NEW DELHI — India’s soon-to-retire army chief, Gen. V.K. Singh, says he was recently offered a bribe of 140 million rupees ($2.7 million) by a defense lobbyist to clear the purchase of military vehicles. In an interview with an Indian newspaper, Singh says the lobbyist offered the bribe in return for approving the purchase of 600 “substandard” vehicles of a “particular make.” He claims that 7,000 such vehicles were already in use in the Indian army and many have been sold at “exorbitant prices with no questions asked.

NEW DELHI — India’s Mars Orbiter Mission is getting a boost, with the government allocating 1.25 billion rupees ($25 million) to the effort for the 2012-13 fiscal year. “The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch a Mars orbiter as early as November 2013 with a scientific payload weighing nearly 25 kg [55 lb.],” according to the budget document, which was introduced in parliament March 16.

Indian carriers will not submit emission details of their aircraft to the EU, asserts Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. “Though the European Union has directed Indian carriers to submit emission details of their aircraft by March 31, no Indian carrier is submitting them in view of the position of the government. Hence the imposition of carbon tax does not arise,” Singh said last week in the lower house of parliament.