THE SPOKESPERSON

 In a bid to modernise and upgrade its capabilities, the Indian Army is seeking to acquire jetpack suits and robotic mules through fast-track procedures for emergency procurements under the Buy Indian category. The Army has floated Request for Proposal (RFP) for 48 jetpacks with modern propulsion system including Turbine engines, Electric and Hybrid systems. Jet Pack suit is a turbine based individual mobility platform, which can lift a man safely across varied terrain. The suit must provide controls for safe ascent, safe descent, take off and landing and movement in all directions, the Army said in the RFP document. Further, the maximum speed of the jetpack should be over 50 Kmph and its payload carrying capacity should not be less than 80 kg, the Army said. "The equipment should be capable to operate satisfactory in plan, mountain desert & high altitude areas upto an altitude of 3000m," it said. The Jetpack suit, as per the RFP document, should be "capable o...

  India celebrates its Republic Day on January 26 each year. The 74th Republic Day will be observed this year on Thursday by the people of the nation, which will a be a lot similar but a lot different too.  This will be the first Republic Day for President Draupadi Murmu who will unfurl the tricolour on the recently inaugurated Kartavaya Path, to kick off the festivities. Millions of Indians watch on television each year the rich tradition, cultural heritage, spectacle of the country's progress and accomplishments, and airshows by the  Indian Army ,  Indian Navy , and Indian  Air Force . In addition, the public is welcome to attend events, such as the Republic Day Parade rehearsal, the parade, and the Beating the Retreat ceremony, on Kartavaya Path. The history of Republic Day On January 26, 1950, the Indian Constitution was formally adopted, and that event is commemorated on Republic Day. India was freed from the British Raj i...

 Leaders of the European Union's two biggest economies, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, will visit India in the first quarter of 2023. While the German chancellor is expected to be in Delhi in February, the French President will be in the Indian national capital in March.  The bilateral visits will be in addition to visits in September to participate in the G20 summit in Delhi.Talks are underway to firm up the key outcomes from the visit, even as the focus has been to increase economic engagement, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Remember, both France & Germany have issued policy statements on the Indo-Pacific in which ties with India have been key.  Ahead of the French President's visit, likely to take place in March, his diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne was in Delhi on Thursday. He took part in the 36th Indo-French strategic dialogue with India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, met EAM Dr S Jaishankar and cal...

  The developers are claiming that the BharOS has been designed to provide a more secure experience to users. Here are five things that one should know about India’s very own operating system. An IIT Madras (IIT Madras)-incubated firm has developed a mobile operating system with the help of JandK Operations Private Limited to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India “Atmanirbhar.”  The developers have named it 'BharOS,’ and announced that this OS can benefit the country's 100 crore mobile phone users. This software can be installed on commercial off-the-shelf handsets. The developers are claiming that the OS has been designed to provide a more secure experience to users. Here are five things that one should know about India’s very own operating system. BharOS is a mobile operating system, which the developers explain is focused on “providing users more freedom, control, and flexibility to choose and use only the apps that fit their needs. This innovat...

As Doval turns 78 today, here's a look at his three substantial operations, which earned him the title of country's James Bond. 1999 Hijack Of Indian Airlines IC 814 In 1999, an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Delhi, India, was hijacked by five masked terrorists and was forced to land in Afghanistan's Kandahar. During that time, the Indian government sent a team of negotiators, one of them was Doval, who was then serving as Home Ministry official. He played a crucial role in the crisis and persuaded the hijackers to release the passengers in exchange for three terrorists who were imprisoned in India.However, Doval described the incident as a "diplomatic failure" of the Indian government in their inability to make the US and the UAE use their influence to help secure a quick release of the passengers. Doval also claimed that India could have resolved the crisis if the hijackers did not have Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),...

  Zafar Sahito, the founder and Chief Organiser of Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement, who is in exile in the United States, has been engaged in a relentless fight for the cause of a free Sindhudesh. What is the present situation of Sindh region of Pakistan A: Occupied Sindh since creation of unnatural theocratic state of Punjab-dominated Pakistan has suffered a lot already because of the exploitation of resources of Sindh and now presently as Pakistan is going through an economic and political crisis the Sindhi nation is facing severe poverty & suppression also after recent engineered floods in Sindh have devastated people. The people of Sindh are forced to live under open skies without food & medicine while the federal government and military establishment is taking millions of dollars from the world in name of flood relief. Q: How’s your movement Jeay Sindh freedom movement doing? A: In the last few years and decades, Pakistan & Pakistani intelligence agencies have...

  The War in Ukraine has brought into focus long range artillery rocket systems which can cause heavy destruction to the enemy interdicting targets in depth. The United States supply of HIMARS to Ukraine employed effectively has led to a comparison with systems available to the Indian Army - the Pinaka HIMARS HIMARS has become a popular name for the military analysts following the war in Ukraine. HIMARS stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems 16 of which have been provided to Ukraine by the United States. The system is known as M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. As per Popular mechanics , the HIMARS consists of a medium-sized tactical truck that can carry up to six 227-millimeter GPS-guided rockets and launch them a distance in excess of 43 miles [69 kms]. The rocket is known as the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), of thirteen-foot length. The high explosive content of the rocket is said to be 200-pound and also has 160,000 pr...