NEW DELHI — India has approved a plan to spend 50 billion rupees ($792 million) for defense equipment, including night-vision devices and rockets for its armed forces. At a meeting earlier this month of the Defense Acquisition Council, the highest decision-making body for the country’s defense affairs, Defense Minister A.K. Antony approved the procurement of night-vision devices worth 38 billion rupees for infantry soldier carbines and 10,000 rockets worth 6.8 billion rupees, a defense official says.

India’s first Mars orbiter has propelled out of Earth’s orbit and embarked on a 10-month voyage to the red planet. The critical maneuver to place the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft (MOS) in the Mars Transfer Trajectory was successfully carried out Dec. 1, says K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the state-run Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

The state-run Airport Authority of India (AAI), which manages the majority of the country’s airports, is aiming to earn $240 million during the current financial year, which ends March 31. The profit is expected to come as a result of growth in revenue after the country’s Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) recently revised airport tariffs, AAI Chairman V. P. Agrawal says.