TOP NEWS

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday slammed the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for its "communal mindset" and "anti-India agenda". Responding to the media queries about statement made by the OIC Secretariat on Ram Navami violence, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We strongly condemn the statement issued by OIC Secretariat today regarding India. This is one more example of their communal mindset and anti-India agenda."

"OIC only does its reputation damage by being consistently manipulated by anti-India forces," Bagchi added. 

Top Opposition leaders, including chief ministers of three states, on Monday strongly pitched for a caste census at a DMK-convened conference on social justice which also saw fervent calls for forging unity to take on the BJP, setting aside egos, in the run-up to the 2024 general election.

The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Raj asthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against oppression of backward classes.

The Opposition parties attacking the BJP-led government from one platform assumes significance as it comes at a time of renewed unity among them in the wake of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha after being convicted in a 2019 defamation case.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday raised questions on the genuineness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degrees and claimed that they would turn out to be “fake” if a probe is conducted.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party have launched a fresh attack on the issue since the Gujarat High Court on Friday quashed a seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had asked the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to Kejriwal and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the AAP chief.

AAP had raised the issue in 2016 also and the then BJP chief Amit Shah and the then finance minister Arun Jaitley had displayed Modi's degrees during a press conference to debunk its allegations and demanded an apology from the Delhi chief minister for trying to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's judicial custody has been extended till April 17, a Delhi court ruled on April 3. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought an extension, arguing that the investigation was at a crucial stage. The senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was presented before the Rouse Avenue court in a case involving alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of Delhi's now-defunct excise policy.

The CBI had previously opposed Sisodia's plea for bail, stating that granting bail would compromise the investigation as there was a possibility of his influence and interference. The investigation agency has also filed an application seeking an extension of Sisodia's judicial custody, stating that he had destroyed phones in order to "destroy the chat."

The realisation of an Indian Reusable Launch Vehicle is a step closer to becoming a reality as the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) has been successfully accomplished by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka, the trial involved a winged body lifted to an altitude of 4.5 km by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter, subsequently freed to execute an independent landing on a runway.

This is the first time that a winged body has been released mid-air by a helicopter and carried out an autonomous landing. The RLV LEX is essentially a space plane with a low lift-to-drag ratio requiring an approach at high glide angles that necessitated a landing at high velocities of 350 kmph.