This is a new era for the telecom sector, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced on Friday.

Scindia said that over 97,500 mobile 4G towers will be commissioned by the PM at Jharsuguda, Odisha, on September 27.

Over 92,600 mobile sites installed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) are of indigenised 4G technology, which is 5G upgradable. This is a fully-indigenous ‘4G tech stack’ featuring a Radio Access Network (RAN) developed by Tejas Network, a core network by C-DOT and integrated by Tata Consultancy Services.

Further, more than 4,700 mobile 4G towers have been installed by both Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel and 14,180 mobile 4G towers under the ‘saturation project’ have been funded by Digital Bharat Nidhi, according to a release.

These towers cover 26,700 unconnected villages in remote, border, and left-wing extremism-affected areas and will be a strategic enabler for digital India, serving over two million new subscribers and powering a range of e-governance services, digital payments, online education, telemedicine and citizen-centric applications.

The India-made network is cloud-based, future-ready and can upgrade seamlessly to 5G, Scindia said. The minister will be in Guwahati for the launch.

“This is a new era for the telecom sector, an era where India has entered into the domain of top countries, which produce and manufacture telecom equipment, including Denmark, Sweden, South Korea, China…India is now the fifth country. This big change in attitude, change in goals was pushed, pioneered and catalysed by the PM,” according to Scindia.

The Minister said, having perfected 4G, “we will be moving towards converting that to 5G as well”.
“Our 4G towers and BTSs are already serving 22 million customers across the length and breadth of our country,” he added.

The PM will also unveil India’s 100 per cent 4G saturation network through digital Bharat Nidhi, where 29,000-30,000 villages have been connected in a mission-mode project.

“Today is an important day heralding, in 24 hours, the emergence of India on the global telecom footprint, not only as a service provider to 1.2 billion customers…with the cheapest call rates and the cheapest data rate at 11 cents/GB in the world, but also tomorrow will be the day when the world will awake to India having arrived not only as a service provider, but as a manufacturer and an equipment provider of full 4G stack,” Scindia said. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Sep 26: The Congress on Friday said the distress and anguish of the people of Ladakh must awaken the government’s conscience, not just for even more talks but for actually fulfilling their legitimate aspirations in full measure at the very earliest.

The opposition party’s assertion comes after protests for statehood turned violent on Wednesday, leaving four people dead and 90 others injured.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said six years ago, the people of Ladakh had great expectations when the Union Territory of Ladakh was created but there has been massive disappointment and disenchantment.

The people of Ladakh have seen their land and employment rights under severe threat, he said on X.

They have also seen the local administration and elected bodies taken over by the LG and the bureaucracy, Ramesh said.

The people have seen only meetings after meetings on their legitimate demands for protection under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and for an elected legislature, he said.

Ramesh also said there was “great uncertainty” caused by China’s unilateral abrogation of the status quo on the Line of Actual Control and the “PM’s June 19, 2020, clean chit to China”.

Ladakh is of profound cultural, economic, ecological, and strategic importance to India, he asserted.

“The people of Ladakh have, at all times, been proud Indians to their very core. Their distress and anguish must awaken the Government of India’s conscience – not just for even more talks but for actually fulfilling their legitimate aspirations in FULL measure at the very earliest,” Ramesh said.

An uneasy calm prevailed in Ladakh on Thursday as police and paramilitary troops strictly enforced a curfew in Leh town, a day after protests for statehood turned violent.

At least 50 people have been detained so far in connection with the violence that broke out on Wednesday during the shutdown called by Leh Apex Body (LAB) to demand an extension of the Sixth Schedule and statehood for Ladakh.

New Delhi, Sept 26: For more than six decades, a needle-nosed jet with Soviet origins has defined the story of Indian air power. The MiG-21, inducted in 1963, was India’s first supersonic fighter. Its retirement this week closes a chapter that shaped the Indian Air Force (IAF), for better and worse.

When it first arrived, the aircraft catapulted India into the jet age. At twice the speed of sound and capable of climbing with blistering acceleration, it transformed the IAF into a modern fighting force. License-built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, it became not just a staple of Indian squadrons but also a symbol India-Moscow unity, a major defence cooperation. BBC said that over the years, India acquired more than 870 of these machines, turning them into the backbone of its fleet.

Media and defence analysts suggest that the MiG-21’s combat record is both celebrated and controversial. In the 1965 war against Pakistan, it was still a newcomer, flown mainly as an interceptor. By 1971, it had evolved into a versatile multi-role fighter, striking targets deep inside Pakistani territory and dominating aerial encounters. In Dhaka, MiGs bombed the governor’s house, signalling the crumbling of Pakistan’s eastern command. Its agility in close combat and adaptability to Indian conditions helped shape not only battlefield outcomes but also India’s doctrine of air superiority.

Yet alongside this combat pedigree grew a darker reputation. As the aircraft aged and India struggled to replace it, accidents multiplied. Between 1971 and 2012, more than 480 crashes were recorded as reported by BBC quoting officials, claiming the lives of over 170 pilots. The unforgiving design, a single engine, high landing speeds, and tricky descent characteristics, meant errors were rarely forgiven. Each mishap added weight to its grim nickname: the “flying coffin.” For young pilots, flying the MiG was both a rite of passage and a risk to survival.

The paradox of the MiG-21 lies in its longevity. Conceived as a short-lived Cold War interceptor, it remained in Indian service for six decades, far beyond its intended shelf life. This endurance was less about preference and more about necessity. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, meant to replace the MiG, was conceived in the 1980s but delayed by decades. Bureaucratic inertia and procurement inefficiencies forced the IAF to keep extending the MiG’s service life, even as other air forces moved on to more modern fleets.

Globally, the MiG-21 was among the most widely flown supersonic jets, serving in over 50 countries from Vietnam to Egypt. In India, however, its story is uniquely intense: a machine that not only fought wars but also exposed structural weaknesses in the defence ecosystem. Its crashes became a political issue, highlighting the risks of delay in defence modernisation.

Now, as the last squadrons retire, the IAF faces a familiar dilemma. With only 29 operational fighter squadrons against a sanctioned strength of 42, India enters a period of numerical shortfall. New platforms like the Tejas are slowly filling the gap, while imported fighters and a proposed next-generation programme aim to stabilise the force. But for the foreseeable future, the absence of the MiG-21 will be felt both emotionally and strategically.

For many veterans, the MiG was more than metal. It was a machine that demanded respect, rewarded skill, and punished complacency. For the nation, it was both a source of pride and a reminder of neglect. Its departure is neither a simple farewell nor a celebration—it is a burial of contradictions: a fighter that made history, and a coffin that claimed too many lives. The MiG-21’s last roar over Indian skies will be brief, but its echo will linger. Few aircraft have left behind such a chequered legacy of glory and grief.