On February 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of India made a landmark verdict on civil suit ‘The Secretary, Ministry of Defence versus Babita Punia and Others’ (civil appeals nos. 9367-9369 of 2011 read along with nos. 1127-1128 of 2013 and no. 1210 of 2020) by allowing permanent commission status to women officers in the Indian armed forces and making them eligible for command positions (which enables them now to perform all types of military roles – full combat, combat support and services). The government has been granted a three-month period to implement the ruling.

There are three characters to this story. One is Vikram, the other is Vetal (the Revenant) and the third is ISRO. Vetal is a mythological character that is associated with the evil spirit. As per the original story, it is Vikram who tries to capture the Vetal who in turn tells a story to Vikram that ends with a riddle. However, in this story, the onus is on ISRO to give the correct answer to the riddle, which is about the status of Vikram on the surface of the moon. Here Vetal is the fear of ISRO to accept failures upfront.

As Sri Lanka is gearing towards the eighth presidential elections on November 16, national security, foreign policy and foreign investments in infrastructure projects and minority issues are once again dominating the political discourse in the country. Although a record 35 candidates have registered for this election, the electoral debate has been mostly dominated by the UNP candidate, Sajith Premadasa, and SLPP candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR). The JVP and the NPM could be closer to these two parties.

For many years, India has been trying to successfully develop its own satellite navigational system. Despite having all satellites required for this system in place, owing to the lack of user interface, it still remains unusable for the common users. However, it now finally appears that there are some possibilities that within the coming six months Indian users could have the smartphone-based facility available for using the ‘made in India GPS’.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is today recognized as one of the pioneer space research organisations of the world. On 07 September 2019, space enthusiasts from all over the world keenly watched the landing process of ISRO’s lander Vikram on the Moon’s surface. Everyone was praying for a perfect soft-landing. It was expected that (some hours after the landing) the rover Pragyan would come out and march on the Moon’s surface for the next 14 days and gather important observations. However, the lander was not able to perform a smooth landing and the mission went amiss.

Technology has come to play a vital role in a nation’s defence system. The armed forces have a mutual connection with technology. Many technologies that are routinely used in civilian life, like the Internet or the global positioning system (GPS), actually have a link to or are derived from, military innovations. In the case of Artificial intelligence (AI), the research and development (R&D) in civilian and military domains started almost simultaneously.

India’s story of growth is directly related to the development of technology. If Modi 2.0 is keen to find long-term solutions to ensure growth, then it has no option than to make investments in technologies. One important area of technology where much is expected from Mr Modi is the outer space. He has raised much expectation since his first term as he took a keen interest in the activities of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Despite a strained relationship with the neighboring  ‘Stan’ (Persian for "land, place or "country")  i.e. Pakistan for the last few years, India has been gradually bringing other ‘Stans’ into its foreign policy fold. Kosh Kelingiz ! (Welcome!).

Indian aerospace industrial capabilities have thus far been dominated by a giant conglomerate – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) – that have evolved through decades.  HAL’s predecessor Walchand Hirachand Industries Limited was a privately owned aircraft manufacturing entity engaged primarily in repair and overhauling of British and Allied air assets, before being taken over by the government in the 1940s.

Three primary reasons propel this unease calm: a) cross-border firing or shelling along the border with search and combings by the Indian security forces within J&K continue, which can lead to unpleasant situation, if ill-managed by either state; b) although planned strikes – air, land or naval – from either side  seem to have taken a break (it may be noted that both sides appear to have their main and contingency plans ready and are in high alert), another misadventure from non-state terror groups cannot be ruled out leading to bigger employment of military assets and resources for lar