In Nov 1997, the Indian Navy had entered into a contract to acquire Two Kilo-class 877 EKM submarines, with the Russian federation. The first of the two, INS Sindhurakshak was to be delivered within four months and the second, INS Sindhushastra was to be delivered in 30 months with a capability to launch and equipped with Klub 3M-54 anti-ship...
Firecrackers invented by India or China?
The recent firecracker ban during the festival of Diwali by many states has brought out an unlikely debate over the origin of gun powder....
INS Vagir launched, Indian submarine building capacity lies idle
INS Vagir, the fifth of Scorpene-class submarine, was launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) on 12 November 2020. Constructed under Project 75 submarine...
Indian Twitterati mocks PM Modi ‘Howdy Modi’ after Trumps defeat
The US election 2020 was widely followed by the Indian's and the results have enthused the liberal patriots and a blow to the right-wing...
Making sense of Naval lexicon
All over the world, naval personnel have been and are found attractive to the fairer sex, (No wonder there is an adage that a...
Voyages as a naval cadet along Indian coasts and A&N Islands
I graduated from the National Defence Academy (NDA) in December of 1971. The war for the liberation of Bangladesh (East Pakistan) was on at...
The rise of Uddhav Thackeray
It started with the usual acrimony just before the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. The Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) perenially junior partner the Shiv...
Will Nitish Kumar survive the Bihar Assembly Election 2020?
The emerging theme of Bihar Assembly Election 2020 appears to be defeat Nitish Kumar at all cost. Nitish is the current Chief Minister of...
The silence of the Liberal Indian Strategic Coterie on American Imperialism
Against China, India’s liberal strategic and diplomatic fraternity support the US, whose flippant wars and unilateralism actually qualify as “thuggish” and “destabilising” more than...
How PM Modi’s Communalism & Imperial Hangover Defeats his Own Act East & Neighbourhood First Outreaches
A series of fall outs with all India’s smaller neighbours have characterised the diplomatic scenario under PM Narendra Modi. Institutionalised condescending diplomacy from Congress...
Tanishq ad on interfaith love will be remembered for a long time
Tanishq ad on interfaith love controversy (one of the ads from the Tanishq's Ekavatam campaign) should not come as a surprise to us Indians...
RK Laxman may not have agreed with George Orwell on satire says Dr R Chidambaram
The year 2020 is the birth century of one of the most popular Indian cartoonist and illustrator RK Laxman. Speaking in the 'Laxman Legacy'...
Life in the USSR
As a child, I was subject to a lot of talk about the Soviet Union from my father, a great scholar and an erudite...
Masking the World
Wearing a mask by common people has become mandatory during the current viral infection causing COVID-19. This is the first time in the history...
Xi Jinping and China emerge as the International baddies
Chinese President Xi Jinping is playing a catch up with the US President Donald Trump to feature among leaders who are negatively viewed worldwide....
India’s Act East Kilo Class diplomacy
The transfer of INS Sindhuvir, a Kilo Class submarine which was commissioned in the Indian Navy in 1987, to the Myanmar Navy is a...
Can India rise as a superpower amid rivalry with Pakistan and China?
On 21 SEPTEMBER 2011, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was en route to the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly...
Iran to link Chabahar and Gwadar ports via rail, another setback for India
Iran has plans to link Chabahar and Gwadar ports as it feels that linking the two will strengthen bilateral trade and bring prosperity in...
Amnesty International India halts but did it protect human rights?
Amnesty International India, the Indian chapter of the London based Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Amnesty International, has announced halting of its work in India citing...
Ram Madhav’s removal as BJP General Secretary involves China – Tibet factor?
Ram Madhav, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) key troubleshooter has been unceremoniously removed from the post of BJP's...
PM Modi’s Foreign policy failures begin to cost India dearly
As the former Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi stormed into the Prime Minister's office with promises of a radical change which also involved better...
Corona Pandemic – 6 months down the memory lane
On March 22, the Prime Minister addressed the nation, announced the lockdown and laid down the social distancing norms due to Corona Pandemic. A...
A Women of Empowerment – Shivani Sharma Singh
Women have made great strides but are still considered to be a weaker gender. She has to still fight against all the prejudices, stereotypes,...
The key to India China border face off in Ladakh lies off Dondra Head
The tension at Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has been simmering in East Ladakh since May this year, is an attempt by the...
The Fear of Fever
Fever is a prominent feature of the disease since antiquity and even considered as a mighty health engine. Fever is one of the oldest...
Make in India – An Appraisal and the Way Forward in Defence Sector
Soon after Prime Minister Modi took over the reins of the Government of India in May 2014, he announced from the ramparts of the...
COVID-19 lockdown: India’s poor are the hardest hit
Why not collect statistics of loss of jobs, starvation, domestic violence, mental depression, resultant deaths from slum dwellers and compare with these with statistics...
Immunotherapy by Nature vs Vaccine
It is true that natural infection almost always causes better immunity than vaccines. Whereas immunity from the disease often follows a single natural infection,...
Commissioning of INS Rajali
My association with naval airfields on the East Coast started in 1981 when I was commanding INS Katchall. One day, when my ship was...
Covid 19 – An Epidemic or Pandemic or Mindemic
The whole world is grappling with novel coronavirus since the beginning of this year, though India started reacting only by mid March 2020. Well...
COVID 19 is a Flu Like Illness
Only a handful of COVID positive people among 10000 RT PCR positive have respiratory distress. Is it not confusing for a test which correlates...