Climate change impacts military operations and systems, factored in planning missions and future acquisitions: MoD

From snow to sea: How climate change impacts India’s military operations

Climate change impacts military operations and systems, factored in planning missions and future acquisitions: MoD.

Climate change reshapes military strategy.

Global warming and climatic change has an impact on military operations and defence systems, besides being factored into the planning for future acquisitions, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Parliament on Monday.

“The climate change does pose challenges to platforms and personnel operating in rough or hostile weather conditions. Accordingly, during the mission planning stage, a detailed analysis of weather conditions likely to be encountered, is undertaken to deduce its effect on ships, aircraft, submarines and personnel exposed to the weather conditions,” Minister of State for Defence, Sanjay Seth said in the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by Dr Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade.

“The analysis of meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic conditions prevalent in our area of operations form an essential part of every mission planning, at the strategic, operational and tactical levels,” he added.

The planned induction of platforms takes into account the necessity for the platforms and its weapons, sensors, equipment and systems, to perform at the desired operational efficiency, during adverse weather conditions. Moreover, the men are imparted adequate training and suitably equipped to operate in all weather conditions.

Defence experts point out that impact of global warming is also leading to lower snow cover in the mountains and usability of terrain, which has implications for deployments and movements of troops and vehicles as well as availability of land routes for ingress and egress and the duration they are closed during winters. This is relevant for sectors like the Line of Control with Pakistan and Line of Actual Control with China which have historically seen heavy snow cover.

According to MoD, the effect of climate change has also led to increased occurrence of natural calamities and disasters. Towards undertaking Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions, the Indian Navy is progressively inducting suitable platforms, which can be utilised for HADR roles like hospital ship, landing platform docks, long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft as well as unmanned aerial systems for surveillance and helicopters for search and rescue operations.

“Towards optimum resource allocation, all HADR missions are well coordinated with all relevant national agencies and stakeholders, in order to be the ‘first responder’ in India and the Indian Ocean Region, including rendering assistance to friendly foreign countries,” the minister said.

The Indian Navy’s Maritime Capability Perspective Plan for development of force levels is tailored to meet emerging challenges including climate change. Additionally, naval infrastructure and personnel welfare with respect to climate change is also addressed by the Navy.

A Coordination and Monitoring Committee on Climate Change meets periodically to discuss, monitor and oversee the issues related to climate change and global warming in the Navy’s context. The implications of Global Mean Sea Level Rise on the Indian Ocean Region nations and the Navy’s operational domain form the primary focus of discussions.

Vulnerability of Naval Infrastructure especially at Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also on the radar. As most of the places at Andaman and Nicobar Islands are less than five meters above mean sea level, comprehensive data on frequency of cyclonic storms, impact and travel times of tsunami waves at various ports have been built up by the Indian Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Organisation.

Further, alternatives such as land reclamation and creation of artificial islands with higher elevation over long term specifically for naval use are also proposed. The Navy also has a focused approach towards restoration of Mangroves.

Mangroves cover is identified in the vicinity of naval areas like INS Venduruthy, INS Kadamba, INS Valsura, INS Sardar Patel, INS Zamorin, INS Hamla, INS Abhimanyu, INS Tunir and FOB Tuticorn.

Mangrove plantation drives were carried out by Naval personnel and coastal afforestation drives were conducted in naval areas with seashore, where mangroves cannot sustain for resuscitation of coastal green cover to prevent coastal and beach sand erosion, the Minister said.

The Centre has invited tenders for the construction of the 1,856 MW Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab river near Sidhu village in Ramban district. This development adds to Pakistan’s woes, which already stands on the back foot after the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, following the Pahalgam terror attack.

NHPC has released an official notification, inviting e-tenders for the project that was originally conceived in the 1960s. The last date for submission of online bids is September 10.

The project site is located near Sidhu village in Ramban district, roughly 120 km from Jammu and 130 km from Srinagar. Construction of the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project is a major step to optimise India’s use of Indus water as the treaty remains suspended. The Indus Water Treaty was put in abeyance as one of India’s strict actions against Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Yesterday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar emphasised the importance of the Indus Waters Treaty and criticised the Congress for agreeing to various terms with Pakistan.

“The Indus Water Treaty, in many ways, is a very unique agreement. I cannot think of any agreement in the world where a country has allowed its major rivers to flow to the next country without having rights on that river,” Jaishankar said.

He also added that PM Modi has “corrected” Jawaharlal Nehru’s “mistakes” when it comes to handling the Indus Water Treaty and Article 370.

“We were told for 60 years that nothing could be done. Pandit Nehru’s mistake can’t be corrected. The Narendra Modi government showed it can be corrected. Article 370 was corrected, and IWT is being corrected. The Indus Waters Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan irrevocably gives up its support of terrorism. We have warned that blood and water will not flow together,” he said.

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank and signed in 1960, governs the distribution of water from the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. The treaty has withstood multiple wars and diplomatic crises, but recent tensions have prompted fresh discussions on its future.

The treaty allocates the eastern rivers (Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej) to India and the western rivers (Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum) to Pakistan, with some provisions for India to use the western rivers for limited irrigation and non-consumptive uses like power generation.

Volcano erupts near epicentre | Evacuations ordered | South America’s Chile issues highest alert

A very powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the peninsula.

The shallow quake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan’s eastern seaboard — devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 – was ordered to evacuate, as were parts of Hawaii.

By the evening, Japan, Hawaii and Russia had downgraded most of their tsunami warnings. But authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground and expect waves as high as 2.5 metres (8 feet).Russian scientists said the quake in Kamchatka was the most powerful to hit the region since 1952.“It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes,” said Yaroslav, 25, in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

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In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, south of Kamchatka, tsunami waves exceeded 3 metres, with the largest up to 5 metres, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.The Klyuchevskoy volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula began erupting later, a geological monitoring service said.Hawaii recorded waves of up to 1.7 metres while in Japan the largest recorded came to 1.3 metres, officials said. Flights out of Honolulu airport resumed in the evening, the transportation department said.

Waves of nearly half a metre were observed as far away as California, with smaller ones reaching Canada’s province of British Columbia.In French Polynesia, waves started to hit some islands in the early morning hours of Wednesday. In other parts, wave heights were expected to remain below 30 cm, not requiring evacuation or sheltering. Chile upgraded its tsunami warning to the highest level early for most of its lengthy Pacific coast following a powerful earthquake.

Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan’s Pacific coast and evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of people.Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator TEPCO said.

The quake occurred on what is known as a “megathrust fault” where the denser Pacific Plate is sliding underneath the lighter North American Plate, according to scientists.The Plate has been on the move, making the Kamchatka Peninsula especially vulnerable to such tremors.

What is the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’

The Ring of Fire is a large tectonic belt that runs along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, touching coastlines in East Asia, the Americas and several Pacific islands. Stretching for around 40,000 kilometres, this zone is home to nearly 75% of the world’s active volcanoes and is the site of about 90% of global earthquakes.

Non-compliance with a notice under Section 35 of the BNSS can lead to arrest

Satya Prakash Tribune News Service

The police must serve notices under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) through physical means alone, and not using WhatsApp, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Dismissing an application filed by the Haryana Government seeking modification of the top court’s January 21 directions, a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said the summons issued by the police/investigating agency to an accused for appearance as per Section 35 of the BNSS can’t be served electronically.

In its July 16 order, the Bench noted that the mode of service of notice/summons has direct implications on an individual’s liberty which can’t be compromised.

“The protection of one’s liberty is a crucial aspect of the right to life guaranteed to each and every individual, under Article 21 of the Constitution… The procedure encapsulated in Section 35(6) of the BNSS, 2023, seeks to secure this fundamental right,” the Bench said.

Earlier, it had directed all states and union territories to issue Standing Orders to police departments mandating issuance of notices under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) or Section 35 of the BNSS only through the modes of service prescribed by law. The CrPC was replaced by the BNSS last year.

The Haryana Government had contended that electronic communication should be permitted for the service of such notices to prevent evasion and conserve police resources.

However, interpreting the legislative scheme of the BNSS, the top court said, “While interpreting a statute, the legislative intent is to be gathered from a plain and simple reading of the language employed in the provisions, in a purposive manner, thereby upholding the objective behind the enactment.”

It said a notice under Section 35 of the BNSS, which can lead to arrest upon non-compliance, can’t be equated with a summons issued by a court.

“A summons issued by a court is a judicial act, whereas a notice issued by the Investigating Agency is an executive act. Hence, the procedure prescribed for a judicial act cannot be read into the procedure prescribed for an executive act,” the Bench noted.

It said Sections 63, 64 and 71 of the BNSS permitted service of court-issued summons through electronic means only when specific safeguards such as the image of the court’s seal were in place and that these provisions did not apply to Section 35 notices issued by the police and not by courts.

Arjun Sharma

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has accused former constable Munir Ahmed of forging the signature of his Pakistani wife on their nikah nama and concealing critical details of his marriage, which allegedly posed a security threat. Ahmed was dismissed on May 2 under Article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution without a formal inquiry, citing concerns over national security.

Ahmed had filed a writ petition in the J&K and Ladakh High Court on May 23 challenging his dismissal, claiming he had followed due procedure in marrying Menal Khan, a Pakistani national. In response, the CRPF submitted a counter affidavit on July 29, urging the high court to dismiss the petition on multiple grounds, including the concealment of his marriage and forgery.

According to the CRPF, Ahmed married Menal via video conferencing on May 24, 2024, but failed to inform the department immediately, as required by service rules. Instead, he disclosed the marriage nearly five months later, on October 14, 2024. “Under rules, a government servant who marries a foreign national, especially from a hostile country, is bound to inform the government forthwith. The petitioner failed to comply,” the affidavit stated.

The force further alleged that Ahmed forged Menal’s signature on the nikah nama. “The document was prepared on May 24, 2024, at 10 pm and bears Menal’s signature on the same day. However, records show Menal Khan was in Pakistan at the time, making the signature fraudulent,” the CRPF claimed.

Raising national security concerns, the CRPF noted that Pakistan is considered a hostile country. “As a CRPF jawan, the petitioner had access to sensitive information regarding deployment, arms, and personnel. His relationship with a Pakistani national presents a potential security threat, including the risk of honey-trapping,” the affidavit stat

Sooner than later, the Trump administration will face adverse consequences of its tariff actions

Subhash Chandra Garg

AFTER wasting four months negotiating a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and his team, India is back to square one — 25 per cent tariff imposed by him on July 30 against 26 per cent threatened on April 2.

n fact, it is worse than where it all started. Trump has threatened to impose penal tariffs, not specified as of now, unless India stops buying Russian oil and defence equipment. He called India’s tariffs the highest in the world and non-monetary trade measures “most strenuous and obnoxious”.

What does Trump’s shenanigans mean for India’s merchandise trade with the US? How should India take it forward from here? Call off all negotiations or surrender?

Trump’s objectives in this bilateral trade deficit elimination game started by him are crystal clear, however unpalatable these might be for the partner countries. He wants these countries with merchandise trade surplus with the US to close that gap by doing four things — (a) allow full market access for all US products at zero tariff; (b) accept tariffs of 15-25 per cent on most of their exports to the US; (c) buy additional US stuff — aircraft, energy, etc. to close the trade gap; and (d) invest in the US to manufacture goods.

The world exports to the US for two reasons: one, it is a big market (roughly 15 per cent of the total global exports), and two, the exporters do make profits.

If the imposition of commercially insane US tariffs on their exports kills US markets for the exporters or makes their profits disappear (in case they choose to or are forced to absorb the cost of additional tariffs), it makes no sense for them to continue exporting. Indian exporters do not have the kind of margins to absorb additional tariff costs. Therefore, the government cannot, and should not, accept additional 25 per cent plus penal US tariffs.

While it makes eminent sense for India to liberalise agricultural trade by permitting imports of GM edible oil (no scientific study to prove GM oil has any adverse health impact) or dairy products (days of milk mountains and European subsidies are long gone) or poultry products (American chicken legs will improve consumer welfare) and the like, India has boxed itself in a corner so badly on this front in the name of protecting its domestic constituency that it cannot and will not offer concessions to the US on farm products.

Forcing India to buy American F-35 jets or crude oil, which do not meet India’s defence needs or are otherwise costlier, is plain blackmail. Giving in to such blackmail will expose India as a weakling.

India primarily is a foreign direct investment (FDI) receiving country and not an FDI exporting one. India’s outward FDI is small. Committing even $50 billion investment in the US over 5-10 years is not a doable preposition for India.

India cannot meet any of the four Trump asks. Neither does it make commercial or political sense for India to meet any of the demands. A trade deal with Trump, therefore, is an impossibility.

President Trump is digging a grave of US consumerism and dollar exceptionalism. A few nations — Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the EU — have accepted all four of Trump’s demands for the moment. How these deals will pan out is not certain.

Will the exporters of these countries reduce prices to absorb additional US tariffs or pass it on to US consumers to bear? Or will it be a mix of the two? If these exporting countries do not absorb or succeed in leaving the bulk of additional cost to be absorbed by US consumers, it is the US and its consumers who will end up losing.

Does the US have merchandise to export at zero tariffs? Does it matter to importing partners as their import tariffs were in any case close to zero? Moreover, while the government might lose a bit of tariff revenues, their customers actually stand to gain. Their acceptance of zero tariffs, therefore, does not make much difference.

Will they really buy the promised number of planes, energy products or defence equipment? There is a long time frame to do that. Moreover, they can demand reduced prices and/or tire them out with long-drawn product specification negotiations. The concession extracted by Trump on this account might not really materialise or turn out to be a fraction of a promise.

Additional investment should be fine for Japan and others if they can produce in the US at competitive prices and quality. In any case, investment commitment takes long to materialise.

While Trump may celebrate that he has browbeaten these countries into conceding what he wanted, the actual outcomes might be vastly different from what he thinks.

There are two options before India. One, it surrenders and crafts a deal on the lines of what Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the EU have done and then try to protect Indian interests by employing the tactics outlined above.

Two, close all negotiations with Trump’s trade team and let him impose whatever tariff he wants to. India should insist on its exporters to offer goods at their normal prices without absorbing any part of the additional tariff. If the US importers buy, it is good enough. If not, sell their products in other countries with no such insane tariffs and in the domestic market.

The option to find a middle ground on US import tariffs by conceding selectively on other three fronts is unlikely to take India any far. Choose option two and move on.

Sooner than later (3-6 months at most), the Trump administration will be facing adverse consequences of its tariff actions. The US imports will slow down (confirmed by April-June quarter numbers). While the US might get a few hundred billion dollars in tariff revenues, most of it would be paid by US importers and consumers, heaping misery on them. A consumer revolt is not far away.

The dollar is already facing considerable headwinds (barring India). It is likely to further suffer. Contrary to what Trump wants, his misadventures will hasten world trade away from the dollar. Bond markets may also sell off.

As this scenario unfolds, Trump will either roll back most of what he has unleashed or will suffer a severe political backlash.

India should play the waiting game. It will be least costly.

Subhash Chandra Garg is former Finance Secretary.

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खूबसूरत महिला सांसद ने तो जबरदस्त धो दिया! Sayani Ghosh Speech in Parliament

Two Army personnel, including a Lieutenant Colonel, lost their lives and three officers sustained injuries when a boulder fell on an SUV that was part of a military convoy in a remote area of eastern Ladakh on Wednesday, officials said.

The incident occurred at Charbagh near Durbuk in the Galwan region, approximately 200 km from Leh, around 11.30 am. The Army identified the deceased as Lt Colonel Bhanu Pratap Singh Mankotia and Lance Dafadar Daljit Singh (14 Sindh Horse).

The injured have been identified as Major Mayank Shubham (14 Sindh Horse), Major Amit Dixit and Captain Gaurav (60 Armoured). They were immediately evacuated to the military hospital in Leh, where they are currently undergoing treatment.

In a statement on X, the Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps said: “The GOC, Fire and Fury Corps, and all ranks salute Lieutenant Colonel Bhanu Pratap Singh Mankotia and Lance Dafadar Daljit Singh, who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty in Ladakh on July 30, 2025. We offer our deepest condolences to the bereaved families in this hour of grief.”

According to the statement, a boulder fell from a cliff onto one of the vehicles in the convoy, after which a rescue operation was launched immediately. Sources said the convoy was en route from Durbuk to Chongtash for a training mission when the accident occurred. Rescue teams faced considerable difficulty in extracting the injured, as the vehicle was crushed by the impact of the boulder. The driver, Daljit Singh, was trapped inside the vehicle and succumbed to his injuries.

Message from CO 5 SIKH👇🏻

Today we lost one of our own. Lt Col Bhanu Pratap Singh Mankotia had done part of his attachment with 5 SIKH( my Bn) while we were in Handangbrok, Batalik Sector. Originally from Scinde Horse.

He was an excellent officer, thorough professional, a brilliant sportsman and a perfect gentleman. The list of his accolades is very distinguisehd – ACA in Academy, Passed out with the coveted Sword of Honour, Best in YO Course, recently finished Staff Course and even won the Scudder’s Medal (Best in Academics) at DSSC, Wellington.

A fourth generation Army Officer, father is a Retd Guards Officer. His brother is serving in RajRif. Married to an army officer’s daughter and blessed with a baby boy.

We pray to Waheguru to grant peace to the departed soul and strength to his family to bear this irreparable loss.

Salute to Bhanu & prayers for his family.