eral warships, submarines, aircraft as well as Marine Commandos presented an act

ion-packed display of the capabilities of the Indian Navy.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R.K. Dhowan,
were also present on the occasion.
Prime Minister Modi earlier tweeted about the event and said that he would share
his thoughts at the Fleet Review later this evening.
The prime minister had earlier reviewed the demonstrations at Maritime Exhibitio
n and the IFR Village at AU Engineering College Ground.
17:53 Shani temple row: Here's a solution by Sri Sri Ravishankar: Mediating o
n the issue of gender bias at Maharashtra's Shani Shingnapur temple, spiritual g
uru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Sunday claimed to have arrived at a solution that al
lows both men and women to have darshan of the deity some distance away from the
sacred 'chabutara' (platform).
Citing two models of facilitating darshan, practised at Kashi Vishwanath and Tir
upati Balaji temples, Ravi Shankar said, "It is agreed that no one -- man or wom
an -- will step on the sacred chabutara at the Shani temple where oil is constan
tly poured as it can result in possible skidding."
"This contentious issue has been settled. There will not be any discrimination b
ased on gender and all will have equal right of worship," he told a press confer
ence at Balewadi near Pune.
While the temple trustees present at the meeting agreed with Ravi Shankar's form
ula based on the Tirupati Balaji darshan model, Trupti Desai, who led the recent
agitation of the Bhoomata Brigade seeking women's entry into the temple's inner
sanctum, said, "If nobody is to be allowed on the chabutara, the priests who pe
rform pooja of the deity at the sacred platform should include women."
Desai said if both men and women are going to be banned from stepping on the cha
butara, activists of Bhoomata Brigade should be given an opportunity to perform
the 'last pooja' on the sacred platform in the temple in Ahmednagar district, in
the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sri Sri Ravi S
hankar.
She also said that it was wrong to disallow men to perpetuate ban on women. Ra
vi Shankar said, "It is not that you do not get blessings of god if you have a d
arshan from some distance."
According to the spiritual guru, all men and women could have darshan of the Sha
ni deity from a distance of three feet without any gender discrimination.
He also supported the Bhoomata Brigade's demand for women priests.
Desai claimed the trustees were still insisting on a 'male mindset' in supportin
g the proposal to ban men from stepping on the chabutara in order to perpetuate
the tradition prohibiting women from doing so.
She said she had told Ravi Shankar that it was wrong to say that the tradition b
anning women from stepping on the chabutara was 400-year-old.
A trustee of the temple said it would not be possible to allow women to perform
'last pooja' before implementing uniform ban on both the sexes.
Asked what was her future plan since she was not happy with the solution as prop
osed by the spiritual guru, Desai said she was looking forward to her meeting wi
th the chief