India test fires medium range nuclear capable Agni-ii missile

BALASORE: India on Tuesday test-fired its medium range nuclear capable Agni-ii missile with a strike range of 2,000 km from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast, Defence sources said. The trial of the surface-tosurface missile was conducted from a mobile launcher at the Launch Complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 8.38 am, the sources said.

The Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and Tuesday's test was carried out by the Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC) with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), they said.

The 20-mt-long Agni-ii ballistic missile has a launch weight of 17 tonne and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg over a distance of 2,000 kms.

The state-of-the-art missile, already a part of the country's arsenal for strategic deterrence, was launched as a training exercise by the armed forces, a DRDO scientist said.

Agni-ii, a two-stage missile, equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by a unique command and control system was propelled by solid rocket propellant system, he said.

The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and two naval ships located near the impact point in the down range area of the Bay of Bengal.

Agni-ii was developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad, sources said.

The missile is part of the Agni series of missiles which includes the Agni-i with a 700 km range, AGNI-III with a 3,000 km range, Agni-iv and Agni-v both having long range capabilities.

The first proto type of the Agni-ii missile was carried out on April 11, 1999 and last launch was a user's trial on May 4, 2017. NEW DELHI: Enraged over the alleged assault of the Delhi chief secretary, a delegation of IAS, DANICS and subordinate services of Delhi government on Tuesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who said civil servants should be allowed to work with dignity and without fear.

The delegation met the home minister a day after Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly manhandled by a few AAP MLAS at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence, which the team of bureaucrats termed as a "pre-planned and pre-meditated" attack.

"I am deeply pained by the happenings involving the chief secretary of the Delhi government. The civil servants should be allowed to work with dignity and without fear," Singh said in a tweet. The home minister said the home ministry has sought a report on the incident from the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and "justice will be done". Singh said the delegation of IAS, DANICS and subordinate services of Delhi government apprised him of the prevailing situation. The delegation, which include the chief secretary, conveyed to the home minister that the "shocking physical assault meted out to the head of the administration of Delhi, in the form of blows on the head, amounting to threat to life and physical safety, is deplorable and and shocking", an official privy to the meeting said.

Secretary of the IAS Association, Delhi, Manisha Saxena said the chief secretary has been insulted and they need action and not an apology. "We want a case slapped on the MLAS," she said.

"This incident is the culmination of a series of incidents of officers being subjected to verbal abuse and intimidation by political authorities from time to time," another member of the delegation said.

"All these incidents tend to lead to impairment of the effective functioning of the bureaucracy in free and impartial manner," he said.

The incident took place last night in the presence of Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia , a senior Delhi government official alleged.

Prakash was called by Kejriwal regarding the issue of advertisements, which were not being released, the official said. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed he had been called for a discussion on rations.