During the recent state visit of PM Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India Prime Minister India Narendra Modi said: “A technical team will soon visit Bangladesh to discuss conservation and management of the Teesta river in Bangladesh.”

The remark triggered fresh speculation about the Teesta water sharing treaty with Bangladesh, a key bilateral agreement that has been pending between the two countries for over a decade.

After Mr. Modi’s comment, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told the media that the discussion “between the two leaders was less about water sharing per se, and more about the management of the water flows within Teesta”.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took issue with the Centre’s stand. On June 24, she wrote a letter to Mr. Modi conveying her strong reservation that no discussion on the sharing of Teesta waters should be taken up with Bangladesh without the involvement of the State. She was worried that sharing Teesta’s water would have bad effects on the people in north Bengal.

What is Teesta Dispute ?

Teesta Water dispute is a dispute on Teesta river sharing agreement between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh wanted equitable distribution of Teesta water with India on the lines of Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, but nothing materialised. This article lucidly explains the background behind Teesta Water Dispute, origin and tributaries of the river.

Senior IAS officer Sujata Saunik on Sunday( 30 June 2024) took over as Maharashtra's Chief Secretary, becoming the first woman in the state's 64-year-old history to occupy the top post.

Sujata Saunik, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, succeeds Nitin Kareer who retired as the chief secretary on Sunday.

She will have a year's tenure before retiring in June next year, an official said.

Nitin Kareer handed over the charge to Sujata Saunik at a ceremony held at Mantralaya, the state secretariat in south Mumbai Monday evening.

SEBEX 2, an all-new explosive said to be two times more lethal than standard Trinitrotoluene (TNT), has been certified by the Indian Navy. Touted to be among the world's most powerful non-nuclear explosives,

• SEBEX 2 is aimed at revolutionising artillery shells and warheads by further enhancing their destructive power without adding extra weight to them, reports said.
• The new formulation of SEBEX 2 was rigorously tested under the Defence Export Promotion Scheme of the Navy.
• A total of three new explosive formulations have been developed by Economic Explosives Ltd, a subsidiary of the Nagpur-based Solar Industries.

The Indian Army has announced that the 16th edition of the Joint Military Exercise ‘Nomadic Elephant’ with the Mongolian Army will take place in Umroi, Meghalaya, from 3 to 16 July.

The Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Indian Army’s MoD stated that the exercise in Meghalaya is designed to improve interoperability between the two armies during semi-conventional operations in semi-urban and mountainous terrains.

Earlier this year, the 12th Joint Working Group meeting of the Defence Ministries of both nations was held in Ulaanbaatar on May 16-17 this year.

The meeting reviewed the progress of various defence cooperation initiatives and explored ways to further strengthen the partnership.

The Indian Ambassador to Mongolia, Atul Malhari Gotsurve, was present at the meeting, where both parties expressed contentment with the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries.

Nomadic Elephant’ Exercise 2024

Nomadic Elephant’ is an annual bilateral training event conducted alternately in Mongolia and India. The previous, 15th edition was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as per the Ministry of Defence. It was conducted with the participation of the Mongolian Armed Forces Unit 084 and the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment of the Indian Army in 2023.

Air India will set up South Asia’s largest Flying Training Organisation (FTO) at Amravati in the Vidarbha area. This FTO will strengthen the available pilot training capacity in India.

• The Amravati airport runway was recently expanded by the state-owned Maharashtra Airport Development Company.
• The flying school will be operational by mid 2026 and 180 commercial pilots will pass out every year.
• The FTO, the first by any Indian airline in the country, will have 31 single-engine and 3 twin-engine aircraft for training.
• Air India was awarded a tender by the MADC to establish and operate this DGCA-licensed FTO for a period of 30 years.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have named Dinesh Karthik as the batting coach and batting mentor of their men's team.

Karthik, 39, was part of the RCB squad until IPL 2024 before retiring from all forms of representative cricket at the end of the season.

The wicketkeeper-batter was picked by the RCB franchise at the IPL 2022 mega auction and stayed with them for three seasons.

He also had a stint with them in 2015 for one season.

South Korea Military reported that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles over the sea off its east coast, said South Korea’s military, after the North vowed to take countermeasures against a joint military exercise held by South Korea, the United States and Japan.  

One short-range ballistic missile was launched from the Jangyon area in South Hwanghae Province at about 5:05 a.m. in a northeastern direction, said the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS.

Another unidentified ballistic missile was launched at around 5:15 a.m, it added, without providing further details.  

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan wrapped up their first, three-day trilateral multi-domain military exercise, codenamed “Freedom Edge,” aimed at strengthening their deterrence against North Korean threats.

The three countries have staged combined maritime and aerial exercises before, but Freedom Edge was the first trilateral exercise held across multiple domains, including air, maritime, underwater and cyber.

Indian army has inducted the first-ever indigenous chip-based 4G mobile base station, which it procured from Bangalore-based firm Signaltron through the government e-marketplace portal, a top company official said.

Signaltron founder Himamshu Khasnis told that the chip used in the Sahyadri LTE base stations has been developed by Signalchip.

Earlier in 2010, Khasnis and his team founded a fabless semiconductor company Signalchip to make chips for 4G and 5G networks.

About Signaltron

Union minister of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), Shri Bhupender Yadav said that India has become the first country in the world to prepare a checklist of its entire fauna, covering 104,561 species, positioning itself as a global leader in biodiversity documentation.

Shri Yadav launched the Fauna of India Checklist Portal on the occasion of 109th Foundation Day of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in Kolkata.

The Fauna of India Checklist Portal

The Fauna of India Checklist Portal is the first comprehensive document on the faunal species reported from India. He said, the faunal checklist will be an invaluable reference for taxonomists, researchers, academicians, conservation managers, and policymakers. It comprises 121 checklists of all known taxa covering 36 phyla. Endemic, threatened, and scheduled species have also been included in the list.

Tata Group is India’s most-valuable brand for the 15th consecutive year, with an impressive 9% growth over 2023, new rankings by Brand Finance showed.

• Brand value of  Tata Group is $28.6 billion, 
• This is the first time an Indian brand has come close to the $30-billion brand value benchmark, according to the report.
• Brand value is the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market, as per Brand Finance.

The Indian Army contingent departed for the 13th edition of India- Thailand joint military Exercise MAITREE. The exercise is scheduled to be conducted from 1st to15th July 2024 at Fort Vachiraprakan in Tak Province of Thailand.

The Indian Army contingent comprising 76 personnel is being represented mainly by a Battalion of the LADAKH SCOUTS along with personnel from other arms and services.

The Royal Thailand Army contingent also comprises 76 personnel mainly from 1st Battalion, 14 Infantry Regiment of 4 Division.

Aim of Exercise MAITREE is to foster Military Cooperation between India and Thailand. The Exercise will enhance combined capabilities in executing Joint Counter Insurgency/ Terrorist Operations in Jungle and Urban Environment under Chapter VII of United Nations Charter.

The Exercise will focus on high degree of physical fitness, joint planning and joint tactical drills.