The Catch Up: 4 April

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 4th of April and here are today's headlines.

Some of the significant changes introduced by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in the history chapter meant for Class 12 students on the origins and fall of the Harappan civilisation. Example: Assertion that recent studies of ancient DNA were obtained from archaeological sources at Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley site in Haryana, ruling out Aryan immigration to a call for more research into whether the Harappans and the Vedic people were the same. These changes are part of the revision and updating of history textbooks undertaken by NCERT for the academic year 2024-25, which were recently communicated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.

A day after he was expelled from the party for six years for indiscipline and anti-party statements, former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam today launched a scathing attack against the party. He said its “outdated” leaders have lost touch with ground reality and it was a party with “no future left”.vWhile Nirupam chose to attack “Nehruvian secularism” and the “Leftist circle” around the Congress leadership, he also expressed displeasure over the party denying him a ticket from the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency.

Former Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, who quit the party earlier in the day, joined the BJP in New Delhi. Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma also joined the BJP in the presence of its national general secretary Vinod Tawde. Quitting the Congress, Vallabh, who represented the party on several TV debates, said of late, he had found himself uncomfortable with several stands taken by the party. He further alleged that the Congress party is moving in the wrong direction, against the “basic principles of the party.” Gourav Vallabh had contested the Rajasthan assembly election from Udaipur constituency in 2023.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) made major suggestions to all educational institutions under its jurisdiction to help address “emerging challenges due to the current socio-cultural, religious, and political situation” in the country. These are: Respect all faiths and traditions, don’t force Christian traditions on students of other religions, have students recite the Preamble to the Constitution during the daily morning Assembly, and set up an “inter-religious prayer room” on school premises. The CBCI is the apex decision-making body representing the Catholic community in India.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry reportedly told a local news channel that Sri Lanka does not see any need to re-open talks on a contentious island, called Katchatheevu, ceded to it by New Delhi 50 years ago. Meanwhile, former Sri Lankan envoy to India Austin Fernando, while speaking with The Indian Express said if the Indian government crosses the Sri Lankan maritime international boundary line, it would be seen as a “violation of Sri Lankan sovereignty”.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.