THE PRIEST

Free and fair elections form the bed rock of democracy. This envisages a level playing field for the contestants and an equal opportunity for all parties for presenting their policies and programmes to voters.  In this context the Model Code of Conduct(MCC) gains relevance. The MCC intends to provide a level playing field for all political parties, keep the campaign fair and healthy, avoid clashes and conflicts between parties, and ensure peace and order. It aims to ensure that the ruling party, either at the Centre or in the states, does not misuse its official position to gain an unfair advantage in an election. This instrument is a major contribution of Indian electoral system to the cause of democracy. The MCC is a set of norms for conduct and behavior on the part of the Parties and candidates, in particular. The uniqueness of the MCC is the fact that this was a document that originated and evolved with the consensus of the political parties. The origin of the MCC dates b...

The Indian Navy’s major annual exercise ‘TROPEX’ (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise) concluded yesterday. The exercise involved large scale naval manoeuvres in all three dimensions viz. surface, air and underwater, across the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.  The month long exercise was aimed to assess the operational readiness of naval units, validate the Navy’s war fighting doctrine and integrate newly included capabilities in its 'Concept of Operations'. Around 60 ships and submarines, and 75 aircraft took part in this exercise,along withparticipation of units from Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard. Theexercise also saw the 'maiden' participation by the newly acquired  P 8I  Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft and the nuclear submarine,  Chakra.   The exercise also provided the Indian Navy with an opportunity to validate its network centric warfare capabilities, with effective utilisation of the recently launched Indian N...