On 19.05.2022 around 10.30 to 11 PM in night land slide and shooting of stones started while  the execution of portal support installation work of adit at Khooni Nallah was also being done. Before workers could be moved out, suddenly huge rock mass fell above the false steel portal erected for construction of adit which caved in leading to trapping of 12 workers at that spot. Senior NHAI officers immediately reached the site and rescue work was immediately started by SDRF, NDRF, J&K Police.

Two workers are rescued immediately and were hospitalized; and all possible medical Aid is being extended to them. The rescue work was hampered by intermittent shooting stones and bad weather. The trapped workers did not survive and bodies of   10 trapped workers was recovered by last evening.  Those whose life could not be saved are being given Workman compensation and additional ex-gratia of Rs 2.00 lakh by EPC contractor which amounts to at least Rs 15 lakh. The injured are also being adequately compensated. In addition, the UT administration has also announced ex- gratia relief of Rs 1.0 lakh. It is yet to be determined whether the occurrence of the incidence is due to work being executed or due to natural reasons.

A Committee of 3  independent Eminent Experts has been constituted by Central Govt which has already moved to site to investigate the reasons for Slide/Collapse and remedial measures thereof. Further action will be taken based on report of Committee. NHAI has already initiated process to handle such emergency situation and also taking all possible measures to avoid such mishappening in future.

The post Committee of expert to look into the incident at Khooni Nallah appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

PM delivered a keynote address at a ‘Webinar on Budget Announcements 2021-22: Galvanising Efforts for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ on effective implementation of the Union Budget provisions in the defence sector in New Delhi . The Prime Minister said, the webinar assumes great significance as it is focusing on the important issue of making the country’s defence sector self-reliant.

The Prime Minister said that his government has relied on the capabilities of our engineers and scientists on developing the Tejas fighter aircraft and today Tejas is flying gracefully in the skies. A few weeks back, an order worth Rs. 48,000 crore was placed for Tejas.

The Prime Minister added that India has made a list of 101 important items related to defence, which can be manufactured indigenously with the help of our local industries. He said, a timeline has been set so that the domestic industry can plan to meet these requirements.

The Prime Minister said it is called a negative list in the official language but it is a positive list in the language of self-reliance. This is the positive list on which the country’s manufacturing capacity is going to increase, that will generate employment and will reduce India’s dependence on foreign countries for our defence needs.

In his opening remarks, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh hailed Union Budget as a healthy mix of promise, potential and progress. He stressed that forward-looking agenda of the Budget will provide support to the defence and security of the country.

Shri Rajnath Singh said, “The Budget focuses on accelerating economic growth and creating job opportunities to reverse the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ at the core.”

The Raksha Mantri stated that the vision of self-reliant India of the Government defined the approach towards the defence sector in this year’s Budget. The Defence Budget has seen an unprecedented increase of 18.75 per cent in capital outlay over and above last financial year (FY) and 30 per cent the year before, which is the highest in the last one and a half decade.

Shri Rajnath Singh termed threat perceptions, aspirations, capacity & capability development initiatives and technological advancements as major factors that drive procurement decisions in defence. He underlined the close cooperation between the Armed Forces and manufacturers to reduce the gap between the aspirations of the Armed Forces and actual delivery by the manufacturers.

The Raksha Mantri stated that ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ is the only mantra to stay abreast with latest technological advancements and remain frugal at the same time. Emphasising that the defence industry can only thrive by going global, he said, the Government is actively promoting not only domestic manufacturing but also an export-oriented defence industry.

“The most important factor that is going to drive the domestic industry is ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’,” Raksha Mantri underlined, saying that the Government is willing to deal with higher initial costs to build the defence industry for the future. He added that the focus of the Government is on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ to encourage foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to set up manufacturing units in India, develop Joint Ventures with domestic defence sector.

Shri Rajnath Singh listed out number of initiatives taken by the Government to promote domestic defence manufacturing. He shed light on the plans to spend $130 billion on military modernisation in the next five years, mentioning about the recent order of 83 indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft MK 1A, Tejas, worth Rs 48,000 crore, awarded to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) during the recently held Aero India 2021. He added that the contract for indigenously designed Light Combat Helicopter is likely to be signed soon.

The post Ease of Doing Business in defence sector, says Modi appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

BrahMos is the supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by DRDO and NPOM of Russia as a Brahmos Aerospace joint venture, which became Brahmos Aerospace Private Limited. The missile has established itself as a major force multiplier in modern-day complex battlefields with its impeccable anti-ship and land-attack capabilities with multi-role and multi-platform abilities and has been deployed in all the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces.

The first launch of Brahmos took place in 2001 and till date numerous launches have taken place from various ships, Mobile Autonomous Launchers and Su-30 MKI aircraft, making it a versatile weapon.

Secretary DDR&D & Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated Indian Navy for the successful test.

The post Successful Test Firing of BrahMos by Indian Navy appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

Indian Navy (IN) Ships including indigenously built ASW corvette Kamorta and missile corvette Karmuk participated in the 2^nd edition of India, Singapore and Thailand Trilateral Maritime Exercise SITMEX-20, from 21 to 22 November 20 in Andaman Sea.

The first edition of SITMEX, hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019. The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices between IN, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN). The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN.

RSN is being represented by the ‘Formidable’ Class frigate ‘Intrepid’ and ‘Endurance’ Class Landing Ship Tank ‘Endeavour’ and  RTN by the ‘Chao Phraya’ Class frigate ‘Kraburi’ in the exercise.

The exercise conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic, highlights growing synergy, coordination and cooperation in the maritime domain between the three friendly navies and maritime neighbours. The two days of maritime drills will witness the three navies participate in a variety of exercises including naval manoeuvres, surface warfare exercises and weapon firings.

Besides improving inter-operability between the friendly navies, SITMEX series of exercise also aim to strengthen mutual confidence and develop common understanding and procedures towards enhancing the overall maritime security in the region.

for Phase-II, Indian and the U.S. deployed aircraft carrier groups INS Vikramaditya and USS Nimitz respectively and P-8 long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for Anti-Submarine Warfare drills. The two aircraft carriers, along with other ships, submarine and aircraft of the participating navies, engaged in high intensity naval operations, including cross-deck flying operations and advanced air defence exercises by MiG-29K fighters of INS Vikramaditya andF/A-18 fighters and E2C Hawkeye aircraft from USS Nimitz, the Navy said.

The post MARITIME EXERCISE IN ANDAMAN SEA appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The Radars acquired the target from a long range and tracked it till the mission computer automatically launched the missile. Continuous guidance was provided through Radar data link. Missile entered the terminal active homing guidance and reached the target close enough for proximity operation of warhead activation.

The flight test was conducted in the deployment configuration of the weapon system comprising of Launcher, fully Automated Command and Control System, Surveillance System and Multi Function Radars. The QRSAM weapon system, which can operate on the move, consists of all indigenously developed subsystems. All objectives of the test were fully met. The launch was carried out in the presence of the users from Indian Army.

A number of range instruments like Radar, Telemetry and Electro Optical Sensors were deployed which captured the complete flight data and verified the performance of the missile.

Teams from ARDE and R&DE(E) from Pune, LRDE Bengaluru, and IRDE Dehradun in addition to the Missile Complex Laboratories from Hyderabad and Balasore participated in the test.

The first in the series test of QRSAM took place on 13th Nov 2020 achieving the milestone of a direct hit. Second test proved the performance parameters of warhead.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO scientists on the successful flight test of QRSAM. Secretary DDR&D & Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated all the teams who worked on the QRSAM project, on the second continuous successful flight test.

The post Successful Flight Test of QRSAM System appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

Dr. Mark T. Esper, Hon’ble Secretary of Defence of the United States of America is visiting India for the 2+2 Ministerial Meeting.  Today Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri had a bilateral meeting with him in South Block, New Delhi. The two ministers reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning military to military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues and also discussed ways to take bilateral cooperation forward.

Both the Ministers expressed satisfaction at the close engagements between the respective Armed Forces. They discussed potential new areas of cooperation, both at Service to Service level and at the joint level. They called for continuation of existing defence dialogue mechanisms during the pandemic, at all levels, particularly the Military Cooperation Group (MCG). They also discussed requirements of expanding deployments of liaison officers.

The two ministers expressed satisfaction that agreement of BECA will be signed during the visit.  US Secretary of Defence welcomed Australia’s participation in the exercise MALABAR 2020.

Hon’ble Raksha Mantri elaborated upon the initiatives under the ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT to encourage investments in the defence industry in India and invited US companies to make avail of the liberalized policies and the favorable Defence Industry ecosystem in India

India will gain access to precision data and topographical images – on a real time basis – from United States military satellites under an agreement to be signed during the ongoing visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper.

The agreement to share this data – BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) – is the third and final “foundational” understanding the US has with close international partners. The two countries have already signed agreements to exchange military logistics and enable secure communications.

In a statement released on Monday the government said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart, Mr Esper, expressed satisfaction that BECA would be signed during this visit and also at the close engagements between the armed forces of the two countries.

They also reviewed bilateral defence spanning military-to-military cooperation, secure communications systems and information sharing, and also discussed potential new areas of cooperation.

Rajnath Singh said the talks would add “new vigour” to India-US defence relations and cooperation

The post Bilateral delegation level meeting with US appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

To encourage more participation of Indian industry, including Start-ups and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Defence Research & Development (R&D) for achieving ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh released a new version of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Procurement Manual 2020 (PM-2020) here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajnath Singh said, “The new DRDO Procurement Manual will facilitate the indigenous Defence Industry by simplifying the processes and ensure their participation in design and development activities. The PM-2020 will help towards realising Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.” He appreciated the contribution of all the officials of DRDO and Finance wing in the Ministry of Defence for their contribution in bringing out the revised PM-2020.

The PM-2020, will facilitate faster execution of R&D projects/programmes. The modified features the Manual will go a long way to facilitate participation of industry in various R&D projects.

Bid security declaration option for earnest money deposit, increase of threshold limit for advance payment, placement of order on lowest bidder 2 (L2) in case L1 backs out are some of the salient features of the new manual, which will assist the industry for the speedy execution of projects.

Some more enabling measures of PM-2020 are exemption of bid security and performance security up to Rs 10 lakh, no negotiations for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items/services wherever price discovery is happening through market forces.

Performance security for service contracts is linked to the payment cycle instead of total contract value. Procurement of stores from development partners, safeguarding of free issue material through insurance cover instead of bank guarantee (BG) are other facilitating measures adopted to help the industry.

In the new PM-2020, the liquidated damage (LD) rate for development contracts has been reduced. The delivery period (DP) extension process has been simplified for faster decision making. Many of the internal procedures have been further simplified for faster engagement with industry. It may be noted that the previous Procurement Manual of DRDO was last modified in 2016.

Those present on the occasion included Secretary Department of Defence Research & Development and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary (Defence Finance) SmtGargi Kauland other senior officials of Ministry of Defence.

The post DRDO Procurement Manual 2020 appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.