In Putin's Ukraine Briefing, “Words Of Gratitude” For Trump, PM Modi

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 13, 2025 | top-stories

Moscow/New Delhi:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first comments on Washington’s plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. During the press briefing, he started with “words of gratitude” for US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other state heads, for paying attention to the Ukraine conflict despite having “a lot on our plates”.

“First of all, I would like to start with words of gratitude to the president of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement. All of us have lots on our plates, but many state leaders, the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, president of Brazil and South African Republic. They devote a lot of time to this issue, and we are thankful to them because it’s all for the noble cause of stopping hostilities and preventing human casualties,” he said.

PM Modi, during a meeting with Trump at the White House last month, stressed that “India is not neutral” in its stand on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “India is not neutral. India is siding with peace. I have already said to President Putin that this is not the era of war. I support the efforts taken by President Trump,” the Prime Minister had said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India have been stressing that this is “not an era of war but of dialogue and diplomacy”. Since the Ukraine conflict began in February last year, PM Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a number of times.

The United States, meanwhile, has called for Russia to agree to the ceasefire proposal without any conditions.

Putin, however, said that while he was “for” the proposed ceasefire, but “there are nuances”, and he had “serious questions” about how it would work.

Trump said Putin’s statement was “promising” but “not complete”.

“He put out a very promising statement but it wasn’t complete,” Trump, who was meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte at the White House, told reporters when asked about Putin’s remarks.

Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia this week, bowing to pressure after a showdown between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and injured, displacing millions of people, reducing towns to rubble and triggering the sharpest confrontation between Moscow and the West in decades.

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'Only SRK, Madhuri Not A-Lister': BJP-Congress Clash In Rajasthan Over IIFA

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 13, 2025 | top-stories

Jaipur:

A massive row has erupted in Rajasthan after reports claimed that the BJP-led state government spent over Rs 100 crore to organise the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards ceremony in Jaipur last weekend. Targeting the Bhajanlal Sharma government, the Opposition Congress has said it has Rs 100 crore for the film awards event, but no funds for prominent temples like Khatu Shyam Ji. Leader of the Opposition Tika Ram Jully also took a swipe that apart from Shah Rukh Khan, no A-listed actor attended the awards event.

Opposition’s Temple Jab

Addressing the Assembly, Mr Jully said the government that “chants the name of Sanatan” could not give Rs 100 crore for Khatu Shyam ji (temple) and Rs 120 crore for Govind Dev ji temple, but swiftly cleared Rs 100 crore for the IIFA ceremony.

“Passes worth Rs 7 lakh were given out for free. It was the taxpayers’ money. Mr Chief Minister, you people were busy clicking photos. What did Rajasthan gain from IIFA? The stars did not go to any tourist spots. Which big name came? Apart from Shah Rukh Khan, everyone was second-grade. When someone took actor Madhuri Dixit’s name, he replied, “She is in second grade now. Her time is over. No big film star came. When Amitabh Bachchan did not come, what is to be said.”

The Sonu Nigam Row

Mr Jully also took a dig at the state government over the absence of Sonu Nigam at the event. “What happened in one month? You called Sonu Nigam in ‘Rajasthan Rising’, but not here. Sonu Nigam should have been called. He sings well,” he said. “This should not happen, just because someone makes a suggestion, his path should not be blocked.”

The Congress leader was referring to the row over the singer’s criticism of Chief Minister Sharma and other ministers walking out during his recent performance in Jaipur. “In the middle of the show, I saw that the CM and the rest of the people left. As soon as they left, all the delegates also left. I have a request to all politicians, if you do not respect your artists, then what will the people outside do?” he had said. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office had then told NDTV that he meant no disrespect to the performers and left the event because outdoor concerts are not allowed after 10 pm.

In the IIFA event, Sonu Nigam was not nominated for the Best Male Playback Singer award. Sharing a screenshot of the nominations list, the ace singer posted on Instagram, “Thank you IIFA… After all you were answerable to the Rajasthan bureaucracy.”

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“National Education Policy Meant To Develop Hindi, Not India”: MK Stalin

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 12, 2025 | top-stories

Chennai:

The ‘language war‘ between Tamil Nadu and the centre – the contention that the BJP is trying to ‘impose Hindi‘ on the southern state in the guise of a National Education Policy – continued Wednesday afternoon with Chief Minister MK Stalin calling it a plan to develop Hindi rather than India.

Mr Stalin has led the state’s charge; this has included firing sharp attacks on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, whom he last month accused of ‘blackmail’ by threatening to withhold funds and this week said was “arrogant” and “acting like a king”; after he used a pejorative to describe Tamilians.

On Wednesday evening the DMK leader stepped up his attacks, declaring at an event in Tiruvallur, “The National Education Policy is not education policy… it is a saffronisation policy.”

“The policy was not created to develop India… but to develop Hindi. We are opposing this policy as it will completely destroy the Tamil Nadu education system,” he said, emphasising what he has been saying over the past fortnight – that the centre denying Rs 2,150 crore for state-run schools, till the NEP is implemented, amounts to an attack on the nation’s federal structure.

Tiruvallur | Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin says, “National Education Policy is not education policy; it is saffronise policy. The policy is not created to develop India but to develop Hindi. We are opposing the Policy as it would destroy the Tamil Nadu education system completely…”… https://t.co/X9v9qF3Omu pic.twitter.com/1XQ9dzNmXA

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2025

In his speech Mr Stalin fired questions at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue, claiming the centre is acting “like a dictatorship to destroy the rights of states and the federal structure”.

“You said you would give importance to states (when Mr Modi was campaigning to become the PM). But what have you done so far to give importance to federalism?” he asked, also accusing the BJP of taking “political revenge” for electoral defeats in Tamil Nadu in 2021 and 2024.

“We are asking for our share of taxes… which we paid with our efforts. What is the problem with this? Is it fair to threaten and not release funds for the welfare of 43 lakh schools? Because we don’t accept NEP, they are refusing to release funds that belong to Tamil Nadu…”

“We would have welcomed NEP if it brought everyone into education (i.e., increased school enrolment) But NEP removes people from education (i.e., the DMK claims it will disincentive Tamil students as Hindi will be ‘forced’ on them’). That is why we are opposing it…” he said.

The row over ‘Hindi imposition’ – a sensitive topic in the south, and particularly in Tamil Nadu, where ‘anti-Hindi’ riots broke out in the 1960s and which has always been opposed to the language being foisted on it – re-erupted last month with the BJP pushing its new policy.

The DMK, and its ally, the Congress, has argued Tamil Nadu – the second-largest state economy – has flourished under a two-language system that teaches Tamil and English.

The BJP, though, maintains its formula will benefit Tamil people travelling to other states.

It has said no student will be forced to learn Hindi as the third language, and has counter-accused the DMK of politicising the language issue ahead of next year’s Assembly election.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV last month, Mr Pradhan accused the DMK of creating a “false narrative” and depriving students of academic progress for their own political ends.

Much of the ‘language war’ face-off between the DMK and the BJP-led centre has revolved around Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s claim the Tamil party had last year agreed to set up PM SHRI, or Schools for Rising India, institutions, but later went back on its words.

This, Mr Pradhan said in Parliament on Monday, showed the DMK to be “dishonest”.

In response the DMK filed a privilege motion against the Union Minister for making “factually incorrect” statements in the House. DMK MP Kanimozhi said the state had agreed to set up these schools but with certain conditions that were, eventually, not met.

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Union Minister Shares Letter By Tamil Nadu On PM SHRI Schools, DMK Holds Ground

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 11, 2025 | top-stories

New Delhi:

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared a letter from the Tamil Nadu school education department that said the southern state was “very keen” to set up PM SHRI Schools, as the Union Minister launched a counter-attack against the DMK over allegations that he misled parliament.

Criticising Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK government for “playing politics” over the three-language initiative in the New Education Policy (NEP), Mr Pradhan in parliament said the party led by Chief Minister MK Stalin was “dishonest”.

“They (DMK) are dishonest. They are not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics. They are making mischief. They are undemocratic and uncivilised,” Mr Pradhan said in the Lok Sabha.

In response, the DMK initiated a privilege motion with its MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu requesting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take action for “contempt of the house”. The DMK MP’s notice said Mr Pradhan’s claim that the Tamil Nadu government took a U-turn after agreeing to sign an MoU with the Centre to accept PM SHRI Schools in the state was “factually incorrect, misleading the house and against official record.”

Mr Pradhan then posted the letter dated March 15, 2024 from the Tamil Nadu education department to prove the point he made in the house.

“… I stand by my statement made in the Parliament and am sharing the consent letter from Tamil Nadu School Education Department dated 15th March 2024. DMK MPs and Hon’ble CM can stack lies as high as they want, but the truth doesn’t bother knocking when it comes crashing down,” the Union Education Minister said.

“The DMK dispensation led by Hon’ble CM Stalin have a lot to answer to the people of Tamil Nadu. Raking the language issue as a diversionary tactic and denying facts as per their convenience will not shield their governance and welfare deficit. Why this sudden change of stance on NEP? Definitely for political brownies and reviving DMK’s political fortunes. This retrograde politics of DMK is a great disservice to the bright future of Tamil Nadu and its students,” Mr Pradhan said.

Yesterday, DMK MPs and Hon’ble CM Stalin accused me of misleading the Parliament regarding Tamil Nadu’s consent for establishment of PM-SHRI Schools.

I stand by my statement made in the Parliament and am sharing the consent letter from Tamil Nadu School Education Department… pic.twitter.com/vp6GtPEp1q

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) March 11, 2025

Kanimozhi, the DMK MP, today told reporters the state did agree on setting up PM SHRI Schools in Tamil Nadu, but on one condition.

“We had said that we agreed on PM SHRI Schools based on the committee recommendations, then only the [state] government would have signed the MoU,” she told reporters.

Education Minister Hits Back

Tamil Nadu Education Minister Anbil Mahesh refuted Mr Pradhan’s allegations that the state made a sudden change in its stance on PM SHRI Schools.

Mr Mahesh, pointing at the letter shared by Mr Pradhan, said it clearly mentioned that a committee will be formed and based on its finding the state would decide on implementing the Centre’s initiative.

“Those who are trying to impose the NEP are playing politics, not us. Tamil Nadu’s education model is exemplary and has consistently proven its ability to shape the future of our students,” he said. “Please understand that India’s diversity is its strength, not weakness. You should rather acknowledge and support Tamil Nadu’s right to choose what is best for the future of its children.”

The entire controversy stems from the debate over the NEP, particularly the contentious three-language policy, which Tamil Nadu strongly opposes.

“Tamil Medium Enrolments Declining”

Mr Pradhan quoting data from the Unified District Information System For Education Plus (UDISE+) said enrolments in Tamil medium dropped from 65.87 lakh in 2018-19 to 46.83 lakh in 2023-24, a reduction of over 19.05 lakh students in five years.

He said 67 per cent of students are now in English medium schools, while Tamil medium enrolment has dropped from 54 per cent (2018-19) to 36 per cent (2023-24). In government schools, English medium enrolment rose five times from 3.4 lakh to 17.7 lakh in just five years, and Tamil medium enrolment fell by 7.3 lakh in government-aided schools, reflecting a deep shift in preference.

“These numbers reveal the real story – enrolments in Tamil medium are on a continuous decline. This isn’t just a shift in language preference, it’s a colonial mindset at play. English is seen as the gateway to status and jobs, Indian languages are seen as a symbol of backwardness,” the Union Minister said.

PM SHRI School is a centrally sponsored scheme, intended to develop more than 14,500 schools managed by the central government, state, Union Territory government and local bodies including KVS and NVS.

SHRI is short for ‘Schools for Rising India’.

The objectives include ensuring every student feels welcomed and cared for, where a safe and stimulating learning environment exists, where a wide range of learning experiences are offered, and where good physical infrastructure and appropriate resources conducive to learning are available to all students, the government says on the PM SHRI School programme website.

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From Olympic Snowboarder To FBI's Most Wanted, The Fall Of Ryan Wedding

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 11, 2025 | top-stories

Ryan Wedding, once a rising star in snowboarding, is now on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List. He came from a well-off family of ski racers.

Wedding started his career at the age of 12 and won a bronze medal in the Parallel Giant Slalom at the 1999 Junior World Championship and a silver medal in the 2001 Junior World Championships. He became the Canadian national champion in the Giant Slalom in 2001 before representing Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. That wasn’t all that bad a career trajectory.

And then it all went haywire.

Shortly after the 2002 Olympics, Wedding enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and started working as a bouncer. He eventually got involved with the city’s pot dealers.

Wedding later dropped out of school and allegedly turned into a big marijuana dealer before linking up with some Iranian and Russian cocaine smugglers, making the end of his snowboarding career.

He was first arrested in 2008 in California and found guilty of conspiring to smuggle cocaine.

In 2009, Bobby Allison, a former national champion ski racer, said Wedding was fearless. He said when many young athletes claim they want to go fast, they often hold back due to a fear of falling. But Wedding had no such fear and pushed himself without hesitation.

Wedding was sentenced to four years in jail in May 2010 after being found guilty of attempting to buy cocaine from a government official in 2008.

According to prosecutors, he was involved in at least three killings and ran a billion-dollar criminal operation between 2011 and 2024 that transported cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, the US, and Canada. The alleged drug kingpin has been linked to the dangerous and powerful Sinaloa cartel.

The cartel allegedly helped Wedding and his ally Andrew Clark, who was arrested in October 2024, run their operation out of Mexico. They are charged with trafficking 54 tons of Colombian cocaine to Los Angeles stash homes and then across the US and Canada.

Martin Estrada, the US Attorney for the Central District of California, said, “An Olympic athlete-turned-druglord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians.”

Wedding married a British Columbian businesswoman of Iranian descent while being behind bars in 2011, as per CBC. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, said Wedding told her he was convicted unfairly, claiming he was just “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She later distanced herself from him, saying, “I don’t want to be associated with these people.”

Her name has reportedly since been connected to kidnapping and money laundering cases, some of which are related to Mexican drug cartels, according to CBC.

Twelve gang members have been captured as a result of the FBI’s collaborative effort with other law enforcement agencies to target the cocaine gang, but Wedding has so far escaped arrest.

The FBI also said that Wedding might be under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel. The US State Department has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

The FBI is now providing an extra $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspected drug kingpin.

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Tesla Shares Plunge 15% Amid Market Sell-Off, Steepest Drop Since 2020

by Hansraj Agrawal | Mar 11, 2025 | top-stories

Washington, DC:

Stocks of Elon Musk’s Tesla plummeted by more than 15 per cent on Monday, its largest single-day decline in several years amid a broad-based market sell-off sparked by potential recession concerns and uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. Shares registered their worst day since September 2020, closing more than 50 per cent below their record closing high of $479 on December 17 last year.

The bloodbath in Wall Street came amid concerns over declining electric vehicle sales and politically driven protests against Mr Musk over his involvement in the Trump administration. The Tesla chief, however, seemed to dismiss the market concerns. Replying to a post on X about the largest single-day drops in Tesla shares, Mr Musk wrote, “It will be fine long-term.”

A Look At Tesla Shares

Tesla shares plunged 15.4 per cent by the end of Monday’s trading session. It was the largest single-day percentage decline since September 2020, when shares saw a decline of over 21 per cent in a single day.

With this, Tesla stocks witnessed a total decline of 41.4 per cent year-to-date so far in 2025. This includes a drop of over 36.6 per cent in the past months. As of March 10, Tesla stock has fallen by more than half to a new market cap of $696 billion after reaching its all-time largest market capitalization of $1.5 trillion on December 17.

UBS has also lowered its price target on the stock to $225 from $259, citing lower delivery forecasts for the first quarter it sees resulting from softer demand for Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. This contributed to the sell-off, along with broader concerns about the US economy facing a recession and a widening trade war amid President Trump’s tariff threats.

On Monday, the S&P 500 ended the trading day 2.7 per cent lower–its lowest closing level since September and its biggest daily percentage decline since December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, dropped 2 per cent, for its lowest close since November 4, the day before Mr Trump’s election as President. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 4 per cent to a near six-month low.

Protests Against Tesla

Tesla, where Mr Musk is chief executive, has been facing protests and even vandalism at some of its dealerships. Last week, shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon, while in Boston, someone set fire to the company’s charging stations. Authorities also arrested some violent protesters for rallying at a Tesla dealership in Lower Manhattan.

Moreover, a recent report found that Tesla car sales in Germany, Europe’s largest market for electric vehicles, fell by 76 percent in February compared with a year earlier, sounding alarm bells for the entire European market.

Questions Over Musk’s Leadership

The fall in Tesla stock came as its chief Musk is facing questions about how much attention he is paying to his businesses while serving as an adviser to President Trump. Over the week, Mr Musk’s business empire – including Tesla, social media site X and the rocket maker SpaceX – has run into challenges.

On Monday, as Tesla shares fell, users of X reported widespread outages. Before that, last week, a SpaceX rocket exploded in Florida during launch, showering some places with debris.

Mr Musk was quick to blame the X issues on a cyberattack stemming from Ukraine, without providing evidence. He posted on X that Democratic donors were responsible for seeding protests against Tesla, again without evidence. In response to the SpaceX explosion, he said on X: “Rockets are hard.”

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