Morning Digest: ISRO chief says Centre has accorded approval for Chandrayaan-5 Mission; No limit to hypo(d)crisy: Congress slams PM’s podcast with Lex Fridman

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on March 17, 2025

The Centre has recently accorded approval for the ambitious Chandrayaan-5 mission to study the Moon, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said on Sunday. At an event to felicitate him for taking over as the Chairman of the Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation, Narayanan said that unlike the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which carried the 25-kg rover ‘Prayagyaan’, the Chandrayaan-5 mission would carry a 250 kg rover to study the Moon’s surface.

Russia will seek guarantees that NATO countries will exclude Ukraine from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral in any peace deal, a Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said in remarks published on Monday. "We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the Russian media outlet Izvestia.

Global challenges and intelligence-sharing mechanisms, as well as immigration and extradition, were among a host of issues discussed at the fourth conference of global intelligence and security chiefs hosted by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Sunday. The meeting had over 28 attendees, according to official sources.

Despite past tensions with China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has favoured dialogue over discord and said differences between India and China were natural but stronger cooperation was in the interests of the two neighbours and for global stability. In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Mr. Modi said India and China were working to restore the conditions along the borders as they were before the clashes along the Line of Actual Control in 2020, the first since 1975 that resulted in deaths of security personnel on both sides.

In a play on words, Congress took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, saying there is no limit to his “hypo(d)crisy” as he has not faced a press conference but has found comfort in a U.S. podcaster. Reacting to the podcast, Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh, hit out at the Prime Minister for saying “criticism is the soul of democracy” and accused him of “demolishing” institutions that were to hold his government accountable and having gone after critics “with a vengeance”.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari emphasised the crucial role of education in the upliftment of Muslims and strongly criticised the prevalence of caste-based politics in the country . Speaking at the convocation ceremony of the Central India Group of Institutions in Nagpur, Mr. Gadkari said education was the cornerstone of development and social progress. He stressed that the Muslim community, in particular, needed to focus more on educational advancement.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva on Sunday said the party’s city unit will undergo restructuring, which is expected to begin next week. “Under the restructuring process, elections will be held for booth, mandal, district, and State committees. Workers can also form committees through coordination,” he said.