A chartered plane arranged by Iran took off from Kochi for Armenia late on Friday carrying most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan that docked at the Kerala port last week, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.. IRIS Lavan docked at Kochi on March 4 and its 183-member crew was accommodated at naval facilities. The special charter flight is also carrying the bodies of Iranian sailors who were killed when another warship, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4, the people said on condition of anonymity.. Also read: Trump says US struck Iran’s ‘crown jewel’ Kharg Island, warns Tehran against Hormuz blockade. The Lavan’s crew and the bodies of sailors from the Dena will be transported to Iran by road, these people said.. The Iranian side is repatriating the non-essential members of the 183-strong crew of IRIS Lavan, while a limited number of crew members will stay back to maintain the warship, the people said.. The chartered flight, likely from Turkey, travelled to Colombo to pick up the bodies of sailors killed during the sinking of IRIS Dena, the people said.. Also read: Iran allows 2 Indian-flagged LPG carriers to cross Strait of Hormuz. Reports in the Sri Lankan media said 45 bodies of crew members of IRIS Dena were transported from Galle National Hospital to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for the airlift.. Sri Lankan authorities recovered the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors after IRIS Dena was sunk. They also rescued 32 crew members who have been kept at a naval facility.. IRIS Dena had participated in an International Fleet Review and a multi-nation exercise hosted by the Indian Navy last month.. On March 1, India granted permission to three Iranian warships that were in regional waters – IRIS Dena, IRIS Lavan and IRIS Booshehr – to dock at the country’s ports in response to a request from Tehran. However, only IRIS Lavan docked at Kochi on March 4 and its 183-member crew was accommodated at naval facilities.. External affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that the Indian government’s decision to allow IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi was “the right thing to do”, and that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds.. IRIS Booshehr docked in Colombo and its 204-member crew was sent to a Sri Lankan naval facility, while IRIS Dena was sunk by a US submarine in international waters off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.. Sri Lankan authorities and officials of the Iranian embassy in Colombo are engaged in discussions regarding the next steps for the Iranian sailors currently in Sri Lanka’s care. The Sri Lankan government has decided to grant one-month free visas to the Iranian sailors and to provide them necessary facilities on humanitarian grounds. 

 India remains somewhat insulated from the energy crisis set off by the ongoing war in West Asia largely due to steps the government took over the last decade to diversify the country’s energy imports, officials aware of the matter said on Friday, adding that several other countries have been hit by shortages and rising prices.. The government has taken steps to protect India’s supply chains by safeguarding exports and ensuring uninterrupted imports of essential commodities (Representative photo). “India has worked to change its energy source mix while strongly promoting domestically generated renewable energy. If this crisis had hit India a decade ago, the impact would have been devastating because almost all our oil and gas came from the same volatile region, with no real alternatives in place,” one of the cited officials said on condition of anonymity.. To be sure, the government has taken steps to protect India’s supply chains by safeguarding exports and ensuring uninterrupted imports of essential commodities such as energy, fertilisers and edible oils from all available sources — including Russia — so that domestic consumers do not face shortages.. “Other countries are struggling. Japan, already burdened by record-high public debt, has become one of the most vulnerable economies. The UK has seen immediate price spikes leading to renewed inflation. Egypt and Turkey are facing fresh inflationary pressures. Singapore is dealing with sharp increases in electricity and petrol costs, while South Korea has resorted to imposing a fuel price cap for the first time in nearly three decades to stabilise its economy,” said a second official, who also asked not to be named.. Oil prices have remained volatile, keeping the global energy market on the edge since US forces launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28. At the centre of global concern lies the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint, through which nearly one-fifth of global crude oil passes. The strait is vital for India’s energy supplies, but the current situation looks manageable, the officials added.. In a statement in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri said, “It should be noted that India was previously importing approximately 60% of its LPG requirements from Gulf countries such as Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and 40% is produced domestically. Procurement has now been actively diversified, with cargoes being secured from the United States, Norway, Canada, Algeria, and Russia, in addition to available Gulf sources.” 

 The controversy over the now-withdrawn Class 8 social science textbook with a chapter on judicial corruption has highlighted inadequacies of the three-stage process followed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to approve new books that align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.. Book controversy reveals gaps in NCERT process. It also suggests gaps in the functioning of the 19-member apex National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC), which is expected to sign-off on the new books. HT’s reporting shows that the members did not explicitly approve the book, with many ignoring the draft of the text that was sent to them over WhatsApp and e-mail. It also shows that the section on judicial corruption in one of the chapters was explicitly flagged to the committee.. The preparation of the new textbooks in line with the National Curriculum Framework- School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 follows a three-stage process.. The first stage involves the Textbook Development Team or TDT –– a separate one for each subject in each class. This is made up of experts and forms the core group writing a textbook. In its affidavit to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, NCERT said the chapter on ‘The Role of Judiciary in Our Society’ was drafted by the relevant TDT, comprising professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and legal researcher and lawyer Alok Prasanna Kumar.. The second stage has the subject-wise Curricular Area Groups (CAGs). These oversee the TDTs and handle textbooks of several classes. Professor Danino also heads the CAG for various social sciences textbooks.. The third stage has NSTC which identifies experts and contributors for TDT and then gives final academic approval to new books, following which NCERT publishes and distributes the textbook.. According to the book development process, each chapter of a NCERT textbook is written by contributors and is finalised by the CAG of that particular subject. The draft of the chapters in the controversial social sciences textbook was placed before the 35-member CAG of social science in a hybrid meeting in September 2025 for finalisation before it could be presented to NSTC, HT learns.. “This meeting was attended by NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani, along with other NCERT officials including those who happen to be members of the NSTC. Several members of the 13-member National Oversight Committee (NOC) whose job it is to ensure the book sticks to the curriculum framework, also attended the meeting,” a NCERT official said on condition of anonymity. “Saklani and few others raised concerns and objections to the controversial chapter on judicial corruption in this particular meeting. But, Danino and others did not accept the suggestions and objections citing academic freedom and other justifications.”. HT reached out to Danino who said that as the matter was subjudice, he would only be responding to everything in court.. An official in the Unio 

 The forging of a common position within Brics on the Iran-US conflict has been impacted as some members of the grouping are involved in developments in West Asia, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.. Jaishankar and Iran FM Araghchi discuss Brics cooperation. Iranian foreign minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi had emphasised the role of Brics, currently led by India, in playing a constructive role to support security and stability in the region during a phone call with external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday night.. External affairs minister S Jaishankar told a media briefing on Friday that India is talking to all Brics members on the situation in West Asia “so that a consensus position can be evolved”.. The people cited above said on condition of anonymity that hurdles have arisen in these discussions as some members of Brics are “directly involved” in the situation in West Asia.. Also Read: Jaishankar, Iran FM discuss Brics role in regional security amid West Asia conflict. “This has impacted the forging of a consensus on a common Brics position on the ongoing conflict,” a person said.. Besides Iran, which joined Brics in January 2024, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also indirectly involved in the conflict.. The people said India, as the chair of Brics, has been facilitating discussions among members of the grouping through the Sherpa channel. The last virtual Brics Sherpa meeting was held on March 12, they said.. In addition, India’s leadership has been engaging with the leaders of Brics members in the region, the people said. India will continue these engagements, they said.. Brics has so far not issued any statement on the developments in West Asia. India is expected to host the Brics Summit in the third quarter of this year. 

 The Supreme Court on Friday said that a law mandating menstrual leave may not be in the best interest of women, leaving it to the government to deliberate the issue while refusing to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard.. The Supreme Court of India. (PTI). Citing “practical realities” women may face in the job market if such leave were to be made mandatory by the court, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, “You do not know the kind of mindset this can create in the workplace and job market. The moment you introduce a law, you cannot imagine the long term problem they may face.”. The court was hearing a PIL filed by a lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi, who said that there is no uniform policy across the country on this , with some institutions and companies providing menstrual leave as a matter of policy, and others not doing so.. Senior advocate MR Shamshad appearing for the petitioner said that states of Odisha and Karnataka have come up with a policy of menstrual leave while Kerala allows menstrual leave to students in the state universities, allowing them up to 60 days in a year. Both Odisha and Karnataka provide 12 paid leaves annually for women working in the government sector, and the Karnataka policy extends to the private sector as well.. “If it is voluntary, it is good. We are in agreement with you that affirmative action has to be recognised. But we have to look at the practical reality in the job market,” said the bench, also comprising justice Joymalya Bagchi.. “From a business point of view, will an employer be willing to allow a person to take leave for two to three days every month? In the judiciary too, they may not be assigned cases that require a long trial,” the court said.. Shamshad said that the petitioner had approached the court on past occasions as well. In his first petition decided on February 24, 2023, the top court allowed him to move a representation to the Union government. He complied with this order and again approached the court after a year, this time seeking a model policy on menstrual leave. This too was decided by the court on July 8, 2024 with a direction issued to the Union ministry of women and child development to hold consultation with all stakeholders, both at the Union and at the level of states, and consider framing a model policy for all .. The bench said it wondered what is stopping the government from “coming out with a policy framework.” Disposing Tripathi’s petition for the third time, the bench said, “It is not necessary for the petitioner to approach the court time and again. We have no doubt that the competent authority will earnestly consider our February 24, 2023 and July 8, 2024 orders on framing model policy for consideration by all stakeholders.”