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Cannot be regional superpower while depending on defence imports: Ram Nath Kovind

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New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind presents the National Service Scheme (NSS) Awards for 2018-2019 via video conferencing, in New Delhi on Sep 24, 2020. (Photo: IANS)

President of India Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday that no country can aspire to become an economic or regional powerhouse while being dependent on defence imports.

Speaking at a function organised here on the occasion of presentation of the President Colour to Indian Naval Aviation, Kovind also said that the prompt and effective deployment of the Indian Navy in the time of crisis, has underscored India’s vision of being the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ in our region.

“As we move towards becoming a five trillion dollar economy, we must remember that no country can aspire to become an economic or regional powerhouse, while being dependent on imports to defend itself,” Kovind said.

“The Indian Navy has been at the forefront of indigenisation and this is well reflected in the Navy’s current and future acquisition plans, which are powered by indigenisation. In pursuance of the Government of India’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, Indian Naval Aviation has also made steady progress in consonance with the ‘Make in India’ drive,” he added.

The President of India also said that it was a matter of pride that India’s newest aircraft carrier, the new Vikrant had started sea trials.

“It is a matter of great pride for the Indian Navy, that the indigenously built aircraft carrier, the new Vikrant has started sea trials. This gives a unique distinction to the Indian Navy, of being the only Navy in the region and one of the three navies of the world, that has maintained continuous carrier operations over the last six and a half decades,” he said.

He also said India had made significant efforts in meeting all regional commitments and furthering our diplomatic engagements with friends and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

“While the natural tendency during Covid-19 pandemic was to look inwards, India and the Indian Navy have looked outwards. The Navy was a key instrument of India’s Covid outreach, delivering assistance and support to our maritime neighbours and partners in the Indian Ocean Region. I have no doubt that, the prompt and effective deployment of the Indian Navy in the time of crisis, has underscored India’s vision of being the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ in our region,” Kovind also said.

disaster

Strong 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan; tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, J&K

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New Delhi, April 19: A powerful earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale struck Afghanistan on Saturday afternoon at 12:17 pm IST, as reported by the National Center for Seismology (NCS).

The quake’s epicentre was located at 36.10 degrees North latitude and 71.20 degrees East longitude, with a depth of 130 kilometres. Tremors from the earthquake were felt across several northern regions of India, including Jammu & Kashmir and the Delhi-NCR area.

While there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries, authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation.

The NCS confirmed the seismic activity via a post on social media platform X.

“EQ of M: 5.8, On: 19/04/2025 12:17:53 IST, Lat: 36.10 N, Long: 71.20 E, Depth: 130 Km, Location: Afghanistan,” NCS said in a post on X.

This event follows a similar tremor that occurred earlier in the week. On Wednesday, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Afghanistan, with its epicentre approximately 164 km east of Baghlan.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) initially reported the quake as 6.4 in magnitude but later revised it to 5.6.

In a related development, the Kishtwar region of Jammu & Kashmir also experienced a mild earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale on Wednesday morning around 5:14 AM IST.

The tremor occurred at a shallow depth of 5 kilometres.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) highlights that Afghanistan is extremely susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and seasonal floods.

UNOCHA also pointed out that the frequent seismic activity in the region severely impacts already fragile communities, which have endured years of conflict and underdevelopment.

These conditions have significantly weakened their capacity to handle multiple crises at once. According to the Red Cross, Afghanistan has a long history of experiencing powerful earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush region, which is known for its intense geological activity and frequent tremors.

The country lies along several major fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. One of these fault lines passes directly through Herat, increasing the area’s risk of seismic events.

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Crime

Manipur govt launches verification of papers of arms license holders

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Imphal, April 19: The Manipur government has launched a drive to verify the licensed arms and asked all the district administrations to examine the papers of the arms license holders and arms dealers, officials said on Saturday.

A senior official said that the Commissioner (Home) has, in an urgent circular, asked the Deputy Commissioners of all 16 districts to take steps to verify the papers of arms license holders and arms dealers in their respective districts.

Accordingly, all the Deputy Commissioners directed the arms license holders and arms dealers to submit their papers in their nearest or respective police stations on or before April 25.

“Non-compliance with the orders may lead to penalisation and cancellation of arms license,” the official said, referring to the circular of the Commissioner (Home). Till March 6, around 1,000 looted and illegally held weapons, including many sophisticated arms, and a huge cache of ammunition, have been returned to the security forces since Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla appealed for the first time on February 20.

The initiative to recover the looted and illegally held arms began on May 31, 2023, when former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh made an appeal to all concerned to surrender the firearms looted from security forces and police armouries.

Officials said that before Singh’s resignation as Chief Minister on February 9, a total of 3,422 firearms had been voluntarily surrendered to the authorities and police stations in different districts.

Various official reports, political parties claimed that during the ethnic riots, which broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, over 6,020 varied types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of different types of ammunition were looted from the police stations and police outposts by the mobs, attackers and militants.

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Education

JEE Main 2025 session 2 results declared, 24 candidates score 100 percentile

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New Delhi, April 19: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday officially declared the results of JEE Main 2025 Session 2 Paper 1 on its official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in.

Notably, 24 candidates have achieved a perfect 100 percentile score in the exam, with the highest number of toppers hailing from Rajasthan, followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana, among other states.

The NTA announced that the results of 110 candidates found using unfair means, including forged documents, in JEE (Main) have been withheld. More than 9.92 lakh candidates had appeared for the second edition of the crucial exam.

The JEE Main 2025 scorecard includes a detailed breakdown of each candidate’s performance, featuring raw marks, subject-wise percentiles, the overall NTA score, All India Rank (AIR), and JEE Advanced eligibility status.

Alongside individual scores, NTA has also released the category-wise cut-offs for JEE Advanced 2025 eligibility. These cut-offs will help students evaluate their chances of progressing to the next phase or securing seats through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling process, expected to commence in June 2025.

This announcement marks a crucial academic milestone for lakhs of aspirants across the country, JEE Main serves as a gateway to top engineering institutions, including NITs, IIITs, and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs).

It is also the qualifying exam for the prestigious JEE Advanced, which paves the way to admission into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

In a move to maintain transparency and accuracy in the evaluation process, NTA released the final answer key for the JEE Main 2025 April session on Thursday.

As per the updated key, two questions have been officially dropped, one from the April 3 first shift (domestic set) and another from the April 2 first shift (international set).

These decisions were made after reviewing valid objections submitted during the challenge window. However, the answer key was briefly removed from the official website late Thursday night.

Candidates who have qualified for JEE Advanced 2025 can now begin the registration process and ramp up their preparation. Those who did not qualify will participate in JoSAA counselling to explore other premier engineering opportunities.

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