Operation Sindoor: Rafale down!

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Operation Sindoor: Rafale down!

The context: Pakistan claimed it downed six Indian fighter jets during Operation Sindoor, including three Rafales. New Delhi stayed silent—which was sorta telling—but numerous news reports seemed to confirm Islamabad’s claim.

What happened now: On Saturday, May 31, the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan finally admitted that we did indeed lose some planes—in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore—where he was attending a security conference:

“I think what is important is not jet being down but why..,” he told the media house in Singapore... Taken aback by his response, the Bloomberg TV journalist asked Gen Chauhan again if he meant IAF jets were indeed downed to which he responded saying he was talking about why “they” were downed. “The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets, again targeting at long range,” the CDS said.

Chauhan, however, dismissed Pakistan’s claim of downing six jets, calling it “absolutely incorrect.”

Oops, he did it again: The Bloomberg interview was hardly a slip of the tongue. In a separate interview to Reuters in Singapore, the CDS again acknowledged “losses”—but emphasised the fact that India regrouped and struck Pakistan harder than ever:

What was important is, why did these losses occur, and what we'll do after that. So we rectified tactics and then went back on the 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit air bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes.

Wtf does this mean? It is almost impossible for any country to hide a significant loss—like a fighter jet. And many experts said it was silly to try and do so. But some of those same critics are baffled as to why the government chose to come clean on foreign soil—at a security conference attended by Pakistanis. Brahma Chellaney tweeted:

Poor public diplomacy. The Modi government needlessly dispatched India’s CDS to a forum in Singapore, where he handed a propaganda victory to Pakistan by acknowledging Indian warplane losses. Such admissions should have been made from Indian soil, accompanied by India’s own estimates of the damage inflicted on Pakistan in the brief war.

Former generals say they aren’t sure if Chauhan went off script—or was told to come clean in Singapore. But all of them agree that there is no shame in acknowledging battlefield losses—but it is important to do it early and on home ground.

Meanwhile, in India: Modi-ji almost simultaneously declared "Operation Sindoor is the biggest and most successful operation in Indian history against terrorism"—and trotted out his fave macho line: “ghar mein ghus ke marenge.” Battles may be fought, planes may be lost, but the election beat goes on. Reminder: The Bihar election is slated for later this. The Telegraph has expert reactions to Chauhan’s admission. Deccan Herald analyses Operation Sindoor as an election strategy. (The Print)

Champions League final: PSG thrash Inter!

European football’s version of the Super Bowl turned out to be a historic game. Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final—the biggest ever margin of victory in the tournament’s history. It broke the previous record set in 1960—when Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3. It’s also PSG’s first trophy trifecta—as they won their domestic league, their domestic cup and the Champions League in the same season—the ultimate achievement.

To desire is to ‘doue’: It was one-way traffic from the get go as an experienced but exhausted Inter squad were overrun by PSG’s fast and industrious youngsters—who were 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes. The breakout star was 19-year-old Dèsirè Douè, who scored a brace—see his second goal below:

Check out the winning moment below:

A moving remembrance: PSG’s head coach Luis Enrique dedicated the title to his daughter Xana, who died of cancer aged just nine in 2019. At the end of the game, PSG fans in the stadium unfurled this banner as tribute:

The ugly aftermath: The joy in Munich turned sour in France. Two people were killed and several hundred arrested as PSG fans rioted in the streets, clashing with police. The victory parade in central Paris was nearly cancelled—but went ahead on Sunday with the crowd capped at 100,000. You can see the ugly scenes below.

The Guardian has the best reporting on the final and the tribute to Xana. You can watch more highlights here. BBC News has more on the riots.

On a lighter related note: Following the Super Bowl lead, the Champions League final came with its own pre-match concert—which didn’t play out well. Linkin Park played their 2000s hits to a largely silent, subdued crowd—while Camilla Cabello and Lenny Kravitz were actually booed in previous finals. Europeans, why can’t you be more like Americans? Not. In any case, we quite liked the ‘Numb/Encore’ performance—a snippet of which is below. The full performance is here. (NME)

RIP Valmik Thapar, Tiger Man

The famous wildlife conservationist died of cancer at the age of 73 on Saturday. Thapar’s life was defined by his single-minded focus on saving the tiger—authoring nearly 50 books on the subject:

He served on several government committees, was a member of the National Board for Wildlife, and a Supreme Court empowered committee on wildlife. Thapar was one of the founders of the Ranthambhore Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that worked in almost 100 villages around the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. He was, at various points, critical of the execution of Project Tiger, instituted by the Centre in 1972, to restore India’s dwindling tiger population by demarcating forest reserves and establishing tiger corridors.

A formidable critic: Despite serving on various committees, Thapar was not afraid to call out babus or netas—irrespective of the party in power. For example, he was unhappy with the way Project Tiger was run under Congress—and slammed the BJP for trying to import cheetahs.

But, but, but: Thapar’s legacy is also permanently marked by his fierce opposition to the 2006 Forest Rights Act—”which recognises the historic rights of tribals and traditional forest dwellers in their native forests.” His critics said he often put the needs of the tigers ahead of that of humans—specifically, the original residents of the forests. Thapar’s position was all the more damning because of his ardent advocacy of tourism:

Some will argue that I am advocating the privatization of forest India. What I am advocating is a new set of custodians of forest India. If the forest department were custodians for nearly 150 years the time has now come for them to partner other custodians be they local communities, ngos, tourism specialists, corporates and all other players who have a stake in seeing the forests safe and secure. If this is called 'privatisation' so be it.

A quote to note: In a 2015 Business Standard review of one of his books, Nitin Sethi writes:

When Thapar talks of private wildlife reserves of the kind run in Africa, he forgets that they come laden with a history of apartheid and destruction of the lives of indigenous communities in most cases. He misses that the Forest Rights Act is perhaps the only piece of legislation that attempts to inject a notion of democracy in India’s forests — on which depends the lives of 275 million to 400 million people (the majority being the poorest).

He ignores the fact that the forests are resources with many conflicting demands on it besides the rights of the poor — from the premium-paying tourists who want to see the tiger without a poor unwashed villager in sight, to the medicinal plant trader, the paper and pulp industry, the beedi manufacturers and, of course, those who want to dig the coal from under or run a highway through it.

We highly recommend reading Nitin Sethi’s critique in Business Standard—along with the well-deserved tributes in The Wire and The Print.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Indian Express explains what the RBI’s new gold loan rules are—and why the govt wants small borrowers left out.
Trump taps Palantir to build a massive data network across the federal government and agencies, sparking privacy fears.
For the seventh year running, Singapore leads as India’s top FDI source, pumping in nearly $15 billion in 2024-25.
In a first-of-its-kind case, Google and AI firm Character.AI will face a lawsuit after a Florida mom blamed its chatbot for her 14-year-old son’s suicide.
IndiGo is teaming up with Delta, Air France-KLM, and Virgin Atlantic to boost flights from India to Europe and North America.

sports & entertainment

Shreyas Iyer’s blazing 87* knocked Mumbai Indians out and sent Punjab Kings to their first IPL final in over a decade—set to face RCB on Tuesday.

health & environment

TikTok faces WhatsApp University fate: A new study has found that more than half of top 100 mental health TikToks contain misinformation.
A new review paper confirms a link between sleep duration and hearing loss—though there’s no direct link.
A group of researchers have discovered the oldest tools made from whale bones by our ancestors who lived 20,000 years ago—shedding light on the history of human-whale interactions.
The Hindu reports on the wastewater surveillance data from Bangalore that suggests Covid-19 viral load has increased significantly in the last two weeks.
A new study finds that exercise can boost survival and cut relapse risk for colon cancer patients.

meanwhile, in the world

Israel blocks Arab foreign ministers—including Saudi’s Faisal bin Farhan—from visiting the West Bank to meet Palestinian leaders ahead of a major statehood push.
The White House confirmed the US has pitched a new nuclear deal to Iran.
Israeli forces kill 32 Palestinians queuing for food at US-backed Gaza aid sites, sparking outrage as hundreds more are injured.
Hamas has sent a response with some changes to Trump’s Middle East envoy’s ceasefire proposal—the clearest sign of progress toward peace talks since March.
MIT’s 2025 class president, Megha Vemuri, was barred from the graduation ceremony after giving a pro-Palestinian speech. The speech criticized MIT’s ties to Israel.
President Donald Trump announced the US will double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%, starting Wednesday.
The US visa wait now stretches over a year—with tighter interviews, fewer reschedules, and growing delays hitting not just students but business and leisure travellers too.
Just weeks after a tariff truce, US-China trade talks have hit pause—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says negotiations are “a bit stalled.”
Just before fresh peace talks in Istanbul, Ukraine claims it wiped out over 40 Russian warplanes in a bold drone strike deep inside enemy territory.

meanwhile, in India

Indian Express has an on-grounds report on bulldozers tearing through the homes of the residents of Delhi’s Madrasi Camp, as they powerlessly watched decades of their lives vanish before their eyes.
India’s population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals is expected to grow by 50% between 2023 and 2028, making it the fastest-growing ultra-rich group in the world, according to a new report.
As part of the ongoing crackdown on ‘illegal foreigners’, a woman from Assam’s Golaghat district was wrongly taken by police to the Bangladesh border and asked to cross. In a shocking turn of events though, authorities later discovered there had been a mistake and returned her home.
A Kolkata court sent social media influencer and Pune law student Sharmishta Panoli to 14 days judicial custody after her arrest in Gurugram for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

Four things to see

One: World champion Gukesh Dommaraju beat World #1 Magnus Carlsen in round 6 of the Norway Chess 2025 on Sunday. The 19-year-old was in a losing position but turned the tables around at the end after taking advantage of a blunder made by Carlsen. Why this matters: This is the Indian grandmaster’s first classical victory over Carlsen—as in, Gukesh beat the king of blitz in a standard game of chess. A classical win in chess just means one player checkmated the other in a long, traditional game, where both had plenty of time to think—not blitz or rapid. Gukesh has now climbed to the third spot with 8.5 points—one point behind Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Watch the stark contrast between the reactions of Carlsen and Gukesh below. (Hindustan Times)

Two: Britain’s #5 seed Jack Draper beat local hero Gaël Monfils to advance to the next round of the French Open—after a thrilling late night match that ended in four sets with a tie-breaker. What made the match memorable: The love between Monfils and Draper. (BBC News)

Three: The winner of Miss World 2025 is… Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand. She was one of the four finalists—along with Miss Martinique, Miss Ethiopia and Miss Poland. Miss England Milla Magee’s exit (explained here) didn’t dim the spirits. See her being crowned below. (The Hindu)

Four: Bangladesh has replaced the portrait of its founding father Mujibur Rehman on its currency. The reason: he is the IRL father of Sheikh Hasina who was ousted from power last year—and has now been charged with crimes against humanity. The new notes will have images of Hindu and Buddhist temples, artwork of the late Zainul Abedin and the national martyrs memorial, which honours those who died during the 1971 liberation war. You can see the new notes below. (Financial Express)