Morning Digest: Centre directs States to hold ‘civil defence’ drills; Supreme Court publishes assets of 21 judges, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on May 6, 2025

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (May 5, 2025) asked States to conduct mock drills up to the village level in 244 categorised districts by operationalising air-raid warning signs, crash blackout measures, camouflaging vital installations, evacuation plans, establishing hotline with the Indian Air Force and training civilians on the aspects of civil defence measures in the event of a “hostile attack.”

In a near midnight move at absolute transparency, the Supreme Court on Monday (May 5, 2025) published the assets of 21 of a total of its 33 serving judges. The publication comes a few days before the superannuation of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on May 13. All five Supreme Court Collegium judges have published their assets on the website.

The UN Security Council commenced closed-door consultations on the situation between India and Pakistan, hours after Secretary General Antonio Guterres voiced concern over tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours being “at their highest in years”.

A military solution is “no solution” to the India-Pakistan conflict, said United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres, calling for “maximum restraint” and offering to help in any way to bring down tensions between the two countries. Mr. Guterres, who had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Pahalgam terror attack, repeated his condemnation of the killings of 26 men, and said he was in touch with both countries. He said the targeting of civilians was “unacceptable” and those responsible must be brought to justice through “credible and lawful means”.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Praveen Sood is all set to get a one-year extension as the high-level committee to pick a new Director, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, could not arrive at a consensus on the shortlisted names.

India, over the weekend, resorted to a surprise release of waters from the Baglihar and Salal dams in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on the Chenab river. While this is far from triggering a man-made flood in Pakistan, it is the first consequential water-based action taken by India since it announced keeping the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) “in abeyance,” following the Pahalgam terror attack.

India on Monday (May 5, 2025) conveyed its concerns in the “strongest terms” to the Canadian High Commission after a rally in Toronto depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top Ministers of the Government of India in an objectionable manner. This was the first such communication from the Indian side since the new Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected a week ago.