28 MARCH 2016

Ø The 9th edition of the four-day Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition, organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation of Department of Defence Production, will be held at Naqueri Quitol, Quepem taluk in south Goa. The exhibition will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. In all, over 1000 companies, both foreign and Indian, are taking part in the exhibition this year, which is over one and a half times in number of participants in Defexpo 2014. With a total of 510 companies, participation by Indian companies has doubled since 2014 which saw a participation by 256 companies. A total number of 490 foreign companies are participating this year against 368 in Defexpo 2014. With the changes in the government policies on defence acquisition and Make in India campaign, considerable impetus is being given to indigenisation in the defence sector. The exhibition would showcase Inda’s capabilities in land, naval and security systems as well as its emergence as an attractive destination for investment.

Ø The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is keen on deploying sensors and drones in farms, to start with, for assessing the quality of soil as well as crop losses after floods.

Ø The NIA has prepared a dossier on JeM chief Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf (one of the handlers) and another handler Kaashif Jaan, who had dropped the terrorists at the Punjab border on the night of December 31. Kaashif Jaan, who exchanged a number of calls with the terrorists, has been under the scanner of intelligence agencies for long. The Pakistani team will be taken to the village in Bamiyal from where the terrorists infiltrated into India. The Pakistani team, which was received by officials of the NIA and the Pakistan High Commission, will visit Pathankot on Tuesday. It will be flown in an Embraer aircraft owned by the Border Security Force.