We’re building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more. Support Scroll’s studio fund today.

It is incorrect to say that multiple Rafale jets of the Indian Air Force were shot down by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, Defence Secretary RK Singh has said. During an interview to CNBC-TV18, Singh refused to answer a question regarding the losses the Air Force suffered during the initial phase of the four-day conflict.

“You have used the term Rafales in the plural, I can assure you that is absolutely not correct,” Singh told CNBC-TV18. “Pakistan suffered losses many times over India in both human and material terms and more than 100 terrorists.” The defence secretary reiterated that the government had given the Indian military operational freedom during the conflict.

This came following a remark by Captain Shiv Kumar, India’s defence attaché to Indonesia, on June 10 that the Indian Air Force had lost fighter jets to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor on May 7 because of the “constraint given by the political leadership”. Read on.

The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has issued provisional scholarship letters to 40 out of 106 selected candidates for the 2025-’26 National Overseas Scholarship, saying that the remaining 66 will receive theirs “subject to availability of funds”.

In previous years, all selected candidates were issued letters at the same time.

Although the Union government has funds, they cannot be released without clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said an unidentified official from the ministry. Read on.

A government scholarship took them abroad. But then left them in a lurch

United States President Donald Trump on Sunday said that Washington will impose an additional 10% tariffs on countries aligning with the “anti-American policies” of the BRICS grouping. He did not elaborate on which policies he believed were against the interests of his country.

BRICS comprises India, Brazil, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Leaders of the BRICS nations met in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

In January, Trump had warned members of the BRICS against attempts to replace the US dollar as a reserve currency by repeating a 100%-tariff threat that he had made after winning the presidential election in November. Read on.

The Preamble to the Constitution cannot be altered just like a person cannot change their parents, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has said. He also claimed that no country had changed its Preamble, apart from India during the Emergency.

The remarks came nearly 10 days after the vice president said that the addition of the words “secular” and “socialist” to the Preamble was a “sacrilege to the spirit of sanatana”.

In June, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh called for a review of the inclusion of the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Read on.

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Daily Brief newsletter.