbai: Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday asserted that the land in the city on which the controversial Adarsh Society stands belongs to the Defence Ministry. He said that contrary to the Maharashtra government's contention that the land belonged to the state, it was actually in the possession of the Defence Ministry. "There is our possession on the land and we have conveyed this to the commission," Mr Antony told...
09:54 AM, Jul 22, 2012
Mumbai: Indigenously built stealth warship INS Sahyadri was on Saturday commissioned in the Indian Navy, adding firepower to its anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The frigate, last in the series of stealth warships after INS Shivalik and INS Satpura, was commissioned by Defence Minister AK Antony at the Naval dockyard here in presence of Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and senior Naval officials. INS Sahyadri is the last warship of Project-17 undertaken...
06:14 PM, Jul 21, 2012
Mumbai: Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday differed with former Army chief general Deepak Kapoor's deposition before the Adarsh Commission that the high rise was not a security threat. "The Defence Ministry and the Army are very categorical and very clear. It (Adarsh) is our possession, our land. It is a security threat, that we have already conveyed to the court," Antony told reporters on board stealth warship INS Sahyadri,...
05:46 PM, Jul 21, 2012
Mumbai: Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday said all members of the Union Cabinet are equal, comments that come in the midst of a stand off between NCP and Congress on issues including the Number 2 slot to Sharad Pawar. "There is no senior and junior cabinet minister. All are equal," the Defence Minister said during an interaction with reporters on board the Navy's latest stealth warship INS Sahyadri, which...
05:23 PM, Jul 21, 2012
New Delhi: Even as the Indian Air Force continues to debate the seriousness of the leak of its weapons procurement programme, the Defence Ministry on Saturday said it had ordered a CBI probe into the matter. "We have referred it to the CBI... The CBI is enquiring the whole thing," said Defence Minister AK Antony. He added, "We are very serious about it." The top brass of the Indian Air...
02:32 PM, Jul 21, 2012
New Delhi: With the induction of the stealth frigate INS Sahyadri in Mumbai on Saturday, the Indian Navy will add teeth to its surface combatants' fleet, apart from the country showcasing its advances in indigenously designing warships. INS Sahyadri is the third and the last of the Project-17 warships being built at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) with help from the Indian Navy's internal design bureau. "Defence Minister AK Antony...
03:24 PM, Jul 20, 2012
New Delhi: In more 'ally headache' for the UPA, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel are reportedly considering resigning for not being given due credit for their work and seniority. The two have also said they will not be attending office on Friday. In fact, for a second time on Thursday, Pawar and Patel skipped the Cabinet meeting despite...
07:16 AM, Jul 20, 2012
