Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, the Union Home Ministry has asked several states to conduct mock drills on May 7 to enhance emergency preparedness.

The measures to be taken during the drill include operationalisation of air raid warning sirens and training of civilians on civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a “hostile attack”, according to officials.

“In continuation of our earlier communication dated 2nd May 2025 regarding the strengthening of Civil Defence preparedness in vulnerable areas(copy enclosed), and in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 19 of the Civil Defence Rules, 1968, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has decided to organize Civil Defence Exercise and Rehearsal across the 244 categorized Civil Defence Districts of the country on 07.05.2025. The conduct of the exercise is planned up to the village level. This exercise aims to assess and enhance the readiness of Civil Defence mechanisms across all States and Union Territories,” reads the order, issued by the MHA  to State Governments.

The order said that in the Civil Defence Exercise, active participation of the District Controller, various district authorities, Civil Defence WardensA/olunteers, Home Guard (active / reservists volunteers), NCC, NSS, NYKS, college / school students is envisaged. “The said Civil Defence Exercise is aimed to assess the operational efficacy and operational coordination of various Civil Defence measures,” it said.

The  primary objectives of the mock drill are to  assess the effectiveness of air raid warning systems; Operationalization of Hotline/Radio Communication Links with the Indian Air Force;  To test the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms; Training of civilians, students, etc, on the civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of hostile attack;  Provision of crash black out measures; Provision for early camouflaging of vital plants / installations; To verify the

activation and response of Civil Defence services, including warden services, firefighting, rescue operations, and depot management;  To assess the implementation of crash blackout measures and to evaluate the preparedness of evacuation plans and their execution.

The MHA stated that the Civil Defence has traditionally played a vital role in supporting the Armed Forces, mobilizing the citizens and helping the civil administration in discharge of their responsibilities. “However, new and complex threats/challenges are emerging, which may pose potential distress to the civilian lives; and livelihood during the hostile attack/internal security situations,” it said

These kind of mock drills conducted at border States before 1971 war with Pakistan.  The other measures are provisions of crash blackout measures, early camouflaging of vital plants and installations and updation of evacuation plans and their rehearsal. Officials said such mock drills were started few days ago at border areas in Punjab.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been holding a series of high-level meetings, including with top defence functionaries, as India weighs its options for countermeasures against the April 22 terror attack which left 26 civilians, mostly tourists, dead. Modi has vowed to pursue the perpetrators and those part of the conspiracy to the “ends of the earth” to inflict punishment on them “beyond their imagination”.

Meanwhile, India has successfully test-fired an advanced underwater naval mine designed to enhance the Navy’s capabilities against modern stealth ships and submarines.  “The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy have successfully undertaken combat firing (with reduced explosive) of the indigenously designed and developed Multi-Influence Ground Mine (MIGM),” the defence ministry said on Monday.

 It said the the system is an advanced underwater naval mine developed by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, Visakhapatnam in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories.  The MIGM is designed to enhance the Indian Navy’s capabilities against modern stealth ships and submarines. Bharat Dynamics Limited, Visakhapatnam and Apollo Microsystems Limited, Hyderabad are the production partners for the system. Complimenting DRDO, Indian Navy and the Industry, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the system will further enhance undersea warfare capabilities of the Indian Navy.

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the backdrop of increasing tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack. The meeting comes a day after Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi and is understood to have discussed the security situation. Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi had on Saturday apprised the Prime Minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.