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Vedic maths in schools, Shah Faesal returning to bureaucracy, India joining an elite club of nations with indigenous aircraft navigation system — here are the top stories from today’s edition: The Big Story
Schools may soon get a variety of “emerging topics”, such as “catastrophic consequences of zoonotic diseases”, vedic mathematics, coding and Swachh Bharat, as part of their curriculum as an ongoing inter-ministerial consultation believes that these would “reflect current realities and priorities”. The suggestions are being examined by experts involved in revising the National Curriculum Framework, which will subsequently inform the changes in the NCERT textbooks.
Only in the Express
After resigning from the bureaucracy in January 2019, Kashmiri IAS officer Shah Faesal claimed it was “a small act of defiance” and there were several “provocations” that led to the decision. “I am putting across a small act of defiance to remind the central government of its responsibilities towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added. Faesal’s resignation was never accepted by the government and Union Home Ministry officials confirmed to The Indian Express that he had been reinstated in the civil services.
From the Front Page The Indian Air Force needs to prepare itself for intense and short duration operations at a moment’s notice, and also be ready for short swift wars and long standoffs, like the one in Eastern Ladakh, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari has said. Logistics support in such a scenario would be extremely challenging, he added, as the Air Force has a “fairly vast and diversified inventory”. His comments come at a time when there have been concerns about the availability of spares due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and Russia’s ability to deliver them. An IndiGo-operated ATR 72-600 aircraft landed at Kishangarh airport on Thursday using an approach process guided by India’s own satellite-based augmentation system named GAGAN, or GPS-aided GEO Augmented Navigation. With this trial landing at the small airport near Ajmer in Rajasthan, India joined a small group comprising the US, Japan and Europe with its own satellite-based augmentation system. Seven people have been arrested in Ayodhya for throwing objectionable posters and torn pages of religious texts outside three mosques and a shrine in what police said was their attempt to disturb the peace to protest against “the recent incident in Delhi”. A senior police officer said that the seven claimed to be members of a group called “Hindu Yodha Sangathan”. Latest DNA-based evidence has confirmed that the human remains found dumped in an abandoned well in the Ajnala town of Punjab’s Amritsar belonged to 246 young Indian soldiers who were brutally killed after they revolted against the British during the 1857 Indian uprising and belonged to the Gangetic plains, researchers said. Archaeologists have called the site the largest possessing skeletal remains linked to any single event during the 1857 Indian rebellion. 
Women purchase bangles during the month of Ramzan in Pune on Thursday. (📸 Arul Horizon)
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Amid an exchange of words between Bollywood star Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep, former CM H D Kumaraswamy tweeted that what lay at the heart of it was a simple fact: “Devgan must realise that Kannada cinema is outgrowing Hindi film industry.” In fact, in recent months, films such as Pushpa: The Rise, RRR and most recently, KGF: Chapter 2, have broken box-office records, signalling a seismic shift in a marketplace long dominated by Hindi films. Of the three youths who emerged on the political scene of Gujarat in 2017, leading successful agitations, two have joined the BJP. However, MLA Jignesh Mevani’s “Left leanings” put him far out of the party’s reach. Having pledged his support to Congress, Mevani has been slapped with two criminal cases in Assam. Many BJP leaders admit the party has not been comfortable with Mevani’s rise. Startups ranging from industries like ed-tech, e-commerce, financial technology, real estate and home furnishing have laid off more than 5,000 full-time as well as contractual employees in the first four months of 2022 alone. Experts tracking the field said this year has seen a slowdown in funding overall, sending high growth, high cash burn startups back to the drawing board to restructure their firms to reduce their burn. The Centre and the states are at loggerheads over taxes and duties on petrol and diesel. While the Centre feels the states are not reducing VAT in line with its cut in excise duty, the states have expressed concerns over their fiscal cushion, especially with the GST compensation regime due to end in June. We explain how fuel is taxed and how the collections are shared between the Centre and states. And Finally...
On Indian cricket’s newest star, Umran Malik, former pacer Munaf Patel said, “There needs to be a system in place where there is a restriction on the number of matches a fast bowler plays in a year. Now, of course, technology has advanced in terms of physiotherapy and training, but still you will have to take care of him. If you use him too much, then chances are he will suffer a big injury and that means he will then have to start managing his pace.” Delhi Confidential: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to be in Bengaluru on May 3, but what has sent a discordant signal to different factions in the state unit is the news that he will have lunch at Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai’s place. Although sources close to the CM said it will be an official meeting between the two, many senior leaders fear it is much more than that, especially as it comes at a time when the Cabinet expansion is about to happen.
🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss India’s falling labour force participation, the UP government’s drive against unauthorised loudspeakers, and the heat wave that has gripped several areas of the country.
Until tomorrow,
Rounak Bagchi and Sonal Gupta
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