The Evening Wrap: 2 pilots missing after trainer aircraft crashes in Balaghat district

An aircraft with two trainee pilots on board crashed in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district on March 18, police said. The charred body of a man was found in the mountains of Lanji and Kirnapur areas, about 40 km from the Balaghat district headquarters, near the crash site, Superintendent of Police Sameer Saurabh told PTI in the evening. He said efforts are on to identify the body while a search is on for the woman trainee pilot who is missing. As per the preliminary information, the trainer aircraft had taken off from the Birsi airport in Gondia district of Maharashtra bordering Balaghat, the police officer said. PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina inaugurate ₹377-cr diesel pipeline to Bangladesh Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina inaugurated a ₹377-crore pipeline to transport diesel from India to northern Bangladesh, cutting cost and reducing carbon footprint. The pipeline will start a new chapter in India-Bangladesh relations, Modi said at the inauguration. Currently, diesel is supplied to Bangladesh through a 512-km rail route. The 131.5-km pipeline will supply up to 1 million tonnes per annum of diesel from Numaligarh in Assam to Bangladesh. The construction of the pipeline project started in 2018. It is the first cross-border energy pipeline between the two neighbours. Of the total cost of ₹377 crore of the project, the ₹285 crore cost of Bangladesh section of the pipeline has been borne by the government of India under grant assistance. The pipeline will be transporting 1 million tonnes per annum of diesel to seven districts in Northern Bangladesh. It will run from the Siliguri-based marketing terminal of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited to the Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. The fuel transport deal between the two countries will be in force for 15 years with an option for further extension during subsequent phases on the agreement of both countries. Jaishankar says situation with China fragile, dangerous in the Himalayan front The situation between India and China in the western Himalayan region of Ladakh is fragile and dangerous, with military forces deployed very close to each other in some parts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said. At least 24 soldiers were killed when the two sides clashed in the region in mid-2020, but the situation has been calmed through rounds of diplomatic and military talks. Violence erupted in the eastern sector of the undemarcated border between the two countries in December but did not result in any deaths. “The situation to my mind still remains very fragile because there are places where our deployments are very close up and in military assessment therefore quite dangerous,” Jaishankar said at the India Today conclave. India-China relations cannot go back to normal, he said, until the border row is resolved in line with the September 2020 in-principle agreement he reached with his Chinese counterpart. “The Chinese have to deliver on what was agreed to, and they have struggled with that,” he said. Although forces from both sides have disengaged from many areas, discussions are proceeding over unresolved points, Jaishankar said. “We have made it very clear to the Chinese that we cannot have a breach of peace and tranquility, you can’t violate agreement and want the rest of the relationship to continue as though nothing happened. That’s just not tenable,” he noted. He also said that he discussed the situation with China’s new Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G20 nations hosted by India this month. Farmers call off long march to Mumbai Protesting farmers and tribals, who were on their way to Mumbai from Nashik district of Maharashtra, called off their long march with their demands being taken into consideration in the state legislature and ground-level officials receiving orders to execute the government’s orders, a CPI(M) MLA said. The march had started from Dindori town, located around 195 km away from Mumbai, on March 12 demanding relief of ₹600 per quintal to onion growers hit by price crash, 12-hour uninterrupted power supply to farmers, and waiver of farm loans. They had reached Thane district’s Vasind town, around 80 km from Mumbai. On Friday, CM Eknath Shinde told the Assembly that onion cultivators will be given a financial relief of ₹350 a quintal and appealed to them to call off the protest. “Our demands have been met. All the demands by the farmers were taken into consideration in the state legislature and collectors and tehsildars have been issued orders. We received calls from our activists that work (implementation of the government order) has begun. So we have decided to call off the march,” CPI(M) MLA Vinod Nikole said. He said the participants have started heading back to their homes, and the remaining people will leave by Saturday evening or Sunday. Don’t see any ‘middle path’ in Parliament logjam; Opposition’s JPC demand ‘non-negotiable’: Jairam Ramesh Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said he does not see a “middle path” to end the logjam in Parliament as the Opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue was “non-negotiable” and the question of an apology over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the U.K. does not arise. In an interview with PTI, he said the government is rattled by 16 Opposition parties coming together to demand a joint parliamentary probe into the Adani issue and is resorting to a “3D orchestrated campaign — distort, defame and divert”. He also hit out at BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s efforts to seek termination of Rahul Gandhi’s membership of Lok Sabha over his remarks in the UK, saying all this was “intimidation” and part of efforts to distract from the real issues. The remarks came amid the logjam in Parliament over Gandhi’s remarks during his recent trip to the U.K., with both Houses failing to transact any significant business on the first five days of the budget session’s second half. Also on Friday, Home Minister Amit Shah said the current logjam in Parliament can be resolved if the Opposition comes forward for talks and that the government will go “two steps ahead” if the Opposition takes “two steps forward”. Donald Trump says he’ll be arrested on Tuesday as New York prosecutor eyes charges Former U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he will be arrested Tuesday as a New York prosecutor is eyeing charges in a case examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicate that “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.” He also urged his followers to protest. Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted. There has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president. The law enforcement officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said authorities are just preparing in case of an indictment. They described the conversations as preliminary and are considering security, planning and the practicalities of a potential court appearance by a former president. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told The Associated Press that if Trump is indicted, “we will follow the normal procedures.” In Brief: Punjab police cracks down on radical preacher Amritpal Singh Punjab Police is learnt to have launched a crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh, detaining six of his supporters. There were reports suggesting that the self-styled Sikh preacher too had been detained near Nakodar but no official confirmation has come in this regard so far. Internet services have been suspended across the State till 12 noon on March 19, said a senior official of the Home Affairs department. Amritpal’s cavalcade was intercepted by police in Mehatpur village in Jalandhar district. 76 samples of new COVID variant XBB1.16 found in India: INSACOG data A total of 76 samples of COVID-19’s XBB.1.16 variant have been found which might be behind the recent rise of cases in the country, according to INSACOG data. The variant has been found across Karnataka (30), Maharashtra (29), Puducherry (7) Delhi (5), Telangana (2), Gujarat (1), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Odisha (1), the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) data showed. The XBB 1.16 variant was first found in January when two samples tested positive for the variant while in February a total of 59 samples were found. In March, till now 15 samples of the XBB 1.16 variant have been found, the INSACOG said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 18 March 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Trainer aircraft crashes in Balaghat district; two pilots missing An [aircraft with two trainee pilots on board crashed in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district]( on March 18, police said. The charred body of a man was found in the mountains of Lanji and Kirnapur areas, about 40 km from the Balaghat district headquarters, near the crash site, Superintendent of Police Sameer Saurabh told PTI in the evening. He said efforts are on to identify the body while a search is on for the woman trainee pilot who is missing. As per the preliminary information, the trainer aircraft had taken off from the Birsi airport in Gondia district of Maharashtra bordering Balaghat, the police officer said. PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina inaugurate ₹377-cr diesel pipeline to Bangladesh Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina inaugurated a [₹377-crore pipeline to transport diesel from India to northern Bangladesh]( cutting cost and reducing carbon footprint. The pipeline will start a new chapter in India-Bangladesh relations, Modi said at the inauguration. Currently, diesel is supplied to Bangladesh through a 512-km rail route. The 131.5-km pipeline will supply up to 1 million tonnes per annum of diesel from Numaligarh in Assam to Bangladesh. The construction of the pipeline project started in 2018. It is the first cross-border energy pipeline between the two neighbours. Of the total cost of ₹377 crore of the project, the ₹285 crore cost of Bangladesh section of the pipeline has been borne by the government of India under grant assistance. The pipeline will be transporting 1 million tonnes per annum of diesel to seven districts in Northern Bangladesh. It will run from the Siliguri-based marketing terminal of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited to the Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. The fuel transport deal between the two countries will be in force for 15 years with an option for further extension during subsequent phases on the agreement of both countries. Jaishankar says situation with China fragile, dangerous in the Himalayan front The [situation between India and China in the western Himalayan region of Ladakh is fragile and dangerous]( with military forces deployed very close to each other in some parts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said. At least 24 soldiers were killed when the two sides clashed in the region in mid-2020, but the situation has been calmed through rounds of diplomatic and military talks. Violence erupted in the eastern sector of the undemarcated border between the two countries in December but did not result in any deaths. “The situation to my mind still remains very fragile because there are places where our deployments are very close up and in military assessment therefore quite dangerous,” Jaishankar said at the India Today conclave. India-China relations cannot go back to normal, he said, until the border row is resolved in line with the September 2020 in-principle agreement he reached with his Chinese counterpart. “The Chinese have to deliver on what was agreed to, and they have struggled with that,” he said. Although forces from both sides have disengaged from many areas, discussions are proceeding over unresolved points, Jaishankar said. “We have made it very clear to the Chinese that we cannot have a breach of peace and tranquility, you can’t violate agreement and want the rest of the relationship to continue as though nothing happened. That’s just not tenable,” he noted. He also said that he discussed the situation with China’s new Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G20 nations hosted by India this month. Farmers call off long march to Mumbai [Protesting farmers and tribals, who were on their way to Mumbai from Nashik district of Maharashtra, called off their long march]( with their demands being taken into consideration in the state legislature and ground-level officials receiving orders to execute the government’s orders, a CPI(M) MLA said. The march had started from Dindori town, located around 195 km away from Mumbai, on March 12 demanding relief of ₹600 per quintal to onion growers hit by price crash, 12-hour uninterrupted power supply to farmers, and waiver of farm loans. They had reached Thane district’s Vasind town, around 80 km from Mumbai. On Friday, CM Eknath Shinde told the Assembly that onion cultivators will be given a financial relief of ₹350 a quintal and appealed to them to call off the protest. “Our demands have been met. All the demands by the farmers were taken into consideration in the state legislature and collectors and tehsildars have been issued orders. We received calls from our activists that work (implementation of the government order) has begun. So we have decided to call off the march,” CPI(M) MLA Vinod Nikole said. He said the participants have started heading back to their homes, and the remaining people will leave by Saturday evening or Sunday. Don’t see any ‘middle path’ in Parliament logjam; Opposition’s JPC demand ‘non-negotiable’: Jairam Ramesh Senior Congress leader [Jairam Ramesh said he does not see a “middle path” to end the logjam in Parliament]( as the Opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue was “non-negotiable” and the question of an apology over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the U.K. does not arise. In an interview with PTI, he said the government is rattled by 16 Opposition parties coming together to demand a joint parliamentary probe into the Adani issue and is resorting to a “3D orchestrated campaign — distort, defame and divert”. He also hit out at BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s efforts to seek termination of Rahul Gandhi’s membership of Lok Sabha over his remarks in the UK, saying all this was “intimidation” and part of efforts to distract from the real issues. The remarks came amid the logjam in Parliament over Gandhi’s remarks during his recent trip to the U.K., with both Houses failing to transact any significant business on the first five days of the budget session’s second half. Also on Friday, Home Minister Amit Shah said the current logjam in Parliament can be resolved if the Opposition comes forward for talks and that the government will go “two steps ahead” if the Opposition takes “two steps forward”. Donald Trump says he’ll be arrested on Tuesday as New York prosecutor eyes charges Former U.S. President [Donald Trump said in a social media post that he will be arrested Tuesday]( as a New York prosecutor is eyeing charges in a case examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicate that “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.” He also urged his followers to protest. Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted. There has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president. The law enforcement officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said authorities are just preparing in case of an indictment. They described the conversations as preliminary and are considering security, planning and the practicalities of a potential court appearance by a former president. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told The Associated Press that if Trump is indicted, “we will follow the normal procedures.” In Brief: Punjab police cracks down on radical preacher Amritpal Singh [Punjab Police is learnt to have launched a crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh]( detaining six of his supporters. There were reports suggesting that the self-styled Sikh preacher too had been detained near Nakodar but no official confirmation has come in this regard so far. Internet services have been suspended across the State till 12 noon on March 19, said a senior official of the Home Affairs department. Amritpal’s cavalcade was intercepted by police in Mehatpur village in Jalandhar district. 76 samples of new COVID variant XBB1.16 found in India: INSACOG data A total of [76 samples of COVID-19’s XBB.1.16 variant have been found which might be behind the recent rise of cases]( in the country, according to INSACOG data. The variant has been found across Karnataka (30), Maharashtra (29), Puducherry (7) Delhi (5), Telangana (2), Gujarat (1), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Odisha (1), the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) data showed. The XBB 1.16 variant was first found in January when two samples tested positive for the variant while in February a total of 59 samples were found. In March, till now 15 samples of the XBB 1.16 variant have been found, the INSACOG said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. First Day First Show Stay up-to-date on all things cinema with the "First Day First Show" cinema & entertainment newsletter. Every week, we bring you movie reviews, news from regional cinema, Bollywood, Hollywood, and beyond, as well as updates from the streaming platforms. Whether you're a cinephile or just looking for your next great binge-watch, we've got you covered. 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