Tuesday, 07 February 2012 14:02
By Ajai Shukla  The Rafale does not meet India's requirement for a light fighter. It is time to commit the money, manpower and planning resources needed for making the Tejas (pictured here) a successby Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 7th Feb 12Kudos to the government for selecting a fighter aircraft for a depleted Indian Air Force, which currently fields barely 34 fighter squadrons (21 aircraft per squadron) against an assessed requirement of 45. While zeroing in on the French Rafale, New Delhi has said “no thanks” to arms supply heavyweights whose political and technological clout often bludgeons procurement decisions in their favour. This was helped, admittedly, by India’s ability to soothe the losers with alternative largesse --- Washington with contracts for transport and maritime aircraft; Moscow with deals for helicopters, fighters and warships; London with trainer jets; and Stockholm with the hope of mammoth deals for artillery guns and conventional submarines.
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 05:56
CAIRO: A second day of clashes with Egyptian police left two protesters dead in Cairo on Friday as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.
Marchers took to the streets across the country to demand that the generals cede power immediately after a night of demonstrations in major cities left at least two more people dead elsewhere in Egypt.
In a sign of the growing threat the political turmoil poses to the economy, two female American tourists and their Egyptian tour guide were briefly abducted in the Sinai Peninsula, security officials said.
The two protesters in Cairo died of tear gas inhalation after being rushed to hospital unconscious from outside the interior ministry, medics said. The health ministry said 544 people were injured in Friday's clashes.
Thick clouds of tear gas blanketed the road to the ministry, where protesters faced off with police after overnight clashes injured hundreds, an AFP reporter said.
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 02:30
NEW DELHI: India's 1.3 million-strong armed forces, hobbled by outdated equipment and slow decision-making, are undergoing an overhaul as defence priorities shift to China from traditional rival Pakistan.
And like a refit of the imposing but dilapidated defence ministry on Delhi's grand South Block, it's a plodding process.
Defence chiefs are hurrying to modernise ageing weaponry as China reinforces a 3,500-km (2,200-mile) shared but disputed border through the Himalayas.
It took 11 years to select France's Rafale as the favoured candidate for a $15 billion splurge on 126 new combat jets to replace a Soviet-era fleet of MiGs dubbed "flying coffins" for their high crash rate.
At the same time, feeling encircled as China projects its fast-growing naval power from Hormuz to Malacca, India is rushing to firm up friendships the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean.
India is the world's largest arms importer with plans to spend $100 billion on weapons over the next decade.
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Friday, 03 February 2012 19:30
NEW DELHI: Army chief Gen V K Singh seems to have won the first round in the legal battle on the age row with the Supreme Court on Friday saying the manner in which his statutory complaint was rejected by the government "appears to be vitiated".
Posting the matter for hearing on February 10, the court sought to know whether the government would like to withdraw its December 30, 2011 order.
Defence minister A K Antony had issued an order on December 30 turning down the statutory complaint of Gen Singh that his date of birth be treated in Army's records as May 10, 1951 and not as May 10, 1950.
Posing questions to the government, the bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale was of the view that the defence ministry's order of July 21, 2011 holding the date of birth as May 10, 1950 was based on the opinion of attorney general and so was the case when the December 30 order was passed on the statutory complaint.
After the court asked whether the government would like to withdraw the December 30 order, attorney general G E Vahanvati said he will seek instruction from the government on the issue.
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Friday, 03 February 2012 12:30
NEW DELHI: Friday will be crucial in the ongoing stand-off between Army chief General V K Singh and the government over his age.
The Supreme Court is slated to hold preliminary hearing on his petition on Friday. The case is listed before Justices H L Gokhale and R M Lodha.
The court will decide whether to take on the petition for hearing. Gen Singh's lawyers will try to get an ex-parte stay on the government order that has said his date of birth is May 10, 1950. Gen Singh has claimed that the government order on his date of birth was "arbitrary and illegal".
The court case comes after Gen Singh's efforts to get the government to agree to his demand, that 1951 is his year of birth. In an unprecedented move, Gen Singh had filed a statutory complaint before defence minister A K Antony with his demand. Once that was rejected, the Army chief took yet another unprecedented step, that of moving the Supreme Court.
Gen Singh is slated to retire on May 31, 2012, according to the government.
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