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It was digital connectivity that kept the country’s education system going during the pandemic, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday while highlighting that the government’s online focus has resulted in shrinking of the digital divide.

Addressing a webinar on the positive impact of the Union Budget 2022-23, Modi said the focus of the education sector is on five areas — universalisation of quality education; skill development; urban planning and design; internationalisation; and AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming & comic). “Much ahead of the pandemic, we have been speaking of a digital future, we were setting up optical fibre in villages, bringing down the cost of data and enhancing connectivity. Some questioned the necessity. But during the pandemic, we all realised how this helped in continuity of education during the unprecedented situation. The digital divide is gradually declining and our country is progressing from inclusion to integration,” said the PM, adding that digital education is a part of India’s step towards a digital future. “...I call upon the education ministry, UGC and AICTE and all the stakeholders of the ‘Digital University’ to work with speed on the project. I emphasised on the need to keep international standards in mind while creating institutes,” he said.

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed the conviction of 49 people in the Ahmedabad serial blasts case, calling it the fulfilment of his vow “to bring the perpetrators of jihadi terrorism to justice” and contrasting BJP’s commitment to the country with Samajwadi Party's alleged image as “a patron of terrorists”.

Modi said while BJP was committed to uplift of the poor and focused on national security, parties like Akhilesh Yadav's SP had been “kind to terrorists”.

“I maintained silence for so many years since the Ahmedabad serial blasts case was being heard in court,” he said. “Today, I am referring to this because these political parties have been shielding terrorists just for the sake of protecting their vote bank, which is a very dangerous pattern,” the PM said.

The United States said Thursday that Russia is on the verge of unleashing a massive military attack against Ukraine, dismissing Moscow's claim to be pulling forces back, as artillery fire hit a Ukrainian kindergarten.

In a dramatic, previously unscheduled speech to the United Nations in New York, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said intelligence showed Moscow could order an assault on its neighbor in the "coming days."

With US and other Western governments saying they see no evidence to support Russia's claim to be withdrawing, Blinken challenged the Kremlin to "announce today with no qualification, equivocation or deflection that Russia will not invade Ukraine. State it clearly. State it plainly to the world."

Three days before Punjab votes, former PM Manmohan Singh, while seeking votes for the Congress party, targeted PM Narendra Modi over his foreign policy, saying “I hope leaders of the ruling party have understood by now that relations do not improve by hugging politicians, or moving on swings or turning up to eat biryani without invitation” — the last two being references to the time Modi spent with China’s Xi Jinping and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif.

He also said when he was Prime Minister, he let his “work speak” for him “rather than speaking for myself”.

In a video message in Punjabi, Singh, who did not name Modi, said the government at the Centre was trying to “malign Punjab and Punjabis”. Cautioning people against the BJP’s “divisive policies”, he said the Centre tried to “bring disrepute to Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and people of the state in the name of PM security.

India on Wednesday morning reported 30,615 new Covid-19 cases and 514 deaths, according to the official data shared by the Ministry of Health. The number of new infections recorded today were 11% higher than yesterday’s daily Covid numbers. The country had on Tuesday morning recorded 27,409 infections.

According to the official data updated at 8am today, the death toll in the country reached 5,09,872 with 514 fresh fatalities. The daily Covid-19 cases were recorded less than one lakh for ten consecutive days. The Health Ministry has revealed that the active cases comprise 0.87 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has improved to 97.94 per cent.