
No reason to delay for 23 months, says Congress after government announces census schedule
Hours after the Centre announced the Census schedule, the Congress on Wednesday said there was no reason to delay the exercise for another 23 months and slammed the Modi government for not meeting 'deadlines'.
'There is really no reason to delay the Census that was due in 2021 for another twenty-three months. The Modi Government is capable only of generating headlines, not meeting deadlines,' Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Home Ministry on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) announced that the 2027 Census with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and reference date of March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country.

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Hindustan Times
23 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Defence may be the wrong word': Shashi Tharoor points at ‘China factor' in Pakistan conflict
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Thursday that 81 percent of Pakistan's defence equipment comes from China, making the country an 'impossible factor' to ignore in the conflict with Islamabad. Tharoor, who is leading a parliamentary delegation to the US to expose Islamabad's nexus with terror after India's Operation Sindoor, said that New Delhi-Beijing relations were making good progress till last month's conflict with Pakistan. 'I'm not going to mince my words, but we are aware that China has immense stakes in Pakistan," PTI quoted Tharoor as telling the representatives of think tanks at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. Tharoor pointed out that the largest single project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and that 81 percent of Pakistani defence equipment is from China. 'Defence may be the wrong word here. Offence in many ways……China is an absolutely impossible factor to ignore in what has been our confrontation with Pakistan,' Tharoor said. Shashi Tharoor told the gathering that India had seen good progress in its relationship with China after tensions since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes. The Thiruvananthapuram MP added that during Operation Sindoor and the conflict with Pakistan, New Delhi saw a very different China in terms of its support for Islamabad, even on the UN Security Council. 'We have no illusions about what the challenges are in our neighbourhood, but I want to remind you all that India has consistently chosen a path of keeping open channels of communication, even with our adversaries. We have tried as much as possible to focus on development, on growth, on trade. Our trade with China is still at record levels. It's not that we are adopting a posture of hostility, but we would be naive not to be aware of these other currents around,' he said. The UN Security Council, on April 25, issued a press statement on the 'terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir' after the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The statement had condemned the attack in "the strongest terms' but did not mention The Resistance Front as Pakistan, which is a non-permanent member of the council, got it removed with China's help. 'The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice,' the press statement had said. Shashi Tharoor was asked about the Chinese military equipment that Pakistan used in the conflict during an earlier interaction at the Council on Foreign Relations. The delegation head said that when India saw what the Pakistanis were attempting to do using Chinese technology, for instance, the 'kill chain' that the Chinese specialise in, where the radar, GPS, planes and missiles are all linked together and they react instantly, 'we simply did things in a different way. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to hit' 11 Pakistani airfields, and "we wouldn't have been able to breach the Chinese-supplied air defences. 'So it's clear that assessments were taking place while the fighting was happening, and we were recalibrating our strategies in order to end as effectively as we were able to end,' Tharoor said.


Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Time of India
Stopped war between India and Pakistan, it could have gone nuclear: Trump
US President Donald Trump on Friday again claimed credit for brokering a cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, adding that he used trade as a weapon, leading to both countries stopping the war immediately. Trump pointed out that a war between India and Pakistan could have gone nuclear if the US had not intervened between the two countries. "You know, I did something that people don't talk about, and I don't talk about very much, but we solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and with Pakistan. I spoke to Pakistan, I spoke to India, they have really great leaders, but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear," Trump told reporters on Air Force One . Lauding the leadership of India and Pakistan, Trump said, "Both nuclear countries, strong nuclear countries, and I talked about trade and said, 'We're not doing trade if you guys are going to be throwing bombs at each other." They both stopped, and I stopped that war immediately. It was going much further, and hopefully, it would not go to nuclear, but it might have gone to nuclear. In fact, it might have gone to nuclear in the next round, but we stopped it, and I'd like to commend the leaders of both countries, Pakistan and India." The issue stands as a bone of contention between the US and India, as on Friday, Aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yury Ushakov , endorsed US President Donald Trump's claim of having brokered a cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. Ushakov said that the India-Pakistan conflict was resolved with 'personal' involvement of US President Donald Trump, as was discussed in a telephonic conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Live Events "The Middle East was discussed, as well as the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the personal involvement of President Trump," he said. Earlier, All-Party Delegation Leader and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that the delegation, during their meeting with US Vice President JD Vance , cleared the air around US President Donald Trump's claim of mediating between the India-Pakistan crisis. "The meeting with Vice President Vance was outstanding, very good, very clear. I think we made our position amply clear on this question of mediation, and Vice President Vance fully understood our points," he said. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for stopping hostilities between India and Pakistan after New Delhi's effective response to Islamabad's aggression following precision strikes on terror infrastructure. India had conducted Operation Sindoor early on May 7 and hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack . India effectively responded to subsequent Pakistan aggression and pounded its airbases. India and Pakistan agreed to stop military action following a call made by Pakistan's DGMO to his Indian counterpart.


Mint
31 minutes ago
- Mint
‘Why did you invite Modi for G7 Summit?': UK PM Carney replies, ‘India should be…'
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday said that it 'made sense' to have India, the fifth largest largest economy, at the G7 Summit. Carney was responding to a question on extending an invitation for the Summit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added that G7 countries will hold discussions on important issues, including security and energy, in their upcoming summit, adding that India's presence at the intergovernmental political and economic forum is essential. 'There are certain countries that should be at the table for those discussions in my capacity as G7 chair consultation,' he said. 'India is the fifth largest economy in the world, effectively the most populous in the world central to a number of supply chains, so it makes sense. And in addition, bilaterally, we have now agreed importantly to continued law enforcement dialogue so there's been some progress… I extended the invitation to Prime Minister Modi in that context and he has accepted,' Carney added. PM Modi on Friday confirmed he would attend the G7 Summit in Canada after an invitation from newly elected Carney. "Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister Mark J Carney of Canada. Congratulated him on his recent election victory and thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month. As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the Summit," PM Modi said in a post on X. The announcement comes after a period of severely strained relations between the two countries, triggered by Canadian allegations that Indian 'agents' were involved in the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a Canadian citizen and prominent pro-Khalistan activist – outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver. India strongly denied the claims, and both nations expelled senior diplomats in a tit-for-tat escalation. 1. The South African high commission told The Canadian Press that Canada invited President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend the summit. 2. According to CBC news, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on May 4 that Canada invited him to the summit and he will attend. 3. Canada also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend and he confirmed again this week he will be there. 4. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Canada had invited her nearly two weeks prior but she had not yet decided whether she'll attend. (With inputs from agencies)