CONTINUING CHINESE DEPLOYMENT IS A CHALLENGE: CDS CHAUHAN

The continued deployment of China's PLA in strength along India's northern borders is a "challenge" and the armed forces are committed to maintaining the legitimacy of the country's claims on the LoC, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters, the CDS said, "PLA deployment on the northern borders is not increasing day by day, it is at the same level as it was in 2020. So there is a challenge, and the armed forces are taking all kinds of steps so that there is no untoward situation." "We have been able to get back to all places except two: Demchok and Depsang. Negotiations are on. Hopefully, that will come about, we are hopeful of that," he added.

"The idea in this whole thing is that we should be able to maintain the legitimacy of the claim line. We should be able to patrol the areas which we actually did before this crisis happened in 2020," he said.

"We are living in a time when the global security situation is not at its best and the international geopolitical order is in a state of flux. The war in Europe, the continued deployment of PLA in strength along our northern borders and political and economic turmoil in our immediate neighbourhood all present a different form of challenge to the Indian military," he said.

AMIT SHAH ASKS GROUPS IN MANIPUR TO KEEP PEACE FOR 15 DAYS, HOLD TALKS

Imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur and creation of a separate administration for tribals were among the key demands from tribal leaders who met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Churachandpur district on Tuesday.

Shah is learnt to have assured that the demands would be considered, but asked the leaders to ensure peace for at least a fortnight so that normalcy could return and the talks could be taken forward. Shah also assured an independent probe into the violence by a central agency or judicial committee.

Shah is on a four-day visit to Manipur to review the security situation in the state and bring warring Kukis and Meiteis together to resolve the turmoil that has affected Manipur since May 3.

In Churachandpur, which was among the worst hit districts, Shah held closed-door meetings with leaders of the Zo-Kuki civil society organisations, tribe representatives and intellectuals. His first round of talks, which lasted for about an hour, was with civil society organisation leaders, student bodies, women groups and tribe leaders.

“He assured a permanent political solution for the tribals of the state while asking for 15 days of peace. As requested, we will maintain peace. But we have to defend ourselves if we are being attacked,” said Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) spokesperson Ginza Vualzong, who was among those who met Shah.

Besides an independent probe, Shah is reported to have given several other assurances including: selected cases to be taken up by the CBI with no involvement of state officers.

WRESTLERS REACH GANGA BANKS, STOP SHORT OF THROWING MEDALS

On a day of high drama, the protesting wrestlers reached the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar yeesterday to immerse their Olympics and world championship medals in the holy river, but refrained after being convinced by khap leaders who sought five days to address their grievances.

“After much persuasion, the wrestlers handed over their medals to khap leaders Naresh Tikait and Baba Shyam Singh Malik to end what could have been the darkest day in Indian sports,” said a khap leader.

Tikait, who heads the Baliyan Khap and is also the president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, said, “We have sought five days to sort out the matter. If we fail, the khaps will unitedly decide the future course.”

Wishing President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “addressed the issue, Sakshi put out a long statement on the social media: “These medals have been our lifeline. We are going to immerse these in the Ganga. After that, there will be no point in our living and we will start a fast-unto-death at India Gate. We don’t want these medals now because by making us wear these, this shiny system is using it as a mask for its own publicity while exploiting us.”

CHINA TRIES ITS OWN WEDGE BETWEEN INDIA AND THE WEST

Ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the US following a Quad summit in Hiroshima this month, China has made conciliatory noises by welcoming the inauguration of the new Parliament building, letting it known that it issued 60,000 visas to India this year and attacking the West for purportedly driving a wedge between India and China.

The state-run Global Times hailed the new Parliament building as a “great symbol”, which is “aimed at freeing the Indian Capital from colonial-era traces”.

After listing out several measures taken by India such as changing budget practices associated with colonial history, decreasing the official use of English and increasing the use of Hindi language, it surmised that “China can clearly empathise with India’s desire to uphold national dignity”.

Embassy spokesperson Wang Xiaojian said, “Now, the West, particularly the US, attempts a more concealed form of ‘divide and rule’ on a larger scale.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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UKRAINE WAR REACHES MOSCOW AS DRONES STRIKE CIVILIAN AREAS

Ukrainian drones struck wealthy districts of Moscow on Tuesday, Russia said in what one politician called the most dangerous attack since WWII, while Kyiv was also hit from the air for the third time in 24 hours.

Since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into its neighbour, the war has largely been fought inside Ukraine. Aerial strikes on targets far from the frontlines have intensified recently amid a messy stalemate on the ground .

Russia’s defence ministry said eight drones sent by Kyiv and targeting civilians were shot down or diverted with electronic jammers.

“This is clearly a sign of terrorist activity,” he said. Air defences around Moscow — which as the capital of the world’s biggest nuclear power is already protected by an extensive early warning system — would be strengthened,” Russian President Putin said.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC ACCUSED OF FUELLING TENSION

Kosovo's tennis federation has accused Serbia's Novak Djokovic of aggravating an already tense situation after the world number three wrote that Kosovo was "the heart of Serbia" on a camera lens following his first-round win at the French Open.

Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers were injured on Monday in clashes with Serb protesters in the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan, where Djokovic's father grew up.

Serbs, who comprise a majority in Kosovo's north, have never accepted the country's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. They still see Belgrade as their capital more than two decades after a Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of the population of Kosovo as a whole.

Monday's clashes came as ethnic Albanian mayors took office in Serb-majority areas following elections that the Serbs had boycotted.

"Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence," 22-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic wrote in Serbian on a TV camera at the French Open in Paris.

He later explained that he was against war but defended his statement and described Kosovo's situation as a "precedent". "As a son of a man born in Kosovo, I feel the need to give my support to our people and to entire Serbia," he told reporters.

Kosovo tennis federation president Jeton Hadergjonaj said in a statement: "The comments made by Novak Djokovic at the end of his Roland Garros match against Aleksandar Kovacevic, his statements at the post-match press conference and his Instagram post are regrettable."

THE REST

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BJP’S MEGA OUTREACH BEGINS TODAY

The ruling BJP will on Wednesday embark on the largest-ever ground connect in the party’s history with an eye on the 2024 General Election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kickstart the “Maha Jan Sampark” with a political rally at Ajmer in election-bound Rajasthan.

The month-long campaign aims to reach five lakh eminent families across 543 Lok Sabha segments, with the message of PM Modi-led government’s achievements. It is structured around the completion of nine years of the saffron party’s dispensation.

The May 31 to June 30 outreach programme will see 288 BJP leaders, including Union ministers, and 16 lakh BJP workers cover voters from the Lok Sabha segments down to the booth level, with a door-to-door campaign planned from June 20 to 30 across all 10 lakh BJP booths.

“This is the BJP’s largest-ever outreach in terms of involvement and scale. The 543 parliamentary segments have been divided into 144 clusters, which have further been allocated to teams of two leaders each, who will spend eight days in clusters of four seats during the month,” said Tarun Chugh, who is the coordinator of the campaign.

During the campaign, the BJP will reach out to 1,000 distinguished families in every Lok Sabha segment and hold 51 mega rallies and seminars with beneficiaries of government schemes, social media influencers, traders and others.

CHARGES SERIOUS: HC DENIES SISODIA BAIL

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s bail plea in an alleged corruption case related to the excise policy scam being probed by the CBI, saying he was an influential person and the charges against him were “very serious” in nature.

“The accused was a public servant…. We have not examined the excise policy nor the power of the government. However, the applicant being a powerful person, there is a possibility of him influencing the witnesses,” Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said, rejecting his petition against the March 31 order of the trial court denying him bail. 

GLOBAL OLYMPICS BODY STEPS IN: VERY DISTURBING, PROTECT ATHLETES

For the first time since India’s top wrestlers, including two Olympics medal winners, alleged sexual harassment by their federation chief, BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the International Olympic Committee has stepped in.

The IOC spokesperson from Lausanne, Switzerland, said that the “treatment” meted out to the athletes over the weekend, when they were manhandled and detained for hours, was “very disturbing.” The IOC asked for an “unbiased, criminal investigation” into the allegations of sexual harassment and underlined: “We urge that the safety and wellbeing of these athletes is duly considered throughout this process and that this investigation will be speedily concluded.”

The IOC also urged the IOA, headed by P T Usha, which has been conspicuous by its silence so far, to “protect the athletes.”

ONLY RS 5.70 CR WORTH E-RUPEE IN CIRCULATION: RBI

After the launch of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), or e-rupee, on December 1, 2022, the value of retail digital rupee in circulation amounted to just Rs 5.70 crore involving 17.1 lakh pieces of notes (digital) as on March 31, 2023, the RBI said.

When compared to this, the currency with public (physical notes) was Rs 33.66 lakh crore as on May 5, 2023, indicating that digital rupee is yet to make any impact in the country.

The retail CBDC launched by RBI is a digital token that will function as the digital equivalent of a banknote that can be transferred electronically from one holder to another. It can be kept in a wallet on a mobile phone, and spent as cash is spent.

NCERT DROPS REFERENCES TO ‘KHALISTAN’ IN CLASS 12 POL. SCIENCE TEXTBOOK

The references to ‘Khalistan’ and ‘separate Sikh nation’, which were mentioned in context of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, have been dropped from the Class 12 political science textbook of the NCERT, the Union Ministry of Education announced Tuesday.

The changes were made after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) objected to the references. The committee said on Tuesday that it would study the changes before taking a fresh stand on the issue.

Department of School Education and Literacy Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that the decision to remove the references was taken by an expert committee of the NCERT to prevent possibilities of reading them out of context.

UNIFORM EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR ALL SCHOOL BOARDS LIKELY BY NOV

In the wake of huge disparity in the results of different school boards and students finding it tough to switch from one board to another, the Union Ministry of Education is planning to have in place by November a common assessment framework for all state board examinations.

The framework would aim to have equivalent evaluation across all state boards. The changes in the evaluation system are part of the new National Education Policy (NEP).

“The common assessment framework will be ready by November. It, however, will be up to the states to adopt the changes,” said a ministry official. He said the evaluation patterns of various states were being studied to come up with the common framework.

IN CLASS XI-XII, MOST STUDENTS IN SOUTH OPT FOR SCIENCE; IN 3 KEY STATES, JUST 2% TAKE ARTS

Students enrolled in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka education boards are more likely to choose the Science stream in their Class XI-XII with less than 2 per cent in three of these states opting for Arts.

However, Arts is the preferred option for their counterparts in West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Jharkhand, according to a Union Government study.

The lopsided Science-Arts ratio — and the geographical split — frame the challenge for policymakers when it comes to skilling the next generation in an economy increasingly affected by tech and automation.

GOFIRST WILL END IF AIRCRAFT ARE RETURNED: IRP TO HC

The Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) of Go First on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that parallel proceedings could not go in the case and that the court could not interfere in the resolution process.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the IRP, told the court that a writ court (the high court in this case) should not interfere in the resolution process after the insolvency application had been accepted by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). He said there were many Supreme Court judgments that had said this.

“Courts should not interfere in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process because the essence of this process is that it is time-bound. Interests start piling up with every passing day on all dues,” Salve said.

He argued if the court were to release the aircraft in accordance with the lessors’ request, the airline would not be able to resume operations and thousands of employees would lose their jobs.

TWITTER NOW WORTH JUST 33% OF ELON MUSK'S PURCHASE PRICE, SAYS FIDELITY

Twitter is now worth just one-third of what Elon Musk paid for the social-media platform, according to Fidelity, which recently marked down the value of its equity stake in the company.

 Musk has acknowledged he overpaid for Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion, including $33.5 billion in equity. More recently, he said Twitter is worth less than half what he paid for it. It’s unclear how Fidelity arrived at its new, lower valuation or whether it receives any non-public information from the company.

Fidelity first reduced the value of its Twitter stake in November, to 44% of the purchase price. That was followed by further markdowns in December and February.

Twitter has struggled financially since Musk took over. After saddling the company with $13 billion of debt, Musk’s erratic decision making and challenges with content moderation led advertising revenue to decline by 50%, Musk said in March. An attempt to recoup that revenue by selling Twitter Blue subscriptions has so far failed to take off. At the end of March, less than 1% of Twitter’s monthly users had signed up.

WTC FINAL: THE ONE BIG CHALLENGE FOR TEAM INDIA, ACCORDING TO GAVASKAR

Batting great Sunil Gavaskar believes switching from the T20 mode in the IPL to Test cricket will be the biggest challenge for the Indian players when they take on Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia next week.

Rohit Sharma's India will play the WTC final at The Oval in London from June 7-11 with a majority of the players having come through the rigours of IPL 2023.

Gavaskar said that among all the India players only veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara was well acclimatised to the longer format as he has been playing county cricket.

FRENCH OPEN: MEDVEDEV LOSES IN FIRST ROUND

No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev suffered a shock first-round exit at the French Open when he lost 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild amid gusty winds on Tuesday.

Although Seyboth Wild won two Challenger (second-tier) titles on clay this season, world number two Medvedev was coming into the Grand Slam tournament on the back of a title in Rome, having shown tremendous progress on the slowest surface.

It counted for nothing on a windswept court Philippe Chatrier, where the Russian seemed increasingly frustrated, arguing with the umpire and the fickle Paris crowd over a line call in the fourth set.

Seyboth Wild, the world number 172, just had too much pace and power for Medvedev, who never found his range and capitulated after four hours and 15 minutes.

INDICATORS

Sensex 62,969 (+123), Nifty 18,634 (+35)

Nasdaq 13,017 (+42) Dow 33,043 (-51), S&P 4,206 (+0)

US$-Rs. 82.67, GBP-Rs. 102.43, Euro-Rs. 88.61, UAE Dhm-Rs. 22.50, Can$-Rs. 60.81, Aus$- Rs. 53.94

GBP 0.80 /US$, Euro 0.93 /US$, Jap.Yen 140.01 /US$, Aus$ 1.53 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 106.07 /US$, Can$ 1.35 /US$, Mal Ring 4.60 /US$, Pak Re 284.00 /US$, Phil Peso 56.29 /US$, Russian Rouble 79.46 /US$, NZ$ 1.65 /US$, Thai Baht 34.69 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.61 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 27,737, Dollar Index 103.95, Brent Crude 73.54, BDI 1,172

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,960 India (Rs. pera gm 24k/22k) 6,049 / 5,545, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 72,600

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. - Viktor Frankl

OFF TRACK

At 3:00 am, an old lady came running at the hotel reception and complained of seeing a naked man. She was screaming loudly and disturbed all the guests putting up at that hotel. The manager came running and asked her to calm down.

She requested the manager to follow her. The manager complied. "There, can you see that man," she announced, once they reached her room.

"Where exactly is he?" asked the manager.

"He's over there," replied the little old lady, pointing to an apartment building opposite the hotel.

The manager looked over and could see a man with no shirt on, moving around his apartment. "He's probably trying to catch some sleep," he said reassuringly. "But how do you know he's naked? All you can see is the waist and up," asked he.

"The dresser, honey!" screamed the old lady. "Try standing on the dresser!"