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The Army has received deliveries of two of the four new Heron TP drones from Israel earlier this year which were bought under emergency powers delegated to it in 2020 for deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, media has learnt.

As per defence sources, the new drones were received in March and were deployed subsequently in eastern Ladakh for surveillance and reconnaissance missions amid the military standoff with China. The other two drones will be deployed along the LAC in the Northeast when they are delivered, the sources added.

Media had first reported in September last year that India has finalised the deal to procure four Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones.

Under a campaign to get rid of illegal possessions and identify the ‘Shamlat’ land (village common land), Punjab government has so far identified 26,300 acres of cultivable panchayat land, which was not owned by the panchayats, worth about Rs 9200 Crore.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that a special Shamlat Cell was established by his department to thoroughly examine all the records of Revenue Department related to Shamlat lands across the state.

He said that so far, the work of comparing the records with the Revenue Department record out of 153 blocks has been completed in 86 blocks to identify such Shamlat land, which is not under the possession or in the record of Panchayats.

Pakistan, which abstained from voting on the United Nations general assembly (UNGA) resolution slamming Russia, raised the J&K issue in explanation of its stance while talking about right to self-determination. Indian ambassador Ruchira Kamboj responded, as she delivered India's own explanation, by slamming Pakistan for making frivolous and pointless remarks and reiterating that J&K will remain an integral and inalienable part of India.

Kamboj also called upon Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism "so that our citizens can enjoy their right to life and liberty".

"We have witnessed unsurprisingly yet again an attempt by one delegation to misuse this forum and make frivolous and pointless remarks against my country. Such statements deserve our collective contempt and sympathy for a mindset which repeatedly utters falsehoods," she said.

Setting aside the Karnataka High Court verdict, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia sought to interpret the debate from the point of view of promoting diversity, and providing educational opportunities to women.

“Our schools, in particular our Pre-University colleges are the perfect institutions where our children... just waking up to the rich diversity of this nation, need to be counselled and guided, so that they imbibe our constitutional values of tolerance and accommodation, towards those who may speak a different language, eat different food, or even wear different clothes or apparels!...

“This is the time when they should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this diversity. This is the time when they must realise that in diversity is our strength,” he said.

The Supreme Court will on Thursday pronounce its judgement on various petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court order which upholds the ban on Hijab in educational institutes. The top court bench of justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia will pronounce the judgement today.The Supreme Court had earlier reserved its order on various petitions challenging Karnataka High Court upholding the ban on Hijab in educational institutes.

The arguments in the matter went on for 10 days in which 21 lawyers from the petitioners` side and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi argued for the respondents.

The court was hearing various pleas against Karnataka HC`s judgement upholding the Karnataka Government`s decision to direct educational institutes to prescribe uniforms in educational institutes.