Morning Digest: India closes its airspace to airlines from Pakistan; More Gulf nations call for lowering tensions between India-Pakistan, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on May 1, 2025

India on Wednesday (April 30, 2025) banned Pakistan airlines from using its airspace amid escalating tensions with the neighbouring country in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. Sources said that a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued that bars Pakistan airlines from using the Indian airspace. The development comes a week after Pakistan barred Indian carriers from using its airspace.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Wednesday reached out to India, calling for deescalating the tension that has erupted in the backdrop of the April 22 terror strike in Pahalgam. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar received a call from the Foreign Minister (FM) of Kuwait, Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, and the two sides discussed the latest in Indo-Pakistan relations. Continuing with India’s outreach to members of the UN Security Council, Mr. Jaishankar also called his Danish counterpart, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, on Wednesday.

In the Hindi heartland, both the opposition and parties in the ruling alliance are celebrating with equal gusto the Union government’s decision to conduct a caste count along the decadal census, with each side pulling pages from history to project themselves as the original proponent of the idea.

The U.S. has called on India and Pakistan “not to escalate” the tension between them following the Pahalgam terror attack, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday (April 29, 2025). Washington was reaching out to both New Delhi and Islamabad regarding the Kashmir situation and telling them not to escalate the situation, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

In spite of a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order, a family of nine, including a policeman, were rounded up in J&K’s Poonch and shifted to Punjab for repatriation to Pakistan on Wednesday (April 30, 2025). The move comes at a time of looming uncertainty over the hundreds of women from Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) who have married residents of J&K.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 30, 2025) said it is “very easy” for States to get food grains from the Centre and distribute it for free among the people to gain political popularity. Ultimately, however, it is the taxpayer who has to bear the burden of the distribution of free ration to the burgeoning poor, a Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant said. The court held that other activities, such as generating employment and building infrastructure, were as important as distribution of free ration.

The U.S. and Ukraine announced on Wednesday an economic agreement after a weekslong press by President Donald Trump on Ukraine to compensate Washington for billions in military and economic assistance to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a video posted to X that “this partnership allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine, to unlock Ukraine’s growth assets, mobilize American talent, capital and governance standards that will improve Ukraine’s investment climate and accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.”