India will continue to face terrorism, internal security challenges: Army Chief
Gurugram (PTI): Army chief Gen Manoj Pande on Tuesday said India will continue to face terrorism and internal security challenges in the future and the security forces of the country will "unitedly" tackle them.
He was speaking after inaugurating the All India Police Commando Competition organised by the federal contingency force National Security Guard (NSG) at its garrison in Manesar here.
Gen Pande said the new-age technology has enabled the enemy to perpetrate its activities using drones, internet, cyberspace and social media.
"You all know that terrorism and internal security situation is affecting our country in different ways. We are facing these challenges unitedly. Due to this, the (security) situation is improving in various states.
"These challenges will continue in the future too. Some of these challenges will be there for a long time, some will be present indirectly while some will remain secretly", he said.
Gen Pande said the "possibility" of terrorist attacks taking place in the country cannot be ignored as he praised intelligence and security forces for foiling and thwarting a number of such designs and networks.
He praised the NSG, a federal counter-terrorist force, for developing special skills in bomb detection and disposal, sniping, countering drones as well as effectively coordinating with other security agencies.
A total of 24 teams from various Central Armed Police Forces and state police organisations are participating in the competition that ends on March 31.
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Centre plans to relax satcom security norms amid growing Musk-India ties: Report
New Delhi: The government is reportedly considering to relax security conditions for giving satellite communication licenses which number between 30 and 40, making it more likely for Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos' Amazon Kuiper to offer satcom services in India.
This comes amid signs of increasing cooperation between Musk and the Indian government with Musk's SpaceX recently launching the GSAT-20, the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) communications satellite, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US, as reported by the Economic Times on Monday.
"The idea is to make the conditions more relevant with changing technology, as global constellations offer services across the world," an official told the publication. However, it was not immediately clear which specific conditions could be relaxed.
The government is soon expected to call a meeting with satcom players who have either applied or got a GMPCS licence, the report added.
Currently, Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat Oneweb and Reliance Jio's joint venture with Luxembourg-based satellite provider SES have got approval to offer satcom services in India.
Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia last month mentioned that Starlink was in the process of applying for security clearances. "They have to comply with all the rules to get the licence. You have to look at it from a security perspective too. We are more than happy to grant a license as long as they comply with all the conditions," the minister said.
A few months ago, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked both Starlink and Amazon Kuiper to meet security-related conditions so their applications could be processed further. However, they are yet to respond to DoT on the matter.
