WEDNESDAY MAHARASHTRA ROLLS BACK ITS DIKTAT ON HINDI AS 3RD LANGUAGE 23 Maharashtra has stayed its order to make Hindi mandatory as a third language for Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools APRIL, 2025 3 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard LANGUAGE FORMULA IS PART OF THE NEW CURRICULUM UNDER NEP LEARNING HINDI WILL BE MADE VOLUNTARY X.com/TheMornStandard Rahul Rekhawar, Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said efforts will be taken to ensure students do not feel any pressure of learning a third language VAT I C A N POPE’S FUNERAL SET FOR SATURDAY Pope Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday, as world leaders from Donald Trump to Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader. PAGE 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 DECISION COMES AFTER STIFF OPPOSITION The decision taken last week met with stiff resistance from different quarters, including some opposition parties, and comes days after the Maharashtra government’s language consultation committee urged CM Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision. School Education Minister Dada Bhuse said the Centre did not pressure them to “impose” Hindi ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR Lidder river PAHALGAM Baisaran Valley Amarnath Yatra Base Camp Tourists enjoying a balmy afternoon at Baisaran meadow, a non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam Terrorists in combat uniform emerge from the dense forest around the site, ask tourists about their identity Terrorists open fire selectively on Hindus; 28 killed, including two foreigners and a couple of locals Video grab of security personnel taking scared tourists to safety at the massacre site in J&K’s Pahalgam 28 MASSACRED IN J&K J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN one of the biggest attacks on tourists coinciding with the visit of US Vice President J D Vance to India, terrorists on Tuesday massacred 28 people, most of them tourists, in J&K’s Pahalgam area and injuring many others. Among the victims were two foreigners from UAE and Nepal and a couple of locals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned home after the business part of his trip was over. Official sources said twothree terrorists emerged from the dense forest around the Baisaran meadow, a scenic but non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam around 2.30 pm. They were heavily armed and in combat PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday decided to cut short his state visit to Saudi Arabia and return to India in the wake of the J&K terror attack. He was originally scheduled to return on Wednesday night but will now arrive in New Delhi by early Wednesday morning. He also skipped the official dinner hosted in his honour by the Saudi government. The terror attack, which occurred during Modi’s historic visit to Jeddah — the first by an Indian prime minister in 40 years — cast a shadow over the otherwise high-level engagements. Sources said the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is expected to meet at the earliest to assess the situation. The move comes as world leaders continue to express their condolences and solidarity with India over the incident. Earlier in the day he asked Union home , minister Amit Shah to visit Srinigar to take charge of the situation. Shah then held a high-level meeting with senior officials through video conferencing soon after the attack and landed in Srinagar by 9 pm. F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar uniform. The terrorists separated the Hindu tourists from the rest after checking their identity and fired on them indiscriminately sources said. , Waseem Khan, a security guard, said he heard the firing but initially thought it was due to firecrackers. “The firing continued for 10 minutes. As there were cries, we rushed to the spot and saw bodies lying on the ground. Some of them were dead and some injured,” he said. Baisaran, which is known as mini Switzerland for its lush green meadows, can be reached only through foot or on horses. “You cannot go to the area in the vehicles because there is no motorable road,” he said. In a viral video, a woman tourist, whose husband was shot at by militants, said, “We were enjoying bhelpuri and my husband was sitting by my side, when an individual came and shot at him. He thought he is not a Muslim and fired. “Please save my husband,” she pleaded. One of the victims was Manjunath Rao, a businessman from Shivamogga district of Karnataka. The victims included Prasant Kumar Satpathy from Odisha, Manish Ranjan from Hyderabad and another from Kochi. A tourist from Maw Nagar, Gujarat, said he was travelling on horse back when the terrorists fired. “I was hit in the right arm,” he said. He is under treatment in Anantnag. The Resistance Front, a shadow group of Lashkar-eToiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. GUJARAT 1 killed as trainer aircraft crashes CENTRAL RESIDENCY 33 yrs on, Centre reviews scheme New Delhi: After 33 years, the Centre held a meeting on Tuesday to review and update the Central Residency Scheme, 1992. The meeting, chaired by the newly appointed Additional Director General of Health Services discussed issues such as hostel facilities, long working hours and salaries of resident doctors who form the backbone of government hospitals. 3.5K% levy plan US wants to slap up to a whopping 3,500% tariff on solar panels from Southeast Asia to address dumping IMF says economic outlooks for US and world have worsened significantly due to trade war V-P J D Vance urges India to drop non-tariff barriers, give greater access to its markets, buy more US energy and military products | P8 Resolve to fight terror unshakable: Modi “Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice... they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger,” PM Modi said The perpetrators are animals, inhuman: CM “This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals — inhuman and worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough,” CM Omar Abdullah said Those involved will not be spared, says Shah “Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared. We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.” Union home minister Amit Shah said Annamalai frontrunner for RS seat from Andhra EXPRESS READ Amreli: A deadly crash jolted Amreli on Tuesday as a trainer aircraft from a private aviation academy plunged into a residential area near Giria Road, killing a trainee pilot. Eyewitnesses reported that three people were injured in the chaos that followed the plane crash. A case has been registered at the local police station, and further investigation is underway. PM CUTS SHORT VISIT, RETURNS many possibilities. Even a Muslim candidate could be elected for the UpTHE vacant Rajya Sabha seat from per House from that State,” he said. Andhra Pradesh is likely to be filled The seat fell vacant following the by a candidate from the BJP. resignation of YSRCP Rajya Sabha This was decided during a meeting member V Vijayasai Reddy on Januheld between CM N Chandrababu ary 25 and the Election Commission Naidu and Union Home Minister of India has announced the schedule Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday for the by-election. Though Reddy’s . According to BJP sources, Shah ex- RS tenure was till June 21, 2028, he pressed his desire to field a BJP can- quit the MP post and also resigned to didate for the lone RS seat from the the YSRCP primary membership. April 29 is the last date for filing state, and Naidu is said to have agreed to it. An official announce- nominations. Scrutiny of the nomiment in this regard is likely to be nations will be held on April 30, and May 2 is the last date for made by this weekend. With TDP agreeing to conwithdrawal of candidature. cede one vacancy arising in Polling will be held on May RS to its ally BJP, specula9 from 9 am to 4 pm, if nection was rife that K Annamaessary. Counting of votes lai, who recently stepped will be taken up at 5 pm on down as TN BJP chief, is the same day . However, the byelection is likely to get elected to that likely to be unanimous conseat. Sources however, said sidering the strength of that the national leadership TDP-JSP-BJP combine, is yet to take a decision. K Annamalai Ponguleti Sudhakar which got 164 MLAs of the Reddy, BJP national co-intotal 175 in the Assembly . charge for TN, said, “If it happens, it Apart from Shah, the CM also met is good. But the party high-com- other Union Ministers, including Jal mand’s decision is supreme since Shakti Minister C R Patil, Law Minisvarious factors are involved in it.” He ter Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Comrefused to comment further. merce Minister Piyush Goyal, and A senior national-level leader, re- discussed various state-related questing anonymity said, Annamalai projects and central schemes. , getting elected from AP is only a specAfter concluding his foreign tour, ulation at the moment, though it is the Chief Minister arrived in Delhi certain that he will soon be accommo- on Monday night and met four Union dated in a significant position, either Ministers. Naidu first met Union Jal in the party organisation or in the Shakti Minister C R Patil and disparliament. “In the current political cussed the allocation of central funds scenario Andhra Pradesh, there are for the Jal Jeevan Mission. S V I S W A N AT H @ Vijayawada Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks at fighter jets of Royal Saudi Air Force escorting his aircraft as it arrives in Jeddah on Tuesday | PTI PM’s Saudi trip to bolster strategic, trade partnership Recognising the growing momentum in cultural exIN a significant boost to bi- change and tourism, the lateral relations, India and Council also announced the Saudi Arabia have agreed to creation of a Ministerial deepen cooperation across Committee on Tourism and multiple strategic sectors, in- Cultural Cooperation. cluding defence, investment, A key highlight was the culture, and space after a progress made by the Highmeeting between Prime Min- Level Task Force on Investister Narendra Modi and ment (HLTF). Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin reaffirmed its commitment Salman. to invest $100 billion in India The announcement came across energy, petrochemiduring the second meeting cals, infrastructure, technolof the India-Saudi ogy, digital economy, Arabia Strategic Parttelecommunications, nership Council (SPC) p h a r m a c e u t i c a l s, the two leaders. manufacturing, and D i s c u s s i o n s f o - India and Saudi healthcare. Both Arabia will cused on wide-rangsides agreed to jointly keep moving ing areas including establish two new oil forward political relations, serefineries in India. together curity, trade, energy, Progress on taxation Narendra Modi, technology, agriculframeworks was also PM ture, and people-tonoted as a major people ties, an official breakthrough that read out said. would further ease bilateral Reflecting the deepening investment flows, the readdefence ties between the two out said. nations, the leaders agreed to MoUs were signed for establish a new Ministerial peaceful space collaboration, Committee on Defence Coop- public health cooperation, eration, which will oversee and anti-doping education. A joint military exercises, pact was also signed between training programmes, and Saudi Post and India Post to industrial partnerships. enhance parcel logistics. J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi CIVIL SERVICES 2024 Biochemistry grad from UP, Gujarat CA take top 2 slots K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T & N A M I TA B A J PA I @ New Delhi/ Lucknow WOMEN clinched the first two positions in the prestigious Civil Services 2024 exams announced by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Tuesday . While Shakti Dubey, a Biochemistry postgraduate from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), emerged as the All-India topper, Harshita Goyal, a CA and MS University of Baroda graduate, secured the second position. After graduating in Biochemistry from Allahabad University, Shakti pursued her PG from BHU before briefly taking up teaching. Her transition from teaching to civil services followed an arduous journey complemented by a dedicated seven-year preparation to finally clinch the top honours with political science and international relations as her optional subjects. Pune’s Archit Parag Dongre, a B.Tech electrical and electronics engineering graduate from VIT, Tamil Nadu, came third. Shah Margi AIR 1 Shakti Dubey Chirag, who has a BE degree in computer engineering from Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, secured the fourth rank. Making Delhi proud was Aakash Garg, who has a B.Tech degree in computer science from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and got the fifth rank with sociology as his optional subject. Eleven women and 14 men comprised the top 25 candidates. A total of 9,92,599 candidates applied for the UPSC examination, out of which 5,83,213 candidates appeared. A total of 14,627 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination held in September 2024. Out of these, 2,845 candidates qualified for the personality test or interview. IAF officer booked for attempt to murder E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru WING Commander Shiladitya Bose, who allegedly assaulted a call centre employee in a road rage case in Bengaluru and claimed that he did it in “self-defence” as the latter allegedly assaulted him first, has been booked for attempt to murder. A 26-year-old biker, SJ Vikas Kumar, was arrested on Monday but was released on station bail the following day An FIR has been filed against the driver of the car, . which was being driven by Bose’s wife at the time. Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said that Bose is absconding. “The police will ask him to appear before the investigation officer. If he fails, he will be arrested from Kolkata,” D Devaraja, DCP, East, said. ‘INDEFENSIBLE’ Delhi HC tears into Ramdev on ‘Sharbat jihad’ SHEKHAR SINGH @New Delhi CAN HOLD VIEWS IN HEAD, NOT EXPRESS THEM: JUDGE “He (Ramdev) can hold these opinions in his head, need not express them,” ruled Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court, before listing the matter for further hearing on May 1 YOGA guru and Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev on Tuesday was ordered by the Delhi High Court to take down videos in which he made communal remarks targeting food company Hamdard and its popular drink ‘Rooh Afza’. The move follows a civil lawsuit filed by Hamdard National Foundation (India) after Ramdev accused the company of funding reli- gious institutions and used the term ‘sharbat jihad’ to describe their product. Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court said the Patanjali founder’s comments in the videos were “indefensible” and “shocked the conscience of the court.” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Hamdard, submitted, “This is a case which goes beyond disparagement. This is a case of creating communal divide, akin to hate speech. It will not have protection from law of defamation,” Rohatgi submitted. The video, posted on April 3, contained explicit references to Rooh Afza, with Ramdev alleging that buying the drink funded religious extremism. Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Ramdev, said the videos are being taken down Justice Bansal directed Ramdev to file an affidavit that he would refrain from posting divisive content on social media in future.