FIVE SOLDIERS KILLED IN J&K TERROR ATTACK

Five Army soldiers were killed Thursday afternoon in Poonch district of J&K when their vehicle was fired upon by “unidentified terrorists” who “took advantage of heavy rain and low visibility in the area”, the Udhampur-based Northern Command said in a statement.

“The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists,” it said. The incident took place around 3 pm when the Army vehicle was moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector.

“Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident,” the Northern Command said.

“Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri and is under treatment,” it said. “Operations are in progress to locate the perpetrators. Further details are being ascertained.”

The dead have been identified as Hav Mandeep Singh, L/Nk Kulwant Singh, Sep Harkrishan Singh and Sep Sewak Singh from Punjab, and L/Nk Debashish Baswal from Odisha.

The attack comes amid discussions between the military leadership and the government on a proposal to withdraw Rashtriya Rifles troops from the Valley hinterland and let the CRPF fill in the gap.

SURAT COURT REFUSES TO STAY CONVICTION, RAHUL TO MOVE HC

A sessions court in Surat yesterday rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark, holding that the Congress leader should have been 'more careful with his words' since he was a member of Parliament and the then president of the country's second largest political party.

Denying the disqualified MP relief that could have paved the way for his reinstatement in the Lok Sabha, additional sessions judge R P Mogera observed that a 'high standard of morality' is expected from a person like Gandhi, adding that the trial court had imposed a sentence which was permissible in law.

Gandhi, who will continue to remain out on bail.

The Congress termed as 'erroneous and unsustainable' the court order and said the judge seems to be 'over-shadowed' by the high office of the prime minister.

Congress senior spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said they would be moving the high court 'very shortly' as the judgement is 'fallacious' and is contrary to all basic elementary principles of law.

SC SAYS ONE-MONTH NOTICE UNDER SPECIAL MARRIAGE ACT PATRIARCHAL

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the rationale behind the requirement of notice inviting objections under the Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954, saying it was patriarchal and enabled the police and other authorities to invade an individual’s privacy.

On the third day of hearing on petitions seeking recognition for same-sex marriage before a five-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud, senior counsel AM Singhvi said the requirement of a prior notice for parties to a marriage under the SMA was “unconstitutional”.

“It’s unconstitutional because even before a formal entry into marriage, you are invading my privacy by directing me that I must declare my intention in public domain for objections to be invited. Which married couple in the heterosexual world has to announce first to the world that we intend to marry? Why should I?” senior counsel AM Singhvi, who represented one of the petitioners, told the Bench, which also included Justices SK Kaul, SR Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha.

As Justice Bhat said the provision was “based on patriarchy” and it was created at a time when women didn’t have agency, Singhvi termed it “an invitation to disaster and violence”. “If the object (of the SMA provision) was to protect from their personal law... you are virtually laying them open to invasion by society, by Collectors and District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police,” said the CJI.

Meanwhile on the question of same-sex marriage, Justice Chandrachud said, “Constitutionally and socially as well, we have already reached the stage which postulates that your very act of decriminalising homosexuality, does contemplate that, therefore, people who belong to the same sex would be in stable marriage-like relations.”

PAK MINISTER BILAWAL TO ATTEND GOA SCO MEETING ON MAY 4-5

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa on May 4-5.

“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India,” Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, ending weeks-long speculation whether he would attend the conference in person amid major differences between the two neighbours. “Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan’s continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” said Mumtaz.

If Bilawal visits India, this will be the first Pakistan Foreign Minister to visit India after nearly 12 years. In 2011, then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar (now Minister of State for Foreign Affairs) had visited India.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

SUDANESE MILITARY RULES OUT NEGOTIATIONS WITH RIVAL FORCE

Sudan’s military has ruled out any negotiations with the rival paramilitary forces to end the crisis roiling the country and says it will only accept their surrender. A statement from the military on Thursday said that engaging in talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Force would only be possible to discuss their surrender. “There would be no armed forces outside the military military system,” it said.

The statement came as the latest attempt at a 24-hour cease-fire between Sudan’s warring forces grew increasingly strained. The two sides have been battling since Saturday for control of the strategic African country.

Meanwhile, fighters from Sudan’s rival factions battled around the main military installation in central Khartoum and other parts of the country’s capital on Thursday, threatening to unravel the latest attempt at a cease-fire as foreign governments looked for ways to extract their citizens trapped in the conflict.

MOMENTS AFTER LAUNCH, SPACEX'S STARSHIP ROCKET EXPLODES

Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Thursday launched its next-generation Starship cruise vessel, the most powerful rocket ever built, for the first time atop the company’s powerful new Super Heavy rocket in an uncrewed test flight that ended minutes later with the vehicle exploding in the sky.

The two-stage rocketship, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty at 394 feet (120 m) high, blasted off from the company’s Starbase spaceport and test facility east of Brownsville, Texas, for what SpaceX hoped, at best, would be a 90-minute debut flight into space.

Elon Musk had tempered expectations prior to the launch stating that it might take several tries for Starship to be successful at this test flight, which was intended to reach speeds high enough to enter orbit before crashing down in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii.

It was SpaceX's first attempt to launch its Starship rocket after years of testing.

THE REST

=========

ASSAM, ARUNACHAL INK MOU TO RESOLVE DECADES-LONG BOUNDARY DISPUTE

In a move that both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh say would put to rest an issue festering for nearly five decades, Chief Ministers of the two states signed a Memorandum of Understanding over disputed areas along the roughly 800-km shared boundary.

The MoU was signed by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju at the North Block. Shah called it a “historic occasion”.

The dispute in question is over 123 villages that stretch across 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and eight of Assam. These villages had been claimed by Arunachal Pradesh in 2007, before a Supreme Court-appointed Local Commission to identify the boundary between the two states.

According to the MoU, the state governments agree that no new claim area or village will be added in future beyond these 123 villages. It also states that both governments “agree to effectively prevent any new encroachment in the border areas”, and agree that the MoU is “full and final” in respect to the 123 villages.

KODNANI, BAJRANGI AMONG 67 ACQUITTED IN NARODA GAM MASSACRE CASE

More than two decades after 11 Muslim community members were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam, a special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused in the case, including former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.The court found the evidence deficient.

The Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for SIT cases, acquitted all the accused in one of the major post-Godhra riots cases which was probed by a Supreme-Court appointed Special Investigation Team.

Those acquitted include Kodnani, former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of which 18 died during pendency of the trial, while one was discharged earlier by the court.

Acquitted in the second and final case against her in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Maya Kodnani – the only BJP minister named in the violence – may well be on way to revival of her political career, BJP leaders admit.

Earlier, she was given life term and dubbed a “kingpin” by a sessions court in the Naroda Patiya case but was later acquitted by the High Court.

SACHIN PILOT CONTINUES TO RUB GEHLOT GOVT THE WRONG WAY

In an embarrassment to the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, party leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday visited the protest site where BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena is sitting on a dharna with the family of a man who allegedly killed himself recently while blaming cabinet minister Mahesh Joshi.

“The family comes from a tribal community. It is shocking for all of us” said Pilot, who met the deceased Ramprasad’s father, brother and son among others. He demanded that “there should be an impartial and time bound investigation. The facts which have come to light should be taken into cognisance towards a thorough investigation. The victims should get justice.”

Ramprasad Meena, 38, had hanged himself on Monday over an alleged land dispute. In a video recorded before his death, he had accused Mahesh Joshi and others of creating problems for his family in connection with a land dispute and blamed them for his extreme step.

“All the accused should be investigated impartially,” Pilot demanded.

'TILL GOVT TAKES ACTION…: MAHUA MOITRA ON PAWAR- ADANI MEET

Hours after NCP president Sharad Pawar met industrialist Gautam Adani in Mumbai, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday said no politician should meet the billionaire until the central government takes any action against his Adani Group.

Reports emerged yesterday that Pawar met Gautam Adani for nearly two hours in Mumbai. Sharing a report on this meeting, the TMC leader said: "I can only hope they have the good sense to put country before old relationships. And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest."

GOVT PLANS WIDER AMBIT FOR AADHAAR

The Centre has proposed allowing private entities and state governments to carry out Aadhaar authentication for a number of services, expanding the ambit of the use of the digital identity beyond its ministries and departments. The push is to make Aadhaar “one of the world’s biggest online identity authentication platforms”.

The measure comes half a decade after the Supreme Court had held the use of Aadhaar details by private entities as “unconstitutional,” however, the official claimed that the proposal does not violate the landmark judgement.

According to amendment, private entities and state governments would be allowed to conduct Aadhaar-based authentication for promoting “ease of living” of residents and enabling better access to services for them.

The Centre has invited comments to the draft rules by May 5.

LAUNCHING SATELLITES TO OWNING ASTEROIDS, SPACE POLICY SETS OUT ROLES OF PVT ENTITIES

Three years after opening up the space sector to private entities, the Union government Thursday released the Indian Space Policy document that sets out and formalises the roles of private and government entities in the sector — including envisaging the ISRO as a body that moves beyond manufacturing into research and development.

The release of the document came after the cabinet on April 6 approved the Indian Space Policy 2023. The policy aims to not only create space-based resources and services, but also promote research and development along with education in the space sector.

Also Read |ISRO releases the Landslide Atlas of India: Which states, regions are most vulnerable

Private companies will be allowed to undertake end-to-end space activity — launching and operating satellites, developing rockets, creating ground stations, building spaceports and mobile launch platforms, and providing services like communication, remote sensing and navigation, nationally and internationally.

Private entities have also been encouraged to develop space situational awareness capabilities — a mechanism to track objects in space and avoid collision of satellites and space stations with each other or space debris.

The policy also says that private players can engage in “commercial recovery” of asteroids or space resources. The companies will be entitled to “possess, own, transport, use, and sell” such resources in accordance with law.

The policy comes three years after the space sector was opened up to private players, formalising the approval processes. So far, all approvals came on a case-to-case basis by Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.

IT SECTOR WEIGHT IN NIFTY50 AT 5-YEAR LOW

The recent sell-off in IT stocks such as Infosys and TCS has resulted in a sharp decline in the IT sector weighting in the Nifty50 index.

The sector’s weighting in the index has slipped to a five-year low of 12.2 per cent, down from the 17.7 per cent at the end of March 2022. The top IT companies —TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra — accounted for 13.6 per cent of the index at the end of March this year.

With the recent decline, the IT sector has given way to FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies and is now the third-biggest component of the benchmark index, slightly ahead of the oil and gas sector.

FMCG companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Asian Paints, Nestle, and Britannia together have a 12.6 weighting in the Nifty 50, up 270 basis points since March 2022. Banks, non-banking financial companies, and insurance companies (BFSI) remain at the top with 37.3 per cent, up from the 34.5 per cent at the end of March 2022. Other big sectors to gain in the past one year include automobiles, and construction and infrastructure.

The IT sector has now given up most of the gains in market capitalisation in the post-pandemic period and has become one of the biggest laggards on the bourses. However, the sector remains an out-performer on a longer-term basis. The combined market capitalisation of its top five is up 110 per cent since the end of December 2017 compared to a 67.4 per cent rise in the Nifty 50 index during the period.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS ORDERED TO REMOVE FAKE NEWS ABOUT BACHCHAN KID

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan's daughter Aaradhya Bachchan had moved Delhi High Court against YouTube channels for reporting fake news about her health.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed various entities operating channels on YouTube to immediately remove/take down all the video/images/identical content spreading fake news about the health of Aaradhya Bachchan's health.

The Court of Justice C Harishankar also observed that every child is entitled to be treated with honour and respect, be it a child of a celebrity or of the common person. Circulation of misleading information about a child especially as regards physical and mental health is completely intolerable in law.

IPL MATCH 27: SCINTILLATING SIRAJ GUIDES RCB TO WIN OVER PBKS

Faf du Plessis played a special knock despite a rib injury before Mohammed Siraj produced his best figures in the IPL to set up a 24-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Punjab Kings in Mohali on Thursday. 

Playing as an 'Impact Player' due to his injury (as he couldn't field), Du Plessis plundered 84 off 56 balls and shared a 137-run opening wicket stand with stand-in captain Virat Kohli (59 off 47) to steer RCB to 174 for four after being put in to bat.

During Punjab innings, Siraj bowled well with the new ball as well as in the death overs to end up with 4/21 in four overs and secure a welcome victory for his team.

Both these teams now have 3 wins from 6 matches each.

IPL MATCH 28: DELHI CAPITALS EDGE KKR FOR FIRST WIN!

Skipper David Warner found his perfect hitting arc after Ishant Sharma (2/19) rolled back the years but even then Delhi Capitals stuttered badly in a modest chase before edging Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets on Thursday to stay afloat in IPL 2023.

With their backs to the wall after five defeats on the trot, Delhi;s bowling line-up collectively came to the party to bowl out KKR for 127 on a spicy deck which aided both pacers and spinners alike.

The Delhi batting, save Warner looked wobbly once again but a below-par score perhaps saved the day for the home team as the ball started gripping in the second half of the chase making it difficult for strokeplay. Axar Patel (19 not out off 22 balls) despite a groin strain managed to take his team past the finishing line.

This was first win for DC in 6 matches while KKR have 2 wins from 6.

INDICATORS

Sensex 59,632 (+64), Nifty 17,624 (+6)

Nasdaq 12,060 (-98) Dow 33,787 (-110), S&P 4,130 (-25)

US$-Rs. 82.15 GBP-Rs. 102.18, Euro-Rs. 90.07, UAE Dhm-Rs. 22.36, Can$-Rs. 60.98, Aus$- Rs. 55.27

GBP 0.80 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 134.44 /US$, Aus$ 1.48 /US$, Sing 1.33 /US$, Bang Taka 104.89 /US$, Can$ 1.34 /US$, Mal Ring 4.43 /US$, Pak Re 281.81 /US$, Phil Peso 56.05 /US$, Russian Rouble 81.58 /US$, NZ$ 1.61 /US$, Thai Baht 34.31 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.64 /US$)

Bitcoin - USD 28,336

Dollar Index 101.53 Brent Crude 80.88 BDI 1,372

Gold world Spot Price USD/oz 2,003, India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 6,093 / 5,585, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 77,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Peace is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism - Dorothy Thompson

OFF TRACK

Guide: I welcome u all to the Niagra falls. These are the world's largest waterfalls & the sound intensity of the waterfall is so high, sound of even 20 supersonic planes passing can't be heard! Now may I request the ladies to keep quiet so that we can hear the Niagra Falls??