Morning Digest: Amit Shah says terrorists behind Pahalgam attack will not be spared; India gets U.S. support in fight against terror, and more 

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on May 2, 2025

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday (May 1, 2025) said that the terrorists who had carried out the “cowardly” Pahalgam terror attack would not be spared. “If anyone thinks that they have won by carrying out cowardly attacks, then they should know that this is the Modi government — which will not spare anyone,” Mr. Shah said during an event to unveil the statue and naming of a road after Bodofa Upendranath Brahma, a Bodo social activist, at the national capital.

The U.S. stands “in solidarity” with India and supports its “right to defend itself”, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said in a conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while the latter said Pakistan had a “history” of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations, the first direct reference to Pakistan by a senior Minister in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Union Minister for Coals and Mines G. Kishan Reddy said on Thursday (May 1, 2025) that the Census Act, 1948, will have be amended to enable the enumeration of caste in the next Census exercise. In an interview with The Hindu, the Minister said the Census is expected to be conducted in 2026 to align with the schedule of delimitation of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats, a constitutional requirement.

“We don’t want people going after Muslims and Kashmiris,” Himanshi Narwal said on Thursday (May 1, 2025), stoic but firm as she mourned her husband, Naval officer Lt. Vinay Narwal, who was gunned down in Pahalgam just 10 days ago. He would have been 27 today. Narwal’s mother and wife Ms. Himanshi broke into tears as tributes were being paid to the Naval officer at a blood donation camp organised in Karnal, the town where he grew up.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 12.6% Y-o-Y to an all-time high of about ₹2.37 lakh crore in April, reflecting strong economic activity and March-end reconciliation of books by businesses. The GST mop-up was ₹2.10 lakh crore in April 2024 — the second highest collection ever since GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017. In March 2025, the collection was ₹1.96 lakh crore.

The Attari-Wagah border crossing point between India and Pakistan was shut completely on Thursday (May 1, 2025) following a week-long heavy rush of people from either side to cross over after the Union government ordered all Pakistani citizens with short-term visa to leave India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, sources said. The Attari-Wagah border crossing point is completely closed now and no one from either country crossed over to the other side on Thursday (May 1, 2025), two sources confirmed.

In order to improve the accuracy of electoral rolls, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to obtain death registration data electronically from the Registrar General of India. The data will be obtained by the poll body in line with Rule 9 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Section 3(5)(b) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (as amended in 2023).