Manipur government on May 4  issued 'shoot at sight' order in "extreme cases" to contain spiralling violence in the state between tribals and the majority Meitei community which has displaced over 9,000 people from their villages.

Fifty-five columns of the Army and Assam Rifles had to be deployed to contain widespread rioting that broke out across Manipur between tribals and the majority Meitei community, displacing over 9,000 people.

The Army also kept some 14 columns on standby for deployment in case the situation flared up once again.

The Centre, which is monitoring the situation in Manipur, also dispatched teams of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialised force to handle riots, for deployment in violence-hit areas of the Northeastern state.

Clashes broke out on May 3  which intensified overnight with counter-attacks being mounted by rival communities in retaliation to earlier attacks, after Naga and Kuki tribals organised a 'Tribal Solidarity March' to protest moves to give scheduled tribe status to the majority Metei community.

The army and Assam Rifles staged flag marches in Khuga, Tampa, Khomaujanbba areas of Churachandpur. Flag marches were also carried out in Mantripukhri, Lamphel, Koeirangi area of Imphal Valley, and Sugnu in Kakching district on  May 4 .

Underlining the gravity of the violence, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and took stock of the situation in the state.

The 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) in the ten hill districts of the state to protest the demand of non-tribal Meiteis, who account for 53 per cent of the state's population, for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

The march was organised by tribals who account for about 40 per cent of the state's population after the Manipur High Court asked the state government last month to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Metei community.

The ruling Congress on May 4  swept the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) polls with two-third majority by winning 24 wards out of total 34, wresting the prestigious civic body from the BJP.

The BJP captured nine wards while the CPI-M managed to win just one ward.

Both the BJP and the Congress had fielded 34 candidates each and the CPI-M had put up four candidates.

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) founder Bhim Singh's son has been removed from the blacklist and issued an emergency visa to attend his mother's funeral after he apologised to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for participating in an anti-government protest in London last year.

Ankit Love (39), who is based in London, was given a three-month emergency visa on  May 4 for attending his mother's last rites.

The government has constituted a high-level committee to restructure the 94-year-old Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to meet the objective of Amrit Kal. The Amrit Kal is referred as the period of the next 25 years to make India fulfill the aspiration of youths, self-reliance and economic stability.

Earlier, too, the government had tried to restructure ICAR. The government constituted the committees under Dr MS Swaminathan and Dr RA Mashlekar. However, their recommendation was never implemented. Recently, Dr K Ramasamy, a former Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and member of ICAR-Academic Infrastructure, also recommended restructuring of ICAR. But no action has been taken so far.

The 11-member committee is constituted under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Secretary of ICAR. The committee, which was constituted on April 24 has members of administrative services like scientists, experts from NITI Ayog, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The committee will submit its report in 30 days.

Uttar Pradesh Police on May 4  gunned down alleged gangster Anil Dujana, an accused in 18 cases of murder, in an encounter at a village in this western UP district.

According to police, a Special Task Force (STF) team retaliated when the gangster, recently released from prison on bail, opened fire at them after being cornered

The Patna High Court on May 4 ordered a stay on the caste survey being conducted by the state government.

Hearing a bunch of petitions, a division bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad directed the government to immediately stop the caste-based survey, and ensure that the data already collected are secured and not shared with anybody till final orders are passed.

The court fixed July 7 as the next date for the hearing.

The first round of caste surveys in Bihar was conducted between January 7 and 21.

The second round started on April 15 and was supposed to continue till May 15.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which for over three years has killed millions of people, wreaked economic havoc and deepened inequalities, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the WHO said  on May 5 .

It is "with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency", WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, estimating that the pandemic had killed "at least 20 million" people, nearly three times the official estimate.

The independent committee meets every three months to discuss the pandemic and reports to WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who then decides whether it remains an international emergency.

Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari left for India on  May 4  to attend a key multilateral meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation scheduled to take place in Goa on May 4 and 5.

Bhutto Zardari, who would be the first foreign minister to visit India since 2011, is leading the Pakistan delegation to the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Beijing-based Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The Foreign Office (FO) has said that the invitation to the Pakistan Foreign Minister to attend the SCO-CFM was extended by India's Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, as the current chair of the SCO.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for FO, said that Bilawal had departed for Goa from Karachi.

Pakistan has said that the Pakistani foreign minister would not hold any meeting with his Indian counterpart.